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History Forum / General / British History / February 2006Home Guard on C4 this evening
Tonight C4 showed the first of a mini series on the UKs Home Guard, with the lads being trained by a motley collection of men from the First WW, then by those with experience from the Spanish Civil War. Of course our concern for left wing infiltration outdid our immediate concern for the goose steppers and the intrepid Home Guard was later trained by the regular army soon afterwards. How effective we will never know, but the lads did turn out for the "invasion" of the 7th of September 1940, and judging from their comments, the prospects of turning back the Hun were not promising. I should have set the DVD recording for this program, but just turned over from watching a 1986 VHS program on HMS Sheffield and the Falklands conflict so missed the start. Lets hope the episodes are repeated! BP (not cross-posting to other unrelated NGs.....) > Tonight C4 showed the first of a mini series on the UKs Home Guard, with the > lads being trained by a motley collection of men from the First WW, then by [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > concern for the goose steppers and the intrepid Home Guard was later trained > by the regular army soon afterwards. The publisher of Picture Post became an enthusiast for the Home Guard and lent his west London mansion to it for tactical training by Spanish Civil War veterans (Wiintringham, Fraser, Penrose etc.) reproduced in Tom Hopkinson's Penguin anthology Picture Post 1938-50. Cf. other WW2 innovations: 1. Objective tests for "officer qualities" instead of interviews (aslo given publicity in Picture Post.) 2. New theories challenging traditional "rules of warfare," as documented iin the film The Rise and Fall of Colonel Blimp.  SignatureDon Phillipson Carlsbad Springs (Ottawa, Canada) >> Tonight C4 showed the first of a mini series on the UKs Home Guard, with > the [quoted text clipped - 16 lines] > 2. New theories challenging traditional "rules of warfare," as > documented iin the film The Rise and Fall of Colonel Blimp. I am no expert on military affairs of any kind, but the instuctional booklet belonging to my father seemed wholly based upon WW1 experiences. Lots of stuff on gas, nothing on tanks, or tackling anything more than people who were as badly armed as they were. I loved the little hand signalling lamp with the 3 coloured lights. I am now very sorry I took it apart and then threw it away. I hope the film does not try to carry on any pretence that our Home Guard could have delayed an invasion for more than a few hours. I look at how a better armed, better trained, younger army fared in France. SignatureThur ... > I am no expert on military affairs of any kind, but the > instuctional booklet belonging to my father seemed > wholly based upon WW1 experiences. There is a saying that every General is very well prepared to fight the last war. > Lots of stuff on gas, nothing on tanks, or tackling anything > more than people who were as badly armed as they were. There was only a fairly short period at the beginning when they were not issued with properly military arms. > I loved the little hand signalling lamp with the 3 coloured > lights. I am now very sorry I took it apart and then threw > it away. > I hope the film does not try to carry on any pretence that > our Home Guard could have delayed an invasion for more > than a few hours. As Winston Churchill suggested the Home Guard before the Germans started their Western Offensive, I suspect that he never intended them to. He probably saw their role as what it became - relieving regular troops from essential, but manpower hungry tasks, such as guard duties, manning road blocks and capturing crashed aircrews. Colin Bignell >Tonight C4 showed the first of a mini series on the UKs Home Guard, with the >lads being trained by a motley collection of men from the First WW, then by [quoted text clipped - 15 lines] > >BP (not cross-posting to other unrelated NGs.....) Looks like More4 (Sky channel 142) is repeating it on Saturday 4th March at 7.10pm. |
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