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Home Guard

Chris
The reason I suggested this was that I remembered reading Mick Wilks ("The Defence of Worcestershire") saying that an analysis of these forms for Worcestershire had been done to determine how many had previous service. He stated that this had been done from the records held by the Army Medal Office "when it was in Droitwich". I had assumed that this meant that these were available to access (wherever they may now be)
 
Interesting.

I have never discovered any way around making the application to the MoD for Home Guard service records and it does at first sound as though Mick Wilks found a method of bypassing that rigmarole. It looks as though the War Medals people might have some sort of duplicate information – presumably to assess eligibility against requests for the award of a medal. Or access to the same database. But can anyone else get their hands on it?

There doesn't seem to be any way of accessing online. Nor is there any hint, as far as I can see, that anyone is welcome to delve into their records (which seemed to be held at Innsworth these days). It might just be that Mick had some sort of privileged access as an known historian. (It sounds as though he was checking mainly to establish how many HG men had Great War experience. If the War Medals records contain absolutely everyone, this must have been a heck of an exercise – he would have had to go through somewhere between 12,000 and 18,000 individual records, unless of course he took a representative sample).

So, if there ever was a way of bypassing the MoD route, it doesn't look as though it's available now. I should be delighted to be proved wrong. (Of course, if you live in Durham it's a different story: by some accident of fate, everything is online. But that doesn't help us much in Birmingham!)

Haven't found any other sources online. The forces-war-records website doesn't help much: it seems to repeat the published 1941 information with regard to Home Guard officers, and nothing else. Nearly everything else seems to steer one back towards the MoD. I wonder if any Forum member has had experience in this area and can suggest something further.

So, going back to Cliff's problem, I don't think that at this stage I can add much more with regard to tracing an individual Home Guard, over and above the suggestions made in the article to which I gave a link previously. I hope he will let us know how he gets on.

Chris
 
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An image which has only recently re-surfaced and is unlikely to have been seen previously. A group of men of the Perry Barr Home Guard photographed on some sort of exercise in a bombed-out area of the city, location and date unknown but probably not before 1943. Arthur Taylor (1897-1955, ex-Great War soldier, injured and gassed, lived in Alum Rock, quite a lot now online about him) kneeling second from right in front row with his Sten gun. He's the only one who has been identified.

What about the jack-the-lad in the middle of the second row? It would be great to know who he was. Or any of the other blokes, come to that.

(A number of Great War survivors in the group, not least Arthur himself, the officer in the middle of the front row (without weapon) and the Platoon sergeant to the right of him, with Sten. Several of the others are just young lads and may have call-up to look forward to. Most of the others will be on essential war work and so exempt from conscription).

Chris

(Source: David Wakefield and staffshomeguard website)40thTaylorGroupw1500.jpg
 
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Probably but not necessarily. Things were pretty elastic when it came to the rules and, anyway, I don’t think written proof of age was a normal requirement.

One or two of them DO look young!

Chris
 
Thanks for the reminder about the lower age limit, Pedrocut. The extension downwards of the minimum age seems to coincide with a mid-1942 increase in the desired nominal Home Guard size from 1.8 to 2.5m. men. One might have though that the opposite trend was more likely as the threat of invasion reduced. But the role of the Home Guard was expanding into an anti-aircraft function and also into other civil defence areas; and so a bigger membership was thought necessary. It was never achieved, though, and it peaked at around 1.8m. despite the introduction of conscription.

The fate of the Volkssturm, as it was called, was horrendous. They were faced with the sort of challenge that the Home Guard were ready to face but, thank goodness, never had to. A pair of 15-year-old-lads guarding a bridge with an anti-tank weapon as a squadron of Shermans approach...the last days in Berlin.... Old men and boys, the latter as young as 13, even worse than us in 1940. There's a neat balance: the Home Guard winding down in the summer/autumn of 1944 as the Volkssturm is winding itself up to try to do the impossible. Losses run into the hundreds of thousands. For the Home Guard the equivalent figure is 1206. You have to feel sympathy for the individuals caught up in all this.

Chris
 
Maybe some were serving with the Home Guard before call up. (Clipping from Sept 1940). Viv.
 

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ChrisM said:
Thanks for the reminder about the lower age limit, Pedrocut. The extension downwards of the minimum age seems to coincide with a mid-1942 increase in the desired nominal Home Guard size from 1.8 to 2.5m. men. One might have though that the opposite trend was more likely as the threat of invasion reduced. But the role of the Home Guard was expanding into an anti-aircraft function and also into other civil defence areas; and so a bigger membership was thought necessary. It was never achieved, though, and it peaked at around 1.8m. despite the introduction of conscription.

The fate of the Volkssturm, as it was called, was horrendous. They were faced with the sort of challenge that the Home Guard were ready to face but, thank goodness, never had to. A pair of 15-year-old-lads guarding a bridge with an anti-tank weapon as a squadron of Shermans approach...the last days in Berlin.... Old men and boys, the latter as young as 13, even worse than us in 1940. There's a neat balance: the Home Guard winding down in the summer/autumn of 1944 as the Volkssturm is winding itself up to try to do the impossible. Losses run into the hundreds of thousands. For the Home Guard the equivalent figure is 1206. You have to feel sympathy for the individuals caught up in all this.

Chris
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I remember seeing a typical morale-boosting photo of a Volkssturm parade in Berlin once. In amongst all the men carrying the usual Panzerfausts, etc., was a man with a Lewis gun on his shoulder. I wonder how much ammo he had for it ?
 
Vivienne14 said:
Maybe some were serving with the Home Guard before call up. (Clipping from Sept 1940). Viv.
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Thanks for that, Viv. I had never heard of that intention and, blimey, what a harebrained idea! And not particularly pleasant either – the implication was that fighting units would be established and exclusively manned (if that's the right word) by little more than children.

Thank goodness, it never happened. From the first few days (May/June 1940), boys volunteered and served at the side of their grandfathers, fathers, uncles and older neighbours, as well as their own mates. And no doubt learned an immense amount from them. My elder brother was one of these - already serving in my father's platoon in Little Aston by the time Eden made that statement and continuing to do so until the summer of 1942 when his call-up papers arrived.

Chris
 
The fact of these lads serving provided a convenient excuse for a beleaguered Sutton headmaster, defending himself against his Governors. In 1941, according to 'A History of Bishop Vesey's Grammar School - The Twentieth Century' by Kerry Osbourne, "thirteen out of twenty-nine boys from form 5M1 failed their School Certificate but the Headmaster explained that they 'were giving a good deal of time to Home Guard duties.'"
 
I did wonder if the Home Guard was used as a 'gathering net' for young people so that some basic training could be under took before being called up. I was a cadet for a short time, this certainly was their aim then..
 
Being an avid reader of footnotes...Arming the British Home Guard, 1940-1944 (DM Clarke)

Page 6 of the November 1940 issue of American Rifleman carried the following appeal: ‘SEND A GUN TO DEFEND A BRITISH HOME: British civilians, faced with threat of invasion, desperately need arms for defense of their homes. THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF BRITISH HOMES has organised to collect gifts of pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, binoculars from American civilians who wish to answer the call and aide in defense of British homes. The arms are being shipped, with the consent of the British Government, to CIVILIAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF HOMES, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.’
 
Pedrocut said:
Being an avid reader of footnotes...Arming the British Home Guard, 1940-1944 (DM Clarke)

Page 6 of the November 1940 issue of American Rifleman carried the following appeal: ‘SEND A GUN TO DEFEND A BRITISH HOME: British civilians, faced with threat of invasion, desperately need arms for defense of their homes. THE AMERICAN COMMITTEE FOR DEFENSE OF BRITISH HOMES has organised to collect gifts of pistols, rifles, revolvers, shotguns, binoculars from American civilians who wish to answer the call and aide in defense of British homes. The arms are being shipped, with the consent of the British Government, to CIVILIAN COMMITTEE FOR PROTECTION OF HOMES, BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND.’
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throwback thursday
 
Noticed the mention of the “sticky bomb” in the thread below. DM Clarke says that along with the “Woolworth’s Bomb” and the “Talcum Powder Grenade” they will be forever associated with the Home Guard.

Boy Scout Suicide Squad.

The above few lines are taken from a two page story in yestedays Sunday Mercury. The man and his wife are still alive and well, he is now 88 and they still live close to Birmingham.
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
There doesn't seem to be much "local" info concerning the Home Guard given by DM Clarke. However came across the mention of the Staffs HG producing the "Nuttall flamethrower." Mounted on an engineless Austin Seven chassis with a 50 gallon drum of fuel sufficient to generate a 75 foot jet of flame for 3 minutes.
 
Pedrocut said:
There doesn't seem to be much "local" info concerning the Home Guard given by DM Clarke. However came across the mention of the Staffs HG producing the "Nuttall flamethrower." Mounted on an engineless Austin Seven chassis with a 50 gallon drum of fuel sufficient to generate a 75 foot jet of flame for 3 minutes.
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1570281359599.pngdont panic
 
When was the lanyard moved to the right shoulder? i see dads army wore it on the left. any one know about this subject of lanyards
 
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Astoness said:
morning chris..i am just flicking through some back copies of the brummagem mag....one dated 2004 is showing a story and three pics of the home quard lads dressed in german uniform practising their stuff....the locations are poss aston or lozells..the writer of the story cant be sure where they were taken but his dad was amongst those in the pic..there is a street sign on one of them and maybe zooming in can determine the location....you may have these pics already but just in case shall i scan them for you and post....

lyn:)
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hi lyn have you still got the pics? if so can you re post them please.
 
NoddKD said:
Anyone know why the Warwickshire cap badge has a deer in place of the Ragged Staff bear?
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Use of the Coat of ArmsThese arms are specific to the County Council, and may only be used by it. However, the bear and ragged staff is widely used to denote a connection with the county and there is no restriction on its general use,provided that you use completely different colours(the usual colouring is silver bear and staff, with a gold collar and chain, and a redmuzzle, standing on a red background)

Prob becouse it was warwickshire council coat of arms only...

1572160325545.png
 
The Warwickshire Regiment started out as the 6th. Regiment of Foot. Stags/deer are very fleet of foot but the reason is obscure it seems for that choice. Their origins are in the late 17th. Century and featured in the Netherlands where they were with the future Wiilliam III (van Oranje). Most likely part of the religious warfare of the time as the area was under Spanish control.
The bear is a feature of the Beauchamp family who came with the Norman conquest.
 
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