Home Guard (United Kingdom)
Home Guard Initially "Local Defence Volunteers" | |
---|---|
Active | 14 May 1940 – 3 December 1944 |
Disbanded | 31 December 1945 |
Country | United Kingdom |
Branch | British Army |
Role | Defence from invasion |
Commanders | |
Notable commanders | Sir Edmund Ironside |
The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an armed citizen militia supporting the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard had 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, such as those who were too young or too old to join the regular armed services (regular military service was restricted to those aged 18 to 41) and those in reserved occupations. Excluding those already in the armed services, the civilian police or civil defence, approximately one in five men were volunteers. Their role was to act as a secondary defence force in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany.[1][2]
The Home Guard were to try to slow down the advance of the enemy even by a few hours to give the regular troops time to regroup. They were also to defend key communication points and factories in rear areas against possible capture by paratroops or
Men aged 17 to 65 years could join, although the age limits were not strictly enforced. One platoon had a fourteen year old and three men in their eighties enrolled in it. Service was unpaid but gave a chance for older or inexperienced soldiers to support the war effort.
Background
Early ideas for a home defence force prior to the Second World War
The origins of the Second World War Home Guard can be traced to Captain Tom Wintringham, who returned from the Spanish Civil War and wrote a book entitled How to Reform the Army. In the book, as well as many regular army reforms, Wintringham called for the creation of 12 divisions similar in composition to that of the International Brigades, which had been formed in Spain during the conflict. The divisions would be raised by voluntary enlistment targeting ex-servicemen and youths.[3] Despite great interest by the War Office in the book's assertion that 'security is possible', Wintringham's call to train 100,000 men immediately was not implemented.[citation needed]
Establishing a home defence force
When the United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, debates began in official circles about the possible ways in which the German military might invade Britain. In the first week of the conflict, numerous diplomatic and intelligence reports seemed to indicate that there was the possibility of an imminent German amphibious assault.
Churchill argued that some form of home defence force should be raised from people who were ineligible to serve in the regular forces but wished to serve their country. In a letter to Samuel Hoare, the Lord Privy Seal, on 8 October 1939, Churchill called for a Home Guard force of 500,000 men over the age of 40 to be formed.[4]
Early local grassroots formation of home defence forces
While government officials were debating the need for a home defence force, such a force was actually being formed without any official encouragement. In Essex, men not eligible for call-up into the armed forces were coming forward to join the self-styled "Legion of Frontiersmen".[4] Officials were soon informed of the development of the legion, with the Adjutant-General, Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson, arguing that the government should encourage the development of more unofficial organisations. The fear of invasion in 1939 quickly dissipated as it became evident that the German military was not in a position to launch an invasion of Britain; official enthusiasm for home defence forces waned and the legion appears to have dissolved itself at the same time.[4]
The
Increasing pressure on Government to form a home defence force
The government soon found itself under increasing pressure to extend the internment of suspect aliens to prevent the formation of a fifth column and to allow the population to take up arms to defend themselves against an invasion.[4] Calls for some form of home defence force soon began to be heard from the press and from private individuals. The press baron Lord Kemsley privately proposed to the War Office that rifle clubs form the nucleus of a home defence force, and Josiah Wedgwood, a Labour MP, wrote to the prime minister asking that the entire adult population be trained in the use of arms and given weapons to defend themselves. Similar calls appeared in newspaper columns: in the 12 May issue of the Sunday Express, a brigadier called on the government to issue free arms licences and permits to buy ammunition to men possessing small arms, and the same day, the Sunday Pictorial asked if the government had considered training golfers in rifle shooting to eliminate stray parachutists.[4]
The calls alarmed government and senior military officials, who worried about the prospect of the population forming private defence forces that the army would not be able to control, and in mid-May, the Home Office issued a press release on the matter. It was the task of the army to deal with enemy parachutists, as any civilians who carried weapons and fired on German troops were likely to be executed if captured.[4] Moreover, any lone parachutist descending from the skies in the summer of 1940 was far more likely to be a downed RAF airman than a German Fallschirmjäger.
Nevertheless, private defence forces soon began to be formed throughout the country, often sponsored by employers seeking to bolster defence of their factories. This placed the government in an awkward position. The private forces, which the army might not be able to control, could well inhibit the army's efforts during an invasion, but to ignore the calls for a home defence force to be set up would be politically problematic.[4] An officially-sponsored home defence force would allow the government greater control and also allow for greater security around vulnerable areas such as munitions factories and airfields; but there was some confusion over who would form and control the force, with separate plans drawn up by the War Office and General Headquarters Home Forces under General Kirke.[4]
The government and senior military officials rapidly compared plans and, by 13 May 1940, worked out an improvised plan for a home defence force, to be called the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). The rush to complete a plan and announce it to the public had led to a number of administrative and logistical problems, such as how the volunteers in the new force would be armed, which caused problems as the force evolved. On the evening of 14 May 1940, Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden gave a radio broadcast announcing the formation of the LDV and calling for volunteers to join the force: "You will not be paid, but you will receive a uniform and will be armed."[4]
Official recognition and enlistment
In the official radio announcement, Eden called on men between the ages of 17 and 65 years in Britain who were not in military service but wished to defend their country against an invasion to enroll in the LDV at their local police station.[5] It was anticipated that up to 500,000 men might volunteer, a number that conformed generally with the Army's expectation of the total numbers required to fulfill the LDV's expected functions. However, the announcement was met with much enthusiasm: 250,000 volunteers tried to sign up in the first seven days, and by July this had increased to 1.5 million.[5] Social groups such as cricket clubs began forming their own units, but the bulk were workplace-based, especially as co-operation from employers was necessary to ensure that volunteers would be available for training and operational patrols. Indeed, many employers envisaged the LDV units primarily as protecting industrial plants from fifth column attack.
Women and the Home Guard
The Home Guard did not initially admit women to its ranks. Some women formed their own groups like the Amazon Defence Corps.[6] In December 1941, a more organised but still unofficial Women's Home Defence (WHD) was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill, Labour MP for Fulham West. WHD members were given weapons training and basic military training. Limited female involvement was permitted later, on the understanding that these would be in traditional female support roles (e.g., clerical, driving) and not in any way seen as combatants.[7]
Logistics and practical support issues
The War Office continued to lay down the administrative and logistical foundations for the LDV organisation.[8] Eden's public words were generally interpreted as an explicit promise to provide everyone who volunteered with a personal firearm. In retrospect, it was recognised that recruitment would have been better limited to the numbers required (and capable of being armed), with later volunteers given places on a waiting list. However, once volunteers had been enlisted, it was considered impossible from a public relations perspective to then dismiss them. Nevertheless, the regular forces saw no priority in providing more arms and equipment to the new force than would have been needed had numbers been properly constrained in the first place.
In telegrams to the
Implementation of the legislation proved to be extremely difficult, particularly as the primary focus of the War Office and General Headquarters Home Forces was on Operation Dynamo, the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk between 27 May and 4 June 1940.[8] The apparent lack of focus led to many LDV members becoming impatient, particularly when it was announced that volunteers would receive only armbands printed with "L.D.V." on them until proper uniforms could be manufactured, and there was no mention of weapons being issued to units. The impatience led to many units conducting their own patrols without official permission, often led by men who had previously served in the armed forces.[8]
The presence of many veterans and the appointment of ex-officers as commanders of LDV units, only worsened the situation, with many believing that they did not require training before being issued weapons. That led to numerous complaints being received by the War Office and the press and to many ex-senior officers attempting to use their influence to obtain weapons or permission to begin patrolling.[8] The issue of weapons to LDV units was particularly problematic for the War Office, as it was recognised that the rearming and reequipping of the regular forces would have to take precedence over the LDV. All civilian firearms, especially shotguns and pistols, previously were to have been handed in to local police stations[citation needed], and volunteers were allowed often by the police to retrieve these for their LDV duties[citation needed]. In rural areas, volunteer shotgun users initially organised themselves into vigilante groups, dubbed 'the parashots' by the press, to watch the early morning skies for German parachutists.
For public (and enemy) consumption, the government maintained that large stocks of Lee-Enfield rifles remained from the First World War, but the actual total reserve stockpile amounted to 300,000, and they had already been earmarked for the expansion of the army by 122 infantry battalions. Instead, the War Office issued instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails and emergency orders were placed for Ross rifles from Canada.[8] In the absence of proper weapons, local units improvised weapons, especially grenades, mortars and grenade projectors, from whatever came to hand, and the legacy of self-reliant improvisation in the face of what was interpreted as official disregard and obstruction was to remain as a characteristic of the Home Guard throughout its existence.
Unclear role, low morale and disciplinary problems
Another problem that was encountered as the LDV was organised was the definition of the role the organisation was to play. Initially, in the eyes of the War Office and the army, the LDV was to act as 'an armed police constabulary', which, in the event of an invasion, was to man roadblocks, observe German troop movements, convey information to the regular forces and guard places of strategic or tactical importance. The War Office believed that the LDV would act best in such a passive role because of its lack of training, weapons and proper equipment.[8] Such a role clashed with the expectations of LDV commanders and members who believed that the organisation would be best suited to an active role of hunting down and killing parachutists, and fifth columnists, as well as attacking and harassing German forces.[8]
"In the popular mind it was the twin terrors of Nazi paratrooper and Fifth Columnist traitor which were the Home Guard’s nemesis, its natural enemy. Notwithstanding that the Home Guard actually spent most of its time preparing to defend 'nodal points' against tank attack, operating anti-aircraft artillery or locating unexploded bombs."
The clash led to morale problems and even more complaints to the press and the War Office from LDV members who were opposed, as they saw it, the government's leaving them defenceless and placing them in a noncombatant role.[8] Complaints about the role of the LDV and continuing problems encountered by the War Office in its attempts to clothe and arm the LDV, led the government to respond to public pressure in August, redefining the role of the LDV to include delaying and obstructing German forces through any means possible.[8] Also in August, the Home Office and MI5 instituted the 'Invasion List', a list of around 1,000 persons whose 'recent conduct or words indicated that they were likely to assist the enemy' and who would be apprehended by the police in the event of an invasion, hoping thereby to forestall the expectations of many LDV volunteers that they would then be empowered to act as 'Judge, Jury and Executioner' of potential collaborators and fifth columnists.[citation needed]
At the same time, Churchill, who had assumed the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, became involved in the matter after being alerted to the problems, obtaining a summary of the current LDV position from the War Office on 22 June 1940. After reviewing the summary, Churchill wrote to Eden stating that in his opinion, one of the main causes of disciplinary and morale problems stemmed from the uninspiring title of the LDV and suggesting that it be renamed as the 'Home Guard'.
Formal combatant status
This section needs additional citations for verification. (May 2019) |
The Home Guard in 1940 were an armed uniformed civilian militia, entirely distinct from the regular armed forces. Volunteers originally had no recognised military rank, were not subject to military discipline and could withdraw (or be withdrawn by their employers) at any time. In 1941, nominal ranks were introduced for Home Guard 'officers', and in 1942, limited conscription was implemented intended for circumstances where Home Guard forces were taking over functions from regular forces (chiefly coastal artillery and anti-aircraft batteries), and non-officer volunteers became 'privates'. Volunteers remained legally civilians and failure to attend when ordered to do so was punishable by civilian authorities. Nevertheless, the British Government consistently maintained that as Home Guard service was strictly to be undertaken only in approved uniform. Uniformed volunteers would be lawful combatants within the
and was not entirely comparable to combatants in a war between sovereign states.German and Austrian military traditions were, if anything, more absolute in rejecting any recognition of civilian militia combatants as prisoners of war since the German response to the nonuniformed francs-tireurs who had attacked German forces during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It had long been standard German military practice that civilians who attacked German troops in areas that opposing regular forces had surrendered, withdrawn or chosen not to defend should be considered properly liable to be shot out of hand. Indeed, German military doctrine had always maintained that their military forces were further entitled in such circumstances to take reprisals against unarmed local civilians - taking and executing hostages, and leveling villages: "fight chivalrously against an honest foe; armed irregulars deserve no quarter".[9][10] The actions of regular German forces during the Second World War consistently conformed to those principles: captured partisans in the Soviet Union and the Balkans, whether they were fighting in uniform or not, were killed on the spot. German radio broadcasts described the British Home Guard as 'gangs of murderers' and left no doubt that they would not be regarded as lawful combatants.[citation needed]
Organisation, deployment and tactics
This section needs additional citations for verification. (February 2020) |
By the end of 1940, the Home Guard was established into 1,200 battalions, 5,000 companies and 25,000 platoons.[11] For its primary defensive role, each section was trained and equipped to operate as a single, largely independent 'battle platoon', with an operational establishment of between 25 and 30 men at any one time although, as volunteers would also have full-time jobs, the numbers of volunteers in each section would be around twice that establishment. In the event of an invasion, the Home Guard battle platoons in a town would be under the overall control of an Army military commander and maintain contact with that commander with a designated 'runner' (no Home Guard units were issued with wireless sets until 1942), who would usually be a motorbike owner. Otherwise, the battle platoon was static and would defend a defined local area and report on enemy activity in that area, but it was neither equipped nor expected to join up with the mobile forces of the regular army. Each Home Guard unit would establish and prepare a local strongpoint, from which 'civilians' (non-Home Guard) would be cleared if possible, and aim to defend that strongpoint for as long as possible. It might be forced to retreat towards a neighbouring strongpoint but would not surrender so long as ammunition held out. Most towns of any size would have a number of such Home Guard units, each defending its own strongpoint and providing 'defence in depth', which should ideally be sited to offer supporting fire to cover one another and to control road access through the town from all directions.
Each battle platoon had a headquarters section; commander, second in command, runner, and at least one marksman 'sniper' with an M1917 Enfield rifle. The fighting force of the platoon consisted of three squads of around 8 men, each squad having a three-man automatic weapons group (usually with one either of a BAR or Lewis gun) and a rifle/bomb group armed with M1917 rifles, grenades and sticky-bombs, and a Thompson or Sten sub-machine gun if possible.[12] Men without rifles should all have shotguns, if available. The basic tactical principle was 'aggressive defence'; fire would be held until the enemy were within the defensive perimeter of the town in force and they would then be attacked with concentrated firepower of bombs, grenades, shotguns and automatic weapons (as much as possible from above and from the rear), with the object of forcing them into cover close by. Retreating enemy forces would be counterattacked (again preferably from the rear), the automatic weapons group of each squad providing covering fire while the bombing group attacked with grenades, submachine guns and shotguns. As many Germans as possible should be killed, and no prisoners would be taken.
Battle tactics were derived substantially from the experience of Spanish Republican forces although they also drew on the experience of the British Army (and the IRA) in Ireland. The emphasis was on drawing the Germans into fighting in central urban areas at short ranges, where stone buildings would provide cover; lines of communication between units would be short; the Home Guard's powerful arsenal of shotguns, bombs and grenades would be most effective; and German tanks and vehicles would be constrained by narrow, winding streets.
Secret roles of the Home Guard
The Home Guard had a number of secret roles. That included sabotage units who would disable factories and petrol installations following the invasion. Members with outdoor survival skills and experience (especially as gamekeepers or poachers) could be recruited into the Auxiliary Units, an extremely secretive force of more highly trained guerrilla units with the task of hiding behind enemy lines after an invasion, emerging to attack and destroy supply dumps, disabling tanks and trucks, assassinating collaborators, and killing sentries and senior German officers with sniper rifles.[13] They would operate from pre-prepared secret underground bases, excavated at night with no official records, in woods, in caves, or otherwise concealed.
These concealed bases, upwards of 600 in number, were able to support units ranging in size from squads to companies.[14] In the event of an invasion, all Auxiliary Units would disappear into their operational bases and would not maintain contact with local Home Guard commanders, who should indeed be wholly unaware of their existence. Hence, although the Auxiliaries were Home Guard volunteers and wore Home Guard uniforms, they would not participate in the conventional phase of their town's defence but would be activated once the local Home Guard defence had ended to inflict maximum mayhem and disruption over a further necessarily brief but violent period.
Active military combat
It is a common fallacy that the Home Guard never fired a shot in anger during the whole of the Second World War. In fact, individual Home Guardsmen helped man
A major new function emerged for the Home Guard after the German bombing campaign, the Blitz, in 1940 and 1941; resulting in large numbers of unexploded bombs in urban areas. Home Guard units took on the task of locating unexploded bombs after raids and, if such bombs were found (often after several months or years), would commonly assist in sealing off the danger area and evacuating civilians. Most Home Guard wartime fatalities occurred in the course of that task. Aside from deaths in accidents, the Home Guard lost a total of 1,206 members on duty to unexploded bombs, air and rocket attacks during the war.[16][17]
Equipment and training
For the first few weeks the LDV were poorly armed since the regular forces had priority for weapons and equipment. Since the government could not admit the severe shortage of basic armaments for the regular troops in 1940, the public remained deeply frustrated at the failure to issue rifles to the LDV. Rifles were a particular problem, as domestic production of new Lee-Enfield rifles had ceased after the First World War; and in the summer of 1940 there were no more than 1.5 million serviceable frontline military rifles available in total. Contracts had been placed in the UK, Canada and the United States to build new factories for an updated Lee-Enfield model (designated Rifle No. 4), but in 1940, they were still a long way from volume production. The LDV's original role had been envisaged by the army as largely observing and reporting enemy movements, but it swiftly changed to a more aggressive role. Nevertheless, it would have been expected to fight well-trained and equipped troops despite having only negligible training and only weapons such as home-made bombs and shotguns (a solid ammunition for shotguns was developed for that purpose), personal sidearms and firearms that belonged in museums. Patrols were carried out on foot, by bicycle, even on horseback and often without uniforms, although all volunteers wore an armband printed with the letters "LDV". There were also river patrols using the private craft of members.[18]
Many officers from the First World War armed themselves with Webley Mk VI .455 revolvers (officers had been expected to purchase their sidearms privately and retained them in civilian life). There were also numerous private attempts to produce armoured vehicles by adding steel plates to cars or lorries, often armed with machine guns.[19] These improvised vehicles included the Armadillo armoured truck, the Bison mobile pillbox and the Bedford OXA armoured car (some of these makeshift vehicles were also operated by RAF units for aerodrome defense).
Lord Beaverbrook, the Minister of Aircraft Production, had sponsored the emergency creation of the "Car Armoured Light Standard" (a commercial car body with a simple armoured hull and light machine gun), known as the Beaverette, for the British armed forces but, to the intense annoyance of the British Army command, he insisted on reserving considerable numbers for Home Guard units guarding key air components factories. LDV units broke into museums, appropriated whatever weapons could be found and equipped themselves with private weapons such as shotguns. Many veterans who had served in the First World War had retained German sidearms as trophies, but ammunition was scarce.[8] Members of the public deposited their sporting rifles at their local police stations, to be used (on loan) by the LDV, and local police forces themselves donated their stocks of military rifles, again on loan, but those expedients provided only around 8,000 rifles (although that number did not include volunteers' use of their own firearms).
Ex-
Supplies of small arms to the Home Guard improved radically after July 1940, when the active support of US President
Within a few months, the Home Guard had acquired proper uniforms and equipment as the immediate needs of the regular forces were satisfied. Special trains were laid on to rush the M1917 rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles to Home Guard units, and by the end of July, all had been distributed. Priority in mid-1940 was given to Home Guard units on the South Coast and
Nevertheless, Home Guard members continued to express dissatisfaction with their armaments until 1943 since not all of the 1.5 million members could be provided with their own rifle or pistol. Although large numbers of M1917 Enfield rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles had been purchased for the use of the Home Guard, they had had to be laboriously cleaned of their heavy cosmoline packing grease by the Home Guard units themselves. All the American guns (M1917 Enfield Rifles, BAR, Lewis light machine guns, and Browing M1917 machine guns) used the .30-06 Springfield cartridge, an 0.30 inch round, a type of ammunition totally different from and more powerful than the 0.303 round used by the service issue British Lee–Enfield rifle. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) red band was painted around the fore end of the stock of the Enfield and BAR weapons as a warning since a 0.303 round wouldn't load, but jam the rifle.
The Thompson guns used .45 ACP pistol ammunition, again not British Army standard, which was one major reason that the weapons had been turned down for use by the regular army in the first place. Indeed, it rapidly became accepted that any weapons firing US calibre .30 ammunition would go to the Home Guard. Each gun came with an adequate supply of ammunition: 50 rounds for each Enfield, 750 for each BAR and up to 1,000 rounds for the 'Tommy Guns'. However, Home Guard units were commonly not allowed to fire them in practice shooting as until America entered the war, there were no reserve ammunition stocks, which reinforced the impression that they were not frontline weapons.
For regular shooting practice, the Home Guard mainly borrowed
Home Guard training at Osterly Park had disseminated experience from
The Home Guard inherited weapons that the regular army no longer required, such as the
"Croft's Pikes"
By late 1940, the Home Guard had amassed 847,000 rifles, 47,000
Captain
Fifth Column
The
Now that Britain might potentially face invasion, the British press speculated that the German Gestapo had already prepared two lists of British civilians: "The Black Book" of known anti-fascists and prominent Jews who would be rounded up following an invasion and 'The Red Book' of 'Nazi sympathisers' who would support the German invaders as a fifth column.[citation needed] The police and security services found themselves deluged with a mass of denunciations and accusations against suspected fifth columnists. General Ironside, Commander in Chief, Home Forces, was convinced that substantial landowners in the British fifth column had already prepared secret landing strips in South East England for the use of German airborne forces.[citation needed] The Imperial General Staff, spurred on by Churchill, pressed for widespread internment of Nazi- sympathisers.
The government's worst fears were briefly thought to have been confirmed[
However, following the loss at sea on 2 July 1940 of the SS Arandora Star, carrying German and Italian internees to Canada, the impracticalities and potential injustices of internment became more apparent, and the public understanding of the fifth column threat changed from being directed towards enemy nationals towards upper and upper-middle class Englishmen.[citation needed] Within a few weeks, the Security Services admitted that it had been unable to confirm any actual instance of organised fifth column activity or even any actual confirmed fifth columnist. Churchill, "with an impressive display of amnesia"[citation needed], asserted in the House of Commons at the end of August 1940 that he had always considered the fifth column threat to be exaggerated, and many of those detained were silently released. From then on, however, the primary official response to fears of fifth column activity was that the names of those for whom there was substantial grounds for suspicion would be added to the 'Invasion List' and that fifth column activity otherwise would be countered by the Home Guard.
There had been no active Fifth Column actually established by the Germans in Britain in 1940 although numbers of fascist sympathisers might have joined one had they been approached. Nevertheless, Home Guard volunteers continued to assume that a major part of their military role would be to apprehend potential fifth columnists, hunt down and kill any that might mobilise in support of an invasion and prevent their linking up with German paratroops.[citation needed]
Paratrooper defence
The use of German paratroopers in
Official British intelligence reports in 1940 gave credence to the belief that German paratroops routinely engaged in 'dirty tricks' by appearing in the uniforms of opposing forces or masquerading as civilians. Stray parachutists separated from their units were claimed to have feigned surrender to overpower and kill their captors with concealed weapons. In the first (unofficial) published Home Guard training manuals such warnings were re-enforced, with the advice that "the pretenders should be promptly and suitably dealt with" although otherwise official Home Guard guidance would avoid putting 'shoot to kill' orders in writing.
Following the German airborne capture of
To spread word in the event of an invasion, the Home Guard set up a relatively simple code to warn their compatriots. For instance, the word "Cromwell" indicated that a paratrooper invasion was imminent, and "Oliver" meant that the invasion had commenced. Additionally, the Home Guard arranged to use church bells as a call-to-arms for the rest of the LDV, which led to a series of complex rules governing who had keys to bell towers, and the ringing of church bells was forbidden at all other times.[citation needed]
Uniform
On 22 May 1940, eight days after the formation of the LDV, the War Office announced that 250,000 field service caps were to be distributed as the first part of the uniform of the new force and that khaki brassards or "armlets" were being manufactured, each carrying the letters "LDV" in black. In the meantime, LDV units improvised their own brassards with whatever materials were available. Local Women's Voluntary Service branches were often asked to produce them, sometimes by using old puttees donated by veterans.[15]
The British Army used loose-fitting work clothes called "Overalls, Denim" which were made of khaki-coloured cotton twill fabric and consisted of a short jacket or "blouse" and trousers. They were cut to the same style as and were designed to be worn over the 1938 pattern Battle Dress. It was announced that 90,000 sets of denim overalls would be released from military stores at once and that more would be issued as soon as they could be manufactured.[26]
On 25 June,
The issue of uniforms proceeded slowly because of shortages and the need to re-equip and enlarge the army following the
As winter approached, there were many complaints from Home Guardsmen who had to patrol or stand sentry without the benefit of a uniform overcoat. Therefore, a large
Northern Ireland
In Northern Ireland, the provincial government had placed the LDV under the control of the Royal Ulster Constabulary; they were known as the Ulster Defence Volunteers, and then the Ulster Home Guard. The police held large stocks of black cloth in reserve, for use by the Ulster Special Constabulary in the event of large-scale civil insurgency. The black cloth was quickly made up into uniforms in the style of the denim overalls by the many clothing factories in the province. The Ulster Home Guard kept their black uniforms until Battle Dress began to be issued in April 1941.[26]
Ranks
When the Home Guard was first formed, it had its own rank structure. As a unit of volunteers, it was thought that there should be a system of appointed ranks, with officers who did not hold a King's Commission.
It was not until November 1940 that it was decided to bring the Home Guard structure into line with the regular army. From February 1941, officers and men were known by regular army ranks except that "Private" was not used until the spring of 1942, when the rank of "Volunteer" was dropped in favour of "Private".
After November 1940, officers were granted a King's Commission but were regarded as junior in rank to a regular army officer of the equivalent rank and senior to army officers of a junior rank.
Home Guard pre-November 1940 | Zone Commander | Group Commander | Battalion Commander | Company Commander | Platoon Commander | No equivalent | Squad Commander | Volunteer | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Home Guard post-November 1940 | Brigadier | Colonel | Lieutenant Colonel | Major | Captain | Lieutenant | Second Lieutenant | Warrant Officer Class I | Warrant Officer Class II | No equivalent | Sergeant | Corporal | Lance Corporal | Volunteer[note 1] |
Rank insignia post-November 1940 | ||||||||||||||
Regular Army equivalents | Brigadier | Colonel | Lieutenant colonel | Major | Captain | Lieutenant | Second Lieutenant | Warrant Officer Class I | Warrant Officer Class II | Colour Sergeant | Sergeant | Corporal | Lance Corporal | Private |
American participation
Churchill had recognised that the Home Guard offered a powerful opportunity to promote pro-British sentiments in the United States and hoped that by encouraging US interest and participation in the Home Guard, it might be possible to advance his aspirations to bring the United States into the war against Germany. Although there were also strong practical advantages in directing weapons sourced in the United States towards the Home Guard, rather than the regular army, the prompt issuing of very large numbers of modern American rifles and machine guns to the Home Guard still offered a golden opportunity for British propaganda, which was widely exploited.[citation needed]
The messages sought to be disseminated in the propaganda was that 'Britain can take it' and would never concede to Nazi domination and would be a steadfast ally and also that the Britain being defended was a repository of traditional civility and humanitarian values. One consequence was to establish a representation of the Home Guard through popular films, such as
Committee for American Aid for the Defense of British Homes
In November 1940, a committee was formed to collect donations of pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns and binoculars from American civilians; to be provided to Home Guard units. Most useful were pistols, especially police issue revolvers, provided from the reserve stocks of US city police departments, many of which went to support Home Guard Auxiliary units.[citation needed]
1st American Squadron of the Home Guard
On 17 May 1940, the
The US ambassador in London, Joseph Kennedy, opposed the mustering of citizens from a neutral power. He feared that in the event of invasion, a civilian squadron would make all citizens of the then still-neutral America living in London liable to be shot by the invading Germans as francs-tireurs.[29][30]
Evolution of role and eventual disbandment
The
Disbandment
It was only when the tide on the
Recognition certificates
Male members were rewarded with a certificate, bearing the words: "In the years when our Country was in mortal danger, (name) who served (dates) gave generously of his time and powers to make himself ready for her defence by force of arms and with his life if need be.
Social impact
Anthony Eden summarised the raising and equipping of the British Home Guard during a debate in the House of Commons in November 1940, when he was Secretary of State for War: "No one will claim for the Home Guard that it is a miracle of organisation... but many would claim that it is a miracle of improvisation, and in that way it does express the particular genius of our people. If it has succeeded, as I think it has, it has been due to the spirit of the land and of the men in the Home Guard".[32]
General Sir John Burnett-Stuart, the commander of the 1st Aberdeen Battalion, commented that the Home Guard "was the outward and visible sign of the spirit of resistance".[25] The chief constable of Glasgow suggested that criminal elements joined the Home Guard to break, enter and loot during the blackout.[33]
Representations
Alison Uttley brought the Home Guard into her Little Grey Rabbit series of children's stories with Hare Joins The Home Guard in 1942.[34]
In the wartime Hollywood blockbuster film Mrs. Miniver starring Greer Garson, Clem Miniver (the father of the family) provides his own motor launch to form a Local Defence Volunteer 'River patrol'; together with whom he crosses the English Channel in support of the Dunkirk evacuation.
The British wartime propaganda film Went the Day Well? starring Thora Hird and made at Ealing Studios in 1942 focuses on how the Home Guard and the population of a village defeat the combined forces of German paratroops and local fifth columnists.
Noël Coward wrote a song in 1943, "Could You Please Oblige Us with a Bren Gun?" that pokes fun at the disorder and shortage of supplies and equipment that were common in the Home Guard, and indeed all of Britain, during the war.
The Home Guard also played a significant part in Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger's 1943 film The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp. In it, the lead character, a career soldier who had retired from the active list, joins the Home Guard and rises to a leadership position in it. He has planned a Home Guard training exercise for the following day; in which he himself would be the designated 'flag target' for capture by the opposite side; but they break the rules and seize him in advance in a Turkish bath. The film celebrates and justifies the Home Guard fundamental philosophy, that in the combat against Nazism all the previous 'rules of war' had been rendered obsolete.
The 1943 British film Get Cracking starred George Formby as a Home Guard lance corporal who is constantly losing and winning back his stripe. Formby's platoon is involved in rivalry with the Home Guard sections of the local villages Major Wallop and Minor Wallop. At the end of the film Formby is promoted to sergeant after inventing a secret weapon – a home-made tank.
The Home Guard also featured in the 1971 Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks.
In the last of his 'Old Sam' series of monologues, Stanley Holloway wrote of the protagonist of the series, Sam, attempting to join the army at the outbreak of war in 1939. In the series, Sam is a serviceman who fought at the Battle of Waterloo and in the First World War as an adult. In the monologue dealing with World War II Sam is sent to the Home Guard instead of the front line, much to his bemusement, and whilst there finds that his stories of glory are debunked by another character who turns out to be the Duke of Wellington with whom he fought at Battle of Waterloo.
The Home Guard appears in a scene in the film
Dad's Army
The Home Guard was immortalised in the British television comedy Dad's Army, which followed the formation and running of a platoon in the fictional south coast town of Walmington-on-Sea, and is widely regarded as having kept the efforts of the Home Guard in the public consciousness. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and was loosely based on Perry's own experiences in the Home Guard.[36] Broadcast on BBC Television from 31 July 1968 (The Man and the Hour) to 13 November 1977 (Never Too Old), the sitcom ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total (74 regular episodes, 3 missing episodes and 3 Christmas specials), plus a radio version based on the television scripts, two feature films and a stage show. The series regularly gained audiences of 18 million viewers and is still repeated worldwide.
Dad's Army focuses primarily on a platoon of Home Guard volunteers ineligible for military service on grounds of age, and as such the series mainly featured older British actors, including Arthur Lowe, John Le Mesurier, Arnold Ridley and John Laurie (Ridley and Laurie had served in the Home Guard during the war). Among relative youngsters in the regular cast were Ian Lavender, Clive Dunn (who played the elderly Jones), Frank Williams, James Beck (who died suddenly during production of the programme's sixth series in 1973) and Bill Pertwee.
In 2004, Dad's Army was voted into fourth place in a BBC poll to find Britain's Best Sitcom. It had been placed 13th in a list of the 100 Greatest British Television Programmes drawn up by the British Film Institute in 2000 and voted for by industry professionals. The series has influenced popular culture in the United Kingdom, with the series' catchphrases and characters being well known. It highlighted a forgotten aspect of defence during the Second World War. The Radio Times magazine listed Captain Mainwaring's "You stupid boy!" among the 25 greatest put-downs on TV. A film featuring Bill Nighy, Sir Michael Gambon, Toby Jones and Sir Tom Courtenay was released in 2016.
Home Guard honours
Awarded to the Home Guard |
Ribbon | Medal | Notes |
2 (Section Commander George Inwood), (Lieutenant William Foster) | George Cross (GC) | Both Posthumous | |
24 | Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) |
Military Division | |
129 | Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) |
Military Division | |
396 | Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) |
Military Division | |
13 | George Medal (GM) | ||
408 | British Empire Medal (BEM) | Military Division | |
1 | British Empire Medal (BEM) | Civil Division | |
1 | Military Medal (MM) | ||
? | Defence Medal (United Kingdom) | ||
1 | Mentioned in dispatches | ||
58 | King's Commendation for Brave Conduct |
2 were Posthumous |
Post-war revivals of the Home Guard
Home Guard: 1952–1957
Not long after the Home Guard had been disbanded, suggestions began to be made that it be revived in the face of a new threat from the
Although preliminary planning started, such as the identification of suitable battalion commanders, nothing concrete was done because of financial constraints.
The
Uniform consisted of standard 1949 pattern battledress and midnight blue
There was much criticism of the cost of the Home Guard, especially the full-time officers, since all battalions had a paid adjutant and quartermaster whose workload was quite limited, especially in Category B units. Accordingly, on 20 December 1955, it was announced that there would be a "reorganisation on a reserve basis". The essence was all battalions would be reduced to a cadre basis, and paid staff would have to effect the change before resigning their commissions or transferring to the Reserve Roll by 1 April 1956. A certificate of thanks was issued to those who had served in an active role.[37] Even those reforms were not enough, and on 26 June 1957, John Hare, the Secretary of State for War, announced in parliament that the Home Guard would be disbanded on 31 July, making a saving of £100,000 in that year.[41]
Home Service Force: 1982–1993
At the height of the Cold War, the Home Service Force was established in 1982, starting with four "pilot companies". Recruitment began in earnest in 1984, but was limited to those who had previously served in the armed forces or reserves. Some 48 HSF units were formed, each hosted by an existing Territorial Army battalion. After the end of the Cold War, disbandment of the force commenced in 1992[42] as a part of the "peace dividend".
Famous Home Guards
- John Brophy, Anglo-Irish soldier, journalist and author who wrote more than 40 books, mostly based on his experiences during World War I.
- Zulfiqar Ali Bukhari, Urdu broadcaster and first director-general of Radio Pakistan (BBC Home Guard)[45]
- Sir Henry Chilton, GCMG, Diplomat, Ambassador to Chile, Argentina, and Spain during the Spanish Civil War[46]
- Cecil Day-Lewis, poet and later Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom (Musbury Home Guard)[47]
- George Formby, actor, singer-songwriter and comedian (Blackpool Home Guard, Corporal Despatch Rider)[48]
- John Laurie, actor notably in Dad's Army (Paddington Home Guard)
- H. V. Morton, journalist and travel writer (Binsted platoon commander)[49]
- C. S. Lewis, writer (Oxford Home Guard)[50]
- A. A. Milne, children's author (captain in the Hartfield and Forest Row Home Guard)[51]
- Patrick Moore, astronomer and broadcaster (East Grinstead Home Guard)[52]
- rugby union football international (Palace of Westminster Home Guard), died during training at Westminster – the only MP to die on duty in the Home Guard.[53][54][55]
- George Orwell, author and journalist (Sergeant, Greenwich Home Guard)[56]
- Felix Powell, songwriter (Peacehaven Home Guard – committed suicide on duty)[58]
- Arnold Ridley, another Dad's Army actor (Caterham Home Guard)[59]
- Frank Whitcombe, England rugby union international (Sergeant, Wibsey Home Guard)
See also
- Operation Sea Lion, Nazi Germany's planned invasion of Britain
- Auxiliary Units, a British "stay behind" undercover force of 1940
- Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
- Volunteer Training Corps (World War I), the British voluntary home defence force of World War I
- The American Committee for the Defense of British Homes, donated weapons, which went to the Home Guard.
International:
- Armia Krajowa, the dominant Polish resistance movement in World War II German-occupied Poland
- Black Brigades, one of the Fascist paramilitary groups operating in the Italian Social Republic during the final years of World War II
- Canadian Rangers, a group in Canada that functions like the Home Guard
- State defense forces, non-federal military forces in the United States of America that operate in various states, similar to the Home Guard
- Volkssturm, German national militia of the last months of World War II
- Volunteer Defence Corps, Australian Home Guard
- Volunteer Fighting Corps, armed civil defense units planned in 1945 in the Empire of Japan
Notes
- ^ Private after 1942
References
- ISBN 0345024346.
- ISBN 0-7006-1412-5.
- OCLC 7555427.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-820577-5.
- ^ ISBN 0719062020.
- ^ Gillies, Midge (19 June 2006). "Defending their realm". The Guardian. Retrieved 13 March 2007.
- ^ Stephen M. Cullen (5 February 2016). "Mum's army: the forgotten role of women in the Home Guard". The Conversation. Retrieved 22 July 2018.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-820577-5.
- ISBN 978-0-7509-6970-3.
- ^ "Lone Sentry: Parachutists, German (WWII U.S. Intelligence Bulletin, September 1942)". lonesentry.com. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
- ^ Home Guard, Hansard, 19 November 1940, retrieved 11 January 2019
- hdl:1826/6164.
Some British weapons, notably the Sten machine carbine and the ST Grenade ('Sticky Bomb'), were inherently dangerous designs and accidents were bound to occur through carelessness or complacency. The Home Guard was certainly not unique in this respect, as Captain Clifford Shore recounted [...] … one of my [RAF Regiment] sergeants shot himself with a Sten gun; in a crowded tramcar of all places… I liked the particular NCO immensely and realised that no matter what I could do there could only be one finding for such a case – that of negligence. It was a good job the magazine was not on the Sten otherwise there might have been wholesale killing… [...] 1,206 Home Guards died while on duty, and, never having engaged the enemy in ground combat, statistics are not on the organisation's side.
- ISBN 978-1-47383-377-7.
- ^ Laskow, Sarah. "There Are Hundreds of Secret Underground WWII Bases Hidden in British Forests." www.atlasobscura.com, 30 November 2016. Retrieved 1 December 2016.
- ^ ISBN 1848689144.
- ^ Strength and Casualties of the Armed Forces and Auxiliary Services of the United Kingdom 1939–1945 HMSO 1946 Cmd.6832
- UK Central Statistical OfficeStatistical Digest of the War HMSO 1951
- ISBN 0750918233.
- ISBN 1901313085.
- ^ Cullen, Stephen. "Home Guard Socialism: A Vision of a People's Army." University of Warwick, 2006. 46. Retrieved 23 August 2014.
- ^ Levy, Bert "Yank" and Tom Wintringham (Introduction). Guerilla Warfare. Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1941. State Library Victoria. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
- OCLC 241017890.
- ^ a b "Army Supplementary Estimate 1941 (1942)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 11 March 1942. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- ^ "The Home Guard (1942)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Lords. 4 February 1942. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- ^ ISBN 0-19-820577-5.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-84884-269-4.
- ^ "Local Defence Volunteers Uniform (1940)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Written-Answers. 25 June 1940. Retrieved 6 April 2014.
- ^ a b "Home Guard (1940)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 30 July 1940. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- ^ Kieser, Egbert. Hitler on the Doorstep: Operation 'Sea Lion' : The German Plan to Invade Britain, 1940 Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1997
ISBN 1557503907
- ISBN 1848856997Google Books; Retrieved 24 May 2017
- ^ Taylor, Bernard (22 March 2011). "Home Guard certificate". quintonatwar.org.uk. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 8 March 2020.
- ^ "Home Guard (1940)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 19 November 1940. Retrieved 11 June 2017.
- ISBN 0954054911
- ^ "Publications for Children." www.alisonuttley.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
- ^ Boorman, John. Hope and Glory. Columbia Pictures. 1987. Film.
- ^ "Obituary: Jimmy Perry". BBC News. 23 October 2013. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-948527-10-4.
- ISBN 0713995718. Google Books. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
- ^ "Home Guard (1952)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 2 December 1952. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- Archive.org. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
- ^ "Home Guard Disbandment (1957)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 26 June 1957. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
- ^ "The HSF (1982 – 1992): History Of The Home Service Force." www.hsfassociation.com. Retrieved 20 July 2014.
- ^ Jesse Oldershaw (camera); Andy Cousins (editor) (25 April 2009). Tony Benn – Stop the War Conference 2009 (Adobe Flash) (Streaming http). Stop the War Coalition. Event occurs at 3:06. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021.
- ^ A fuller transcript of Benn's speech, in which he called the Home Guard "Dad's Army", is given in the section of his Wikipedia biography titled "Retirement and final years."
- ^ Babar, Mirza. "Arrival of Radio in India" The Friday Times, 17 October 2014; Retrieved 17 January 2015
- ^ Times obituary
- ISBN 1848547048
- ^ Daly, Michael; Daly, Kevin. "George Formby - War Years". GeorgeFormby.org. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
- ^ "Records of Hampshire Home Guard units". Retrieved 16 June 2023.
- ISBN 978-1-85792-487-9.
- ^ "A.A. Milne | British author". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 5 September 2018.
- ISBN 978-3319006086(p. 21)
- ^ "Casualty Details: Munro, Patrick" Commonwealth War Graves Commission; Retrieved 15 May 2016
- ISBN 978-1-905326-24-2.
- ^ "Obituary". The Times. No. 49226. 4 May 1942. p. 6.
- ^ "Orwell Diaries 1938–1942". Orwell Diaries. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
- ISBN 978-0719065569page 13
- Mikkelson, Barbara (15 March 2014). "Bobby McFerrin Suicide Rumor". Snopes.com. Retrieved 22 October 2009.," took his own life. Wearing the uniform of the Peacehaven Home Guard, former British Staff Sergeant Felix Powell shot himself in the heart using his own rifle.
On 1942, the man who in 1915 wrote the music for "Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag and Smile, Smile, Smile
- ^ Homewood, Dave (2008). "Arnold Ridley's REAL WARS". CambridgeAirForce.org.nz. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008. Retrieved 17 January 2015.
Further reading
- ISBN 978-0-11-290460-1.
- Foster, Col. Rodney (2011). The Real Dad's Army (War diaries of a Home Guard officer). Viking. ISBN 978-0-670-91982-6.
External links
- Clarke, D. M. (2011). Arming the British Home Guard, 1940–1944 (Thesis). Cranfield University.
- 23rd Sussex Home Guard British Re-Enactment Group
- The Home Guard
- Stonehouse Home Guard – 1945
- BBC History Home Guard pages
- The Home Guard of Great Britain - a website covering the entire country but with particular emphasis on units in the West Midlands - Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire
- The Humber Home Guard, Coventry Photos and Memorabilia
- Revealed: the real Dad's Army University of Manchester study.
- Home Guard operating in Bures, Suffolk
- Meldreth Home Guard Meldreth Home Guard: photographs and transcription of Home Guard diary
- Parashots Enrol – news item about volunteering for the LDV (Newsreel). British Pathé. 20 May 1940. Archived from the original on 27 August 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
- Britain's Citizen Army – news item about the duties of the Home Guard (Newsreel). British Pathé. 1 August 1940. Archived from the original on 11 June 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2010.
Home Guard inspected by General Sir Henry Parnall; procedure on seeing a parachutist. Fiery speech 'Your Motto is: kill the Boche!'
- The Home Guard Training Manual. 1942. (1940) by John Langdon-Davies