Wonder if anyone can help? Was there an age limit in WW2 for men engaged in Bomb Disposal, and were the Home Guard involved in this? Thank you for any info.
I was a Royal Engineer in WW2, and I also served in the Home Guard. I never heard of any Home Guard involved in bomb disposal. doubt that they ever got involved, as there were no training facilities for "civilian" bomb disposal men. Oddly enough, when one talks about bomb disposal it is thought as making safe bombs from air raids. Where in practice the Sappers were making bombs and charges safe while in action. In some places we had the task of making huge "Sea" mines safe while under fire. Aerial bombs were used to try to stop our advance.. So the term Bomb disposal covers a multitude of sins! Sapper
Bomb disposal was done by regular forces as it required a lot of training and experience to carry it out. Nominally The RAF were responsible for ordnance on RAF property, RN for that on RN property, ships and at sea with the Army responsible for the rest. In practice then as now I believe there was a lot of crossover in whoever was the closest would do the job.
Hello all. I can confirm that Home Guard Bomb Disposal Units DID exist. (Sorry this is in the form of a quote): "At the height of the Battle of Britain in summer 1940, the Ministry of Aircraft Production worked all out to produce fighters. The Ministry had asked the War Office what would happen if UXBs fell on their factories, to which the WO replied that there was a possibility that the hard-pressed army Bomb Disposal Units may well be forced to blow the bombs up on site. Unhappy with the potential loss of machinery vital to war production, the Ministry asked if it would be possible to raise squads of skilled volunteer workers who would locate, identify, report and clear sites in preparation for the arrival of the Bomb Disposal units so that there would be less need to detonate the UXBs on site. The WO agreed and new sections named Auxiliary Bomb Disposal Squads were created. The ABDS scheme was extended to all factories on government war work with a staff of over 1,000 workers. After much debate, from June 1941 their role was upgraded and qualified ABDSs could undertake actual bomb disposal on site. Despite their original birth as an independent, civilian factory unit separate from the Home Guard, from September 1942, it was decided that all ABDSs would become sub-units of their local Home Guard battalion, not always to the ABDSs pleasure. Initial WO instructions stated that whilst ABDS sub-units were static to their factory, they now had a secondary role as HG infantry if the enemy were advancing through their area. From August 1943, ABDS units were issued with a special distinguishing badge, comprising of two crossed German bombs in yellow on a red circle, to be worn above the left cuff on their battledress. Here's a rare example: Home Guard Auxiliary Bomb Disposal Units cloth badge on eBay (end time 06-Jul-11 18:51:54 BST) Three classes of ABDS unit now existed, from Category C: units still under training, up to Category A: ‘units authorised to work on bombs, including the discharging and removal of certain types of fuses without RE supervision’. From March 1944, the country’s ABDS were put on standby in case of bombing to disrupt preparations for D-Day. Although it appears most ABDS did not see action due to their late formation, factory-tied locations and RE BDS priority, some ABDS did see action. One ABDS worker was awarded after working on a bomb at a Birmingham factory in October 1940 and ABDS units also helped in the clearance of UK beach mines at the end of the war. To their lasting credit, the Auxiliary Bomb Disposal Squads carried out probably the most dangerous work of all the Home Guard specialist sections during the war." [FONT="][1][/FONT] National Archives: WO 199/1481: Home Guard Bomb Disposal Sub-Sections Sep 1942-Sep 1943: Secret [FONT="][2][/FONT] NA: WO 199/400: Auxiliary Bomb Disposal Sub Units Aug. 1942 – Nov. 1944 [FONT="][3][/FONT] NA: WO 166/14427: North Midlands Area HQ War Diary Jan 1944-Dec 1944
Thank you for all these replies, sorry not to have acknowledged them till now, personal stuff got in the way. One more question I wonder if anyone can answer! 'Someone' is insisting that a relative of ours who was 53 at the time and attached to the Home Guard was in Plon at the end of the War helping to dismantle V2 Warheads!! said relative is no longer with us, but I find this a little unbelievable. Home Guard and helping with bomb disposal in the UK is one thing, but dismantling V2 warheads to ship to the UK or US, seems to me to be a tall story, but perhaps I'm wrong!! Thanks for any help.
As it happens I have just finished writing a book on the unexploded V1 and V2s and about to look for a publisher. I have not seen any information relating to the Home Guard being involved with bomb disposal relating specifically to V- weapons, other than perhaps guarding the sites in the UK were the unexploded ones came down. However, all three services did have some involvement with V1 and V2 warheads on the continent (mainly RAF and Army). Many were dismantled, or found in an already dismantled state and sent to the UK and USA for 'exploitation' purposes. Others had to be destroyed along with other munitions collected up during the clear up. Hope that helps?
There's an impressive group on this thread, so I think I've got a good chance of getting an answer to my question - for which I thank you in advance. As some of you may remember, I've been working for about 18 months researching the story of my family during WW2. I just found 2 letters from my mother dated June 21 and June 28, 1940 on which she wrote the address: Netherne Emergency Hospital, so I know she was working there then as a VAD. I also know that she lost the hearing in one ear when a 500 lb. bomb hit the Nurses Home at one of the hospitals while she was in the adjacent surgery. A bomb hit the Nurses Home at Lambeth on Jan. 11, 1941, but only just 4 days before she left for the US as an escort. A doctor who examined her much later told me it would have been very difficult for her to travel after such an injury. A bomb also hit the Nurses' Home at the Nethrene Emergency Hospital without exploding, but I don't yet know when that happened. What I need your advice about is whether or not a bomb of that size that did not explode could have made a sufficient impact/sound wave(?) to deafen a person permanently. Any thoughts will be very welcome. Thanks very much, Barbara
Hi Barbara - I would say a UXB causing deafness is very unlikely. Normal bombs were not propelled as such, but fell due to simple gravity in the same way a piano would. The shock a 500lb UXB hitting a structure might be similar to a car crashing at 120mph, but without that sudden release of energy from the bomb detonating I can't see how hearing could be damaged ....unless it was perhaps as a result of being hit in the head by falling masonary.
Bomb disposal was done by regular forces as it required a lot of training and experience to carry it out. Apart from the non-regular Home Guard units already mentioned, some 400 members of the Non-Combatant Corps (comprised solely of conscientious objectors who had agreed to serve in the military, but without use of weapons) volunteered to work on bomb disposal. After some initial hesitation on the part of the military authorities, they were accepted, and were found to be extremely efficient, working alongside RE members.
Hi Barbara - I would say a UXB causing deafness is very unlikely. Normal bombs were not propelled as such, but fell due to simple gravity in the same way a piano would. The shock a 500lb UXB hitting a structure might be similar to a car crashing at 120mph, but without that sudden release of energy from the bomb detonating I can't see how hearing could be damaged ....unless it was perhaps as a result of being hit in the head by falling masonary. Thanks Chris. This is very helpful, and suggests my instinct that an UXB (thanks for teaching me that bit of terminology) would not have been the cause of my mother's injury. She was in a separate building when the bomb hit, and it doesn't seem the UXB could have made enough noise to damage her hearing so severely. Unfortunately, that leaves me still searching for where and when this happened, but I have more answers than I did a year or even 5 minutes ago! I appreciate your help. Barbara
I too served in the Home Guard and share Sapper's lack of knowledge concerning HGBDS. However, ARP (Civil Defence) also had trained Bomb Disposal Liaison Officers (BDLO) appointed to visit UXB sites to assess the situation and report it to the CO of the local Army BDS. There was a time when I acted as Runner for the ARP BDLO and seem to remember posting the following incident elsewhere: I did a stint to 'assist' the civilian A.R.P. (Civil Defence) Bomb Disposal Liaison Officer when I was employed on full time (paid) A.R.P. duty during London blitz. One lunchtime we were called to assess the action needed for a UX parachute mine that had gone through the roof of a house in Leyton, and was suspended above the gas cooker with the potatoes boiling merrily. The BDLO asked me to turn off the gas. It was one of those occasions when 'presence of mind' quickly suggested 'absence of body' as the preferred alternative
Chris - You reminded me that when we visited an aged relative in Kent in 1954 (he was probably the age I am now), he told us that he woke up one morning during the war to find a hole in the floor at the end of his bed and a UXB (Thanks ChrisR), in his basement. I guess he slept heavily or the bomb was light. Barbara
My father was trained in bomb disposal while serving with the 5th Hampshires Home Guard. He worked at Follands, Hamble, at the time & fortunately never had to put his training to the test. Due to his contacts he was asked at short notice to produce a special dismantling tool for use on a V1 missile which had landed intact. He was reprimanded by an officious foreman for misuse of the firm's time & materials. His comment was that in a war not all the enemy are on the other side! He wrote a humorous account of his time in the HG which I must pass on to the Imperial War Museum.
A Short History of Royal Engineer Bomb Disposal British Home Guard - 1941 This report written by and for the US -British Home Guard - as at 1941 states Bomb disposal is not a requirement of the HG (Page 71.)
