*********************
ABERDEENSHIRE,
ABERDEEN
Pte.
Hector Cameron is remembered:
"My
father Pte. Hector RCameron represented Aberdeen at the
Home Guard Stand Down Parade in London on the 3rd of December
1944. He was also the Aberdeen Representative at the Lord
Mayor's Dinner which took place the day before at the Mansion
House."
© Jean Fraser Cameron 2005 To
read this memoir in its original setting, the BBC's excellent
People's War Archive,
please click here. (You will leave
this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************
ANGLESEY
The Home Guard in Anglesey comprised
three Battalions:
- 1st
Anglesey Battalion -
Holyhead
-
2nd Anglesey Battalion
-
Menai Bridge
-
3rd Anglesey Battalion
-
Llangefni
**********************************************************
ARGYLLSHIRE,
KINTYRE
Home
Guardsman 'Curly' Gow Takes on 'Dicke' Goering is
the story of 'a feisty old Scotsman', Mr. James Gow.(You will leave this site).
*********************************************************
AYRSHIRE, LARGS
Mr.
William Murdoch in
Night
Watch reacts to a German invasion.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE,
BEDFORD
The fascinating memories of Mr. Donald
R. Church, in 1940 the fifteen-year-old member of a Bedford
unit, can be read by clicking the above title.
And
a brief further memory of service in the Bedford Home Guard
can be read by clicking
here.
(You will leave this site).
Mr.
Thomas Eats
remembers
air raids in Bedford and his service in the 1st Bedfordshire
Battalion. (You will leave this site).
Within
a detailed memoir,
'Home
Front' in Queen's Park, Mr. Ronald Sharman remembers
his Home Guard service.
(You will leave this site).
Mr. Richard Hughes
remembers
the Home Guard service of his father, a skilled machinist
at Allens. (You will leave this site)..
***************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE, CLOPHILL
In
Parachuting
Nuns and Blitzkreig - Dad's Army in Bedfordshire Mrs.
Mollie Jenkins recalls her father's Home Guard service in
Clophill. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE, DUNSTABLE
Mr. Morris Cook remembers
his experiences in the Dunstable Home Guard. (You will leave this site).
An
appropriate and illustrated
tribute
to Private Andrew Cameron DCM, MM (Ex Durham Light Infantry),
in 1941 a factory guard at A.C. Sphinx, Dunstable and member
of the factory Home Guard unit ('H' Company, 3rd Battalion,
Bedfordshire Home Guard, later 'B' Company, 6th Battalion).
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE, GRAVENHURST
and BIGGLESWADE
Lt.
Michael Foster
remembers.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE, KEMPSTON
Mr.
Joe Denton is interviewed and relates his
memories
of Home Guard places and activities. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BEDFORDSHIRE, KING'S
WALDEN
Mr.
David Stedman
remembers
his Home Guard service which included the rescue of a downed
Luftwaffe airman. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BERKSHIRE
BERKSHIRE
RECORD OFFICE holds a number of Home Guard documents, as
listed below:
Berkshire:
Berkshire Territorial and Auxiliary Forces Association minutes
1936-1949 (P/TA1/1/2) and scrapbook 1922-1952
(P/TA1/4/1).
Lord Glyn’s Home Guard papers including material relating
to the Upper Thames Patrol 1940-1960 (D/EGL/O149-174).
Bracknell:
A History of the 6th (Bracknell) Battalion Berkshire Home
Guard 1945 (D/EX1458/4).
Compton:
Photograph of the Home Guard c.1940s (CPC41/18/26).
Newbury: Local Defence Volunteer Corps number 2 platoon register
of personnel c.1940s (D/EX656/15).
Pangbourne:
Papers of the 4th (Pangbourne) Battalion Berkshire Home
Guard, including Battalion orders 1940-1942 (D/P132B/28/6).
Reading:
Records of the 7th (Huntley & Palmers Branch) Berkshire
Home Guard Association 1941-1970 (D/EX1615/1-5).
Photographs, probably of Home Guard unit at Samuel Elliott
and Sons, Ltd c.1940s (D/EX1263/12/11).
Photographs of Women’s Army Corps parade (n.d.) (D/EX831/1).
Sandhurst:
Copy of the ‘B’ (Sandhurst) Company 11th Berkshire
Battalion Home Guard history [1940-1945] 2005 (T/A156/2).
Sonning:
Photographs of Sonning Home Guard, including Woodley Platoon
1940-1944 (D/EX1458/1-3).
Theale:
Register and accounts of Theale Home Guard 1940-1941
(D/P132B/28/5).
This guide is correct as of January 2006.
Please contact the Berkshire Record Office to request a
copy of the most up-to-date version. Contact details are
as follows:
Berkshire Record Office
9 Coley Avenue
Reading
RG1 6AF
Tel 0118 901 5132
Fax 0118 901 5131
Email arch@reading.gov.uk
www.berkshirerecordoffice.org.uk
*************************************************************
BERKSHIRE, READING
A
thirteen-year-old Boy Scout,
Mr.
Alan Sandall, joins the L.D.V. at the moment of its
inception. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BERKSHIRE, WINDSOR
A memoir about the Windsor Home Guard
can be reached by
clicking
here
(You will leave this site).
***************************************************************
BRECONSHIRE, LLANDEW
A
memory
of the activities of the local unit.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE
A useful summary of the Buckinghamshire Home Guard including Order of Battle, by Stanley C. Jenkins, M.A.
*************************************************************
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
AMERSHAM
The
town is "attacked" on 24th November 1940 by members
of outlying Home Guard units in a major exercise which includes
dive-bombing by Lysander aircraft.
*************************************************************
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
BEACONSFIELD
Mr Bob Sutton from New Zealand
has written this delightful memoir containing
his childhood memories of
the Beaconsfield Home Guard in which his father served.
I am now 80, six years old when Hitler
decided he wanted to rule the world. When
hostilities began the Local Defence Volunteer
force was formed and my father,
Donald Theodore Sutton,
volunteered. Then no uniforms - civvies only.
Each man was supplied with gas mask, arm band
with, I think, LDV on it ...and a stick or staff, for the
use of! How this was to be used or indeed how
effective they would have been, was anybody’s
guess! Again, in the beginning, one rifle only
per platoon. Later uniforms were provided along
with WW1 303s. BUX Home Guard units were issued
with Brown leather belts and leather gaiters,
unlike the Regular Army which used webbing and
blanco.
We lived at
Beaconsfield,
25 miles north-west of London. The shoulder flash
carried the battalion name BUX. As far as I can
remember, every Sunday morning the Home Guard
would assemble at a given point - very often a
pub! The Red Lion
at Knotty Green
was a great meeting place although I must mention
here that NO drinking ever took place. The town,
as with others, saw 'exercises' by the HG in the
streets every weekend. Coming out of church on
mid-morning Sundays, one would often be confronted
by elderly gentlemen replete with rifle, throwing
firecrackers and smoke bombs at an imaginary
enemy. They were terrible days for grown ups but
for a kid of six......exciting times!
I have been trying to remember names in my
father’s HG unit but, in all honesty, I can’t
remember a single one. At the tender age of seven
or eight knowing the names of these ‘very old
gentlemen’ wasn’t important.
My father
worked in Lloyds Bank, Beaconsfield branch which
included staffing a Wednesday afternoon session at
their Penn branch, Dad cycling up with a wooden
box with money and bank papers! The thought of
doing that today fills me with horror. The only
person who comes to mind and I am not sure whether
he was in fact in the HG, was a Mr. Mace, bank
manager of Lloyds, a man not weighed down with any
sense of humour!
What does
come to mind is towards the end of the war and
prior to D-Day, there were two big
exercises/manoeuvres involving all Home Guard
units and the Regular Army, all no doubt designed
to extend the military mind. The local unit HG
unit was to defend Beaconsfield against the enemy,
namely the Black
Watch.
It was emphasised to all civilians we were NOT
to assist in any way the Home Guard, they had to
use their own initiative. So there we were on a
hot summer’s day, watching elderly men scamper,
run, and lie down with rifles at the ready. About
six of us started up a conversation with a Home
Guard ‘sniper', who, against orders, asked us to
go up to the end of
Maxwell Road
railway bridge and, when we got there, to wave IF
we could spot the enemy.
Great fun we thought. So off we walked;
arriving at the railway bridge, we saw a few
Regular Army units scrambling over the railway, so
we dutifully stood out in the middle of the road
and waved. THE ENEMY WERE HERE!
Who won this
contest, I don’t know; what was learned? Who would
know that one?
Exercise number two was even MORE important.
It was to take place in and around Hogback Wood, a
moderately sized beech forest. The importance of
this little jaunt was that there was a strict
light curfew. Absolutely NO LIGHTS were to be used
or SEEN of any kind....not even a fag! The
exercise lasted all night until about nine or ten
o’clock the following morning. We later learned
that my father nearly departed this life: in pitch
darkness and feeling nothing solid under his right
foot, he held back. He was one step away from
falling off the top of the
Hogback Wood
railway/road bridge from a height of some 20/30
feet.
So, the war
continued - which, by the way, we won, culminating
in victory, peace, and no more killing.
My mother
Joan Elizabeth Sutton
had also been doing her ‘bit’ for the war by
working in the
Rotax
aeroplane magneto factory (Maxwell
Road, Beaconsfield)
canteen as well as painting miles and miles of
camouflage nets, arriving home every day
covered in green and brown paint!
Time eventually for the VE march past of the Home
Guard and I suppose its eventual demise. The
victory parade march-past was arranged to be held
in the Old Town of Beaconsfield. Some bright spark
in the Regular Army thought that dad’s unit needed
‘smartening up’ drill-wise. A drill sergeant from
a Guard’s unit came down from Windsor. When I say
‘drill’, I mean DRILL! And so there was this very
fit young man screaming his head off at
60-something old men who never had to squarebash
like the Guards.
Bloody hell -
this was Dad’s Army, NOT the Guards regiment!!!
February 2014
|
*************************************************************
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE,
BUCKINGHAM
Mr.
Roy Norris
remembers
the Buckingham Home Guard.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, WESTON
TURVILLE
Mr.
Ken Rawlinson gives an interesting
description
of life in the local unit from the earliest days.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CAERNARVONSHIRE
Basic information about the five Caernarvonshire
Battalions is contained in
this page.
*************************************************************
CAITHNESS
An interesting
website page provides details of surviving, secret locations of Auxiliary Unit hides in Caithness ("201 Battalion"). (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CAMBRIDGESHIRE
Further reading:
"We Also Served - The Story of the Home Guard in
Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely 1940 - 1943"
Hardback: 107 pages - 1946
*************************************************************
CAMBRIDGESHIRE,
CAMBRIDGE
The
family of Lt. Surgeon C.J. Stevenson, R.N. briefly recall
the latter's Home Guard service:
"My grandfather was a junior
surgeon in the middle of his training when the war started.
He was based at Portsmouth caring for submarine personnel
when they returned to base. He then went up to Cambridge
to do further training at Addenbrokes Hospital where he
enlisted in the Home Guard and took part in firewatching
and patrols around Cherry Hinton Reservoir, sleeping in
a farmer's barn, the 'coldest nights I have ever spent'
he tells me! He stayed in the Navy after the war for a time......
"
© The Malleson
Family 2003 To
read the whole of this memoir in its original setting, the
BBC's excellent People's War Archive,
please
click here. (You will leave this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************
CAMBRIDGESHIRE,
GIRTON
A Home Guard's
story
told by his great-grandson.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CAMBRIDGESHIRE,
ISLEHAM
Mr. Arthur Houghton
remembers
his Home Guard service and the dangers of training.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CAMBRIDGESHIRE,
WOOD DITTON
To read a reminiscence about this unit
by the last survivor amongst the early volunteers,
click
here.(You will leave this site).
****************************************************************
CARMARTHENSHIRE
Sqn. Ldr. Tony Jukes, RAF (Retd.)
writes (July 2013) as follows:
I am carrying out a survey of military defences and activities in West Wales & West Glamorgan. I am particularly interested in the HG units and their activity in my area. I would like to contact CRM 6 and PEM 2 group/individuals.
Please see GUESTBOOK for contact details.
****************************************************************
CHESHIRE
Further reading:
History of the Cheshire Home Guard
from L D V formation to stand-down, 1940-1944
158 pages - Publisher: Gale & Polden
(1950) - ASIN: B0000CHLSZ
****************************************************************
CHESHIRE, CHESTER
Chester
was the responsibility of of the 6th Cheshire (Chester)
Battalion commanded initially by Col. Paul Hemelryk and
later by Lt. Col. F.C. Saxon, M.C.
A
centenarian, Mr. Thomas Jolly,
remembers.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CHESHIRE, CONGLETON
An
image of the Congleton Home Guard. (You
will leave this site).
****************************************************************
CHESHIRE, COOLE
PILATE nr. Nantwich
In
a fascinating and detailed
memoir
mentioning many people and places Mr. Frank Goodwin recalls
Coole Pilate Platoon 1, Home Guard, "D" company.
(You will leave this site).
The
unit referred to in the above memoir was very probably part
of the 7th Cheshire (Crewe) Battalion commanded initially
by Capt. C.M. McHale and later by Lt. Col. T. Foster, D.S.O.
Due to the size and range of responsibilities of this
Battalion it was split on 1st April 1942 and the 24th Battn.
was formed under the command of Lt. Col. J.W. Emberton to
cover the Nantwich area.
*************************************************************
CHESHIRE, HARTFORD
and the RIVER WEAVER
Mr.
Ronald Ashbrook
recalls
his days patrolling the river bank.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CHESHIRE, HEATON
MOOR
Mr. Joe Carley's
memories of the local Home Guard, No 4 Platoon, "A"
Company, 38th Cheshire (Stockport) Battalion based at Heaton
Moor Golf Club . (You will leave this site).
****************************************************************
CHESHIRE,
MACCLESFIELD
Mr.
Kenneth Graham remembers
the local unit.
(You
will leave this site).
****************************************************************
CHESHIRE, STOCKPORT
Amongst
many other Cheshire war memorial images there is a
picture here of a memorial to officers of "B"
Company, 38th Cheshire (Stockport) Battalion.
(Click the link to leave this site,
then navigate: Memorials, WW1 and WW2 Towns, Stockport Home
Guard).
*************************************************************
CHESHIRE, WALLASEY
Mr.
Gerry Chester's
experiences
.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CORNWALL, CALLINGTON
Click
here to see an almost fully captioned picture of the
local unit.
(You will leave this site)..
Callington
Home Guard on their vehicles shows a further captioned
picture of the unit, together with their vehicle.
(You will
leave this site).
*********************************************************
CORNWALL, CRANTOCK
Brief
conversation overheard between two members of Home Guard
(or LDV) in the summer of 1940 at Crantock in Cornwall:
A:
He distinctly said that if the enemy was to come in here,
we was supposed to attack.
B:
Not until we're armed.
© Unknown author and Winchester Museum 2005.
To
read this memoir in its original setting, the BBC's excellent
People's War Archive,
please
click here. (You will leave this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************
 |
|
Sergeant
Bluett,
Cornwall Home
Guard
by
Eric Kennington, 1943
|
CORNWALL, ST. COLUMB
Mr.
John Parkin
remembers
names and places from his Home Guard service.
(You will leave this site).
************************************************
CORNWALL, ST. ERTH
A
captioned image of the St. Erth unit in 1941.
(You will leave this site).
************************************************
CORNWALL, GULVAL and LONG ROCK
The Gulval Home
Guard is commemorated in
a booklet probably published in late 1944.
This website page
reproduces it in full. Included is a list of all the
members of the two platoons which made up
"A" Coy. of the
12th Cornwall (Lands End)
Battalion. Remarkably this delightful
commemoration is written entirely in verse.
************************************************
CORNWALL, ST. JUST
and GOSS MOOR
Mr.
Kenneth Rickard
remembers
the local unit.
(You will leave this site).
************************************************
CORNWALL, SOUTH
ZEAL
Mr.
Peter Foweraker provides his amusing and admiring
view
of a local rural unit.
(You will leave this site).
************************************************
CORNWALL, TRURO
An
image
of No. 7 Platoon, 10th Battalion Home Guard, Truro (1940
- 1944) can be seen on this BBC People's War Archive page.(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
COUNTY DURHAM,
MIDDLETON ST. GEORGE
Click the title above to read of the Home Guard's efforts
to defend the village of Middleton St. George one night
in September 1940.
*****************************************************************
COUNTY DURHAM,
ROWLANDS GILL (AND
THE WIDER NORTH EAST)
Click here
to visit a fascinating site giving much information about
Home Guard activities and personalities in this village
and its surroundings, just south of the Tyne, and also elsewhere
in the North East.
(You will leave this site.
The Rowlands Gill site
is well worth further exploration. It provides a wealth
of other useful information about the overall impact of
WW2 on that area and on the North East as a whole - click
the Introduction link in the top left-hand corner of the
HG page to see the Index.)
****************************************************************
COUNTY DURHAM,
SOUTH MOOR
Click
here to read the reminiscences of Mr. Jack Taylor about his service
in the local Home Guard unit. (You
will leave this site).
****************************************************************
COUNTY DURHAM,
STOCKTON ON TEES
In
an illustrated
memoir,
Mr. Frank Mees recalls the supporting role played by his
Army Cadet unit. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
COUNTY DURHAM,
USHER MOOR
An
image
of the local unit.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND
Some
general information concerning the nine Cumberland Home
Guard Battalions, affiliated to the Border Regiment, can
be seen
here.
(You will leave this site).
A list of the twelve Home Guard Battalions
which covered the counties of Cumberland and Westmorland
and a map showing their area of responsilbilty, on a page
within the Workington site mentioned below, can be seen
by clicking
here. (You
will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, BARROW-IN-FURNESS
Mr.
Alexander McKenzie
observes
Home Guard exercises in the town.
(You will leave this site).
In
an extensive and interesting memoir
which includes many names and places, as well as a captioned
photograph of a local unit, Mr. Geoff Cain
remembers
his Home Guard service. (You will leave this
site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, BURNESIDE
and SELSIDE
In
The
Bombing of Cooper House, Selside Margaret Harper
witnesses the Home Guard in pursuit of a German parachutist
and later within this detailed and interesting memoir of
a wartime childhood records a family tragedy.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, CARK
in CARTMEL
An
eleven-year-old Margaret Taylor accidentally eavesdrops
on secret
military
plans. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, GRASMERE
Within
a fascinating
memoir
about Grasmere during WW2 Mr. David Scott relates his Home
Guard experiences. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, KENDAL
This
interesting colour
footage of Kendal's Home Guard has appeared on the Youtube
website. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, SCILLY
BANKS and MORESBY PARKS
Within this
memoir,
Pit Village Life in Scilly Banks and Moresby Parks,
there are descriptions of some less usual Home Guard activities,
such as the defending of St. Bees lighthouse. (You
will leave this site).
**************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, WARWICK
BRIDGE
Encounters
with the local Home Guard
remembered.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, WHITEHAVEN
Several
members of the William Pit Home Guard lost their lives in
the Whitehaven mine disaster of June 3rd, 1941. They are
remembered
here.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
CUMBERLAND, WORKINGTON
Much information on the Workington Home
Guard, the 5th Battalion, is available
here.
This linked website, created by Russell W. Barnes, is highly
recommended. It contains details of the organisation of
the Home Guard in the area, its functions, defensive points
and weaponry; and also many images and names of people and
places. (You will leave this site).
****************************************************************
DENBIGHSHIRE and
FLINTSHIRE
The Home Guard in
Denbighshire and Flintshire in North Wales comprised
11 Battalions with either a Denbighshire or a Flintshire
affiliation in their individual Battalion name.
This
section of the website provides information about them
including their HQ location - indicating their main area
of responsibility - and the identity of their Commanding
Officers.
Also included is more
detailed information on "D" Coy. of the 3rd Flintshire
Battalion,
the Holywell Home Guard, and its members
*********
Mr.
Geoffrey Lea
remembers
the toil of those years in
GRESFORD, CAERGWRIE
and
BRYNEEGLWYS.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DERBYSHIRE, DERBY
Mr. Harold Richardson describes in
Britain
in Danger: The Home Guard in Derby why the good people
of Derby could sleep easily in their beds. (You
will leave this site).
*********************************************
DERBYSHIRE, HATTON
An
image
of the local unit can be seen on this BBC People's War Archive
page. (You will leave this site).
************************************
DERBYSHIRE, MORTON
In
Morton - At War, Mr. A. Southey witnesses a joint
Army/Home Guard exercise. (You will leave this site).
************************************
DERBYSHIRE, NEW
WHITTINGTON
Two
amusing
anecdotes
from the Stephenson family. (You will leave this site).site).
************************************
DERBYSHIRE, SHIRLAND
Bessie
Glasby remembers
Nursing
the Home Guard.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, AXE VALLEY (Axmouth, Beer, Colyford etc.)
The Axe Valley Auxiliary Unit operated from 1940 to 1944. This was a secret resistance organisation acting wholly separately from the Home Guard even though members all wore Home Guard uniforms. A member of this unit,
Mr. Walter Denslow, was interviewed in 2007 when he was 92. Read a transcript of this fascinating conversation. Recent addition!
Much further
information about this secret organisation, which operated
not only in the West Country but also in many eastern and
southern coastal areas of the country, can be found within
an excellent specialised website. Access it by
clicking on the banner below.
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, BOVEY
TRACEY
Illustrations
of
how
to set up a road block and of
a
portable net screen received by the late Mr. Alder Harris
as part of his Home Guard training.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, BRIXHAM
The coastal defences at Brixham were manned
by a total of about one hundred officers and soliders
The
original complement was men from the Royal Artillery, but following the receding threat of invasion the Battery was later manned by 378 Battery, of which almost all were members of the Home Guard. These defencess are the subject of an illustrated article by Adrian Chan-Wyles which is reproduced elsewhere within this website.
A further article by the same author shows the Home Guard memorial at Corbyn Head. This memorial commemorates all the men and women who served in the Home Guard nationally between 1940 and 1944 and especially the 1206 Home Guards who died during their service. The latter include a number of local H.G. men who lost their lives during a bombing raid on Torquay in 1942 and as a result of an explosion in the Battery during a 1944 training exercise: all of these men are named.
These coastal defences at Brixham are now themselves being defended. The Brixham Battery Heritage Centre Group was founded in 1999. It is a group of volunteers helping to restore the Brixham Battery - one of the few survivors of the many emergency batteries which protected the coast of the British Isles in WW2 - and provide on-site information to the general public.
The Heritage Centre Group's interesting website provides detailed information about the battery and the work being carried out to preserve it.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, CLAYHIDON
Click
here for a captioned image of the Clayhidon unit. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, DARTMOOR
and UMBERLEIGH
Mr.
Geoffrey Tucker
witnesses,
as a schoolboy, the activities of the local units. (You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, DEVONPORT
Mr.
James Bartlett
remembers
his service in 16th Devon Plymouth Home Guard from February
1941. (You
will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, EXMOUTH
Mr.
Dennis Davey provides an interesting
account
of the activities of the local Home Guard and details of
its weaponry.
(You will leave this site).
*************************************************************
DEVONSHIRE, ILFRACOMBE
Within an interesting memoir, G.W.B.
recalls his experience of the Ilfracombe Home Guard for
the BBC WW2 People's War Archive:".......No
memory would be complete without reference to the Home Guard
which consisted of old sweats from the 1914-18 war, some
of whom were remarkable shots, and also lads like me at
16. Unusually the unit was designated as mobile which meant
we had allocated duties, one of which was a nightly patrol
from Mullacott Cross to Lynton Cross. An amusing incident
occurred one night when footsteps approached the patrol
and were challenged three times. A shot was fired in the
air then at a distant object – result – one dead
cow! All members were issued with ammunition to keep at
home. My mother went quite pale when I came in with a rifle,
200 rounds of ammunition and 2 hand grenades!....."©
G.W.B. 2005 To
read the rest of this article, entitled Reminiscences
of Ilfracombe at War 1939 to 1945,
please click here. (You
will leave this site. WW2
People's War is an online archive of wartime memories contributed
by members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The complete
archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
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DEVONSHIRE, LUPPIT
Honiton
Railway Tunnel Guard is an illustrated story from
No. 4 (Luppitt) Platoon, 'D' Coy, 19th (Seaton) Bn., Devonshire
Home Guard. (You will leave this site).
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DEVONSHIRE, TORQUAY
The Home Guard memorial on Corbyn Head described in an illustrated article by Adrian Chan-Wyles.
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DEVONSHIRE, PLYMOUTH
Within
an interesting
article
on WW2 Plymouth, Mr. John Finch remembers his Home Guard
service. (You will leave this site).And in another similarly
interesting
memoir,
Mr. Desmond Taylor recalls his membership of the 17th Battalion,
Devonshire Home Guard one of whose functions was to guard
the Dockyard. (You will leave this site).
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DEVONSHIRE, WITHERIDGE
Information and images concerning the Witheridge
HG unit can be seen here. (You
will leave this site. The destination site also contains
other interesting information about the impact of both World
Wars on this village).
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DORSET
The Keep Military Museum at Dorchester
lists on its website the seven
Battalions, the six AA Troops and the Transport Column
which comprised the Dorset Home Guard. It also displays
images
of Home Guard units including that of a Bridport unit. (You
will leave this site).
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DORSET, BRIDPORT
Mr Mick Norman
was interviewed by Bridport Museum and
provided the following description of Home Guard ammunition
storage arrangements in Bridport.
.........Home Guard squaddies used
to have to keep their rifle with them whether they were
on duty or not., and they would carry their rifle on leave,
going home on the train. Right? Now, the Home Guard (gets
map of Bridport) There’s Coneygar Road. Now Watton
Hill, which would have been on this map up here, now I told
you an uncle of mine lived there (points) and the Home Guard,
of course the various troops in Bridport would have had
their own storage of ammunition, and at the top of that
field they built a little brick base with galvanised iron,
shed, to keep their ammunition. And I know this well, because
it’s quite steep, Watton Hill, going up to the top,
and if you go up there now - I went up there about three
years ago - and the bricks are still there, of this little
shed. And I was involved because the builders wanted to
lug the machinery up there and you know how steep it is.
Well my uncle had a horse and trap, and I took the horse
with the trap for them to get the material up there. And
we were always interested as kids to see what they were
doing, and they’d built this little (hut), with wooden
shelves, and the ammunition was stacked there on wooden
shelves. The .303s, rounds of machine gun. It was just an
ordinary key like that (points to mortice lock in door)
and the key was kept in the gutter at the top and as kids
we used to go up there and look in! This is as true as I’m
telling you! You can see the bricks up there. I mean the
poor Home Guard had to dash up to the top of that hill to
get their ammo!.....
©
Mick Norman and Bridport Museum 2003 To
read the rest of Mr. Norman's wartime memories, entitled
Evacuees, Pullthroughs and Flax which appears on
the BBC People's War site,
please
click here. (You will leave this
site. WW2 People's War
is an online archive of wartime memories contributed by
members of the public and gathered by the BBC. The complete
archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
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DORSET, CATTISTOCK
and SYDDING ST. NICHOLAS
Mr.
Bob Giblett
remembers
defending the Dorchester to Yeovilton road.
(You will leave this site).
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DORSET, MANSFIELD
The
capture
of three Luftwaffe aircrew by the local unit.
(You will leave this site).
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DORSET, WEYMOUTH
Mr.
Maurice Naerger remembers his late brother's Home Guard
service - and his own responsibilities - for the BBC People's
War Archive:
"It was 1940/41, builders scaffolding
had been erected along the sea shore to stop the invasion.
I was aged 9 my brother Bob aged 16. He had joined the local
defense volunteers, forerunner to the Home Guard. No uniform
just an LDV armband, although in short supply Bob had been
issued with a 303 rifle and 5 cartridges. He explained to
me how to load and fire it and he told me Mr Churchill said
we must shoot one German soldier before we are shot ourselves.
I was to wait until my brother was shot before firing myself.
Had I attempted it, for certain the recoil would have broken
my shoulder! Fortunately the Germans never came at least
not by sea, but they sure gave us a pasting from the air."
© Maurice Naerger
2005 To
read the memoir in its original setting, the BBC's excellent
People's War Archive,
please click here. (You
will leave this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************
DORSET, WIMBORNE
This is an image of three men of the
Gussage All Saints and Gussage St.
Michael Platoon of the 6th
Dorset (Wimborne) Battalion. They are (l. to rt.)
Leslie Reeks, the village
baker; Geoff King and
reluctant dog; and John Rowe.
A fourth local Home Guard, on his bike, tries to get into
the picture but doesn't quite succeed!
Geoff King made an interesting discovery under a
hedgerow during his Home Guard service. This is it. An
AB500-1 Cluster Bomb –
(Abwurfbehälter). Depending on its
configuration it would have contained between 28 and 392
fragmentation or incendiary bombs, each varying in weight
from 500g to 10kg. This sinister looking object survived
for the next 80+ years in a barn and now surfaces for us
to wonder at.
(Grateful acknowledgement to Mick Ackrill for the
information and images).
(Recent addition)
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DUMFRIESSHIRE,
DUMFRIES
Mr.
Andrew McCormick recalls:
"There was one night during the
war when I was walking home from school that I will never
forget. Because of the blackouts even when you were walking
home in late afternoon or early evening it was always quite
dark. I was seven or eight at the time.I was passing a road barricade, the
type that were put up every night all over the town. It
was being staffed by a member of the Home Guard. Just as
I was passing him, he turned round, jammed his gun into
my ribs, and shouted "who goes there!?".He thought this was hilarious. I got
the fright of my life."
© Andrew McCormick 2005 To
read this memoir in its original setting, the BBC's excellent
People's War Archive,
please
click here. (You will leave this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************
EAST LOTHIAN
Click
here for an image of the Saltoun unit. (You will leave this site).
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ESSEX
Mr.
Harold Porter's
experiences
as a Home Guard lorry driver.
(You will leave this site).
*********
Mr.
Roger Chown writes:
I am researching the life of
a man called Richard Grey
Delamere Lafferty.
After leaving school in Essex he moved to 'Strathmore'
Hillfield Road in Selsey and
aged 18 was recruited at the
Brighton Recruitment Centre on June 4th 1941.
If
anybody has any additional information, I would be so
grateful. At present I can find no link between his 'home'
in London (Maida Vale) and his Sussex army beginnings.
From his Army Record (his number was 6216003) he seems to
have been in the Home Guard for 323 days until joining the
Indian Army on 8th May 1942.
(For contact details please see
the entry for 8th September 2014 in the
Guestbook/Visitors'
Messages page).
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ESSEX, BARKING/ILFORD
Mr. Alex Dickson recalls in
Arrested
as an Irish Spy the occasion when he found himself
in the hands of the local Home Guard.
(You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, BILLERICAY
Mr.
Jim Jolly recalls his Home Guard service in
Believe
Me, ‘Dad’s Army’ Was Not Much Of An Exaggeration!
(You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, BRAINTREE
In his excellent local
history, The Book of Braintree and Bocking
(Baron
Buckingham, 2000; ISBN 0 86023 662 5)
Michael Baker states that the
local Home Guard
comprised some 200 men, presumably an entire Company of
the 11th Essex Battalion
whose HQ was the Drill Hall in Victoria Street. Part of this
Company was a Post Office Signals unit made up of GPO
employees from Braintree, Halstead and Sudbury. Together
they were ready to defend the area to the last man against
enemy invasion but, as the author relates, the local
population could not always be certain of where the greater
danger lay - as when the Signals men accidentally blasted a
hole in Hicks's bus garage in Fairfield Road.
Another drama involving the
P.O. Signals unit occurred in the summer of 1944 when one
of the first V1 Doodlebug missiles cut out over Braintree
and fell in Notley Road, near to Notley Place. Men
were fire-watching at the time on a platform on the top of
the Fairfield Road Post Office and they were lucky not to
be dislodged from their perch by the blast.
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ESSEX, BRENTWOOD
A fifteen-year-old
Bill
Miles copes with various Home Guard weapons. (You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, CHELMSFORD
Here
is the interesting memoir of Mr. Peter Helsdon which concentrates
on and provides useful information about the Anti-Aircraft
(rocket battery) activities of the local units after April
1943. (You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, GREAT SALING
The
German Pilot and the Home Guard: an
incident
at the White Hart.
(You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, HARWICH
Memories
of the local unit.
(You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, TILBURY
The
memories of Mr. Frederick Busshell can be read
here.
(You will leave this site).
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ESSEX, TOLLESBURY
The defence of the Essex coast as
related in
Weapon
Issue - Pitchforks.
(You will leave this site).
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Grateful acknowledgement for badge images to Stanley C. Jenkins.
