Home Guard

[Ian S]

I thought I would write a Summary of The Home Guard. Here it is

The Home Guard had a number of purposes. They made those in it feel as if they were doing something constructive in the war effort. The Home Guard was not simply for older men past conscription age. Those young enough to be conscripted but who did not pass the military's medicals could join the Home Guard. Men between 17 and 65 could join it. By August 1940, over 1 million men had volunteered.

They trained in the evening in such things as weapons handling, unarmed combat and basic sabotage. However, so many men joined that few had uniforms to start with and had to make do with an arm band originally stating "LDV" which changed to "Home Guard". Weapons came later - the original LDV's had to provide their own weapons at the start!

They acted as sentries during the day and night and became extra "ears and eyes" for the full-time military. They checked that people were carrying their Identity Cards. Those caught without one could be arrested and handed over to the police.

Local Home Guard units would know who lived locally and any strangers to an area would be subject to a check. They were also responsible for taking down road signs and any local clues that might help the enemy should they invade.
The "Home Guard Handbook" published in 1940 stated that the main duties of the Home Guard were :

"Guarding important points

Observation and reporting - prompt and precise.

Immediate attack against small, lightly armed parties of the enemy.

The defence of roads, villages, factories and vital points in towns to block enemy movement."

Every member of the Home Guard was expected to know :

"The whole of the ground in his own district.

The personnel of his own detachment.

The headquarters of his detachment and where he is to report for duty in the event of an alarm.

What the alarm signal is.

The form of reports concerning enemy landings or approaches, what the reports should contain, and to whom they should be sent."

Though seen as "not real soldiers", the Home Guard did valuable work. By acting as sentries, patrolling the countryside etc. they relieved the army to do other work. In south-east England a special unit of Home Guard was created to fight behind enemy lines should an invasion occur. They would have lived and fought out of secret bases in the countryside. Their job would have been to sabotage anything that might have been of use to the Nazi invaders. Their knowledge of the local terrain would have been a valuable asset in any fight against the Nazis

[jamesicus]

My remembrances (East Lancashire) are:

The Local Defence Volunteer (LDV) organization was formed by the Government (in early 1940) -- eventually renamed Home Guard (HG). The members were mostly men between the ages of 17 and 65 who were either too old for regular military service, employed in essential War Effort Jobs or for a variety of reasons not available for military service.

Home Guard privates were eventually issued a mixture of old WWI rifles and the NCO's Sten submachine guns. I believe the Officers were mostly issued American Lend-Lease pistols. Officers and NCOs kept their weapons at home (no ammunition) -- my father was a corporal and had a Sten sub-machine gun -- I used to hold it and pretend I was defending against invading Nazi invaders.

[Gerry Chester]

Originally posted by jamesicus@May 7 2004, 09:07 AM

Home Guard privates were eventually issued a mixture of old WWI rifles and the NCO's Sten submachine guns. I believe the Officers were mostly issued American Lend-Lease pistols. Officers and NCOs kept their weapons at home.

Although not being an NCO, in my Home Guard unit Wallasey/Cheshire Regiment, I was given a Bren Gun having been given training how to effectively use the weapon. The gun was kept at the unit's HQ, St. Hilary's Church hall. See:
http://www.geocities.com/vqpvqp/nih/...homeguard.html

[jamesicus]

No doubt some of the guns for the early LDV members came from the United States as a result of Ads such as this one that were ran in Newspapers in 1939 and 1940:

[angie999]

My uncle was a member of the Home Guard unit established in the factory where he worked and which was producing military vehicles.

I remember being told by my father that my uncle used to bring his rifle (but not ammunition) home and I was wondering if this was standard practice.

According to my father, it was an American rifle, which I take to mean one of the M1903 Springfields purchased in bulk in 1940 and the weapon carried in "Dad's Army".

[WestKent78]

My Grandfather was a Lieutenant in his company. He was also the supply officer and was allowed to accumulate a large amount of ammo, grenades, tommy gun and rifles at home. At the end of the war no one came to claim it so he just buried it in his parents' garden! He now regrets it as I'm interested in militaria. Don't know if the people who live there have found the hoard yet, but I know he dug a very deep hole.

[jamesicus]

I believe the LDV/HG used a variety of rifles depending on local availability at different times. In the very early years of its existence a veritable hodgepodge -- and in many instances only mock rifles -- were used.

As I mentioned earlier, my Father was issued a MKII Sten gun and, as I was not as interested in small arms then as I was later, I cannot recall what rifles his unit was issued.

I think that most of the later rifles used by the HG were either US 1903 A1 Springfields and US M1917 Enfields -- both in cal 30/06 -- WW1 weapons obtained under American Lend-Lease. In the following photo of a Lancashire HG unit passing in review I believe the rifles being carried are Springfields -- I cannot detect the characteristic Enfield rear sight protective "ears".

[BeppoSapone]

Originally posted by angie999@May 8 2004, 05:41 AM


I remember being told by my father that my uncle used to bring his rifle (but not ammunition) home and I was wondering if this was standard practice.

Yes, but not just the Home Guard. The whole of the British Army used to take their weapons when they went on leave, for the first part of the war at least.

In the event of an invasion they were supposed to report, with their rifle, to the nearest police station. I assume that they would then have been issued with ammunition and formed into some sort of ad hoc formation before going into action on the Kent or Sussex coast.

[angie999]

Originally posted by WestKent78@May 15 2004, 01:25 AM
My Grandfather was a Lieutenant in his company. He was also the supply officer and was allowed to accumulate a large amount of ammo, grenades, tommy gun and rifles at home. At the end of the war no one came to claim it so he just buried it in his parents' garden! He now regrets it as I'm interested in militaria. Don't know if the people who live there have found the hoard yet, but I know he dug a very deep hole.

Back in the 1960s and 1970s I used to work with the branch of the Army who had to deal with this stuff. It turned up all over the country.

People would often take it to a police station and they would then call the experts. Now there is one golden rule in that field: "Don't assume something is safe to move just because somebody moved it". So, they would usually go through a phase of winding up the police by saying they had to blow it up in the police station, although a superficial inspection had revealed that it was safe to move. They eventually took it off somewhere for safe disposal.

My main advice to any militaria enthusiast though is this stuff is still deadly, so if you find any, or know where it is, turn it in before someone (you?) is killed!

Seriously, I am not joking about this. 65 year old high explosive works just fine! And many in the Home Guard were quite casual, doing things like leaving fuzes in grenades. Some of the safety pins must have rusted quite a bit since WWII.

[mattgibbs]

A friend in my home guard reenactment group knows a chap who had hid some phosphourous grenades [type 74 maybe?] under the floorboards of their farmhouse, forgotten about until sometime around 2003. Had to exacuate a whole area to get them removed when a new owner removed the floorboards to do renovations! Yikes!

One thing about the drives to get weapons handed in to the police was that a lot of handguns, up to 3000 or more, ended up being delivered to workshops run by a small SOE team who refurbished them and provided them to agents for the resistance and their own secret agents. I have this from a book I recently read, the drives were successful to get arms for the HG though, as about 30,000 or so were eventually obtained.
Kind regards
MG