They don't like it up em! (1 Viewer)

[Rob]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ome-Guard-Lads-Army-somethings-teenagers.html

 

[Mitch]

Dads army would not have been the same if it were not for the elder statesmen on display. Nice to see the real documents come out and show what defended the island at that time. interesting link
Mitch

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ome-Guard-Lads-Army-somethings-teenagers.html

 

[Rob]

Dads army would not have been the same if it were not for the elder statesmen on display. Nice to see the real documents come out and show what defended the island at that time. interesting link
Mitch

Quite true Mitch. I'm sure the old guys in the Real Home Guard also did their bit alongside the younger members we now hear about. Dads Army did a huge amount to bring the Home Guard and what it did into the consciousness of the public at large. Whilst people often wrongly think the HG was meant to meet the Germans head on in battle they did a wonderful job, guarding vital installations , railways , road junctions etc and freed up thousands of Soldiers to go to the front.

God bless them, they 'did their bit' .{bravo}}

Rob

 

[trooper]

Don't forget that many of the older members were veterans of WW1 and had a wealth of practical experience of weapons and combat which was passed on to the younger personnel so that when the youngsters were eventually called to the colours they already had a grounding in the basics of army life. Remember also Churchill's "scallywags", the secret sections that were to go underground in the event of an invasion and act as saboteurs. All recruited from the Home Guard with a life expectancy of just two weeks. "Dad's Army" was good fun but a lot of the improvised gadgets shown were based on fact, especially in the early days when weaponry was in short supply. Trooper

 

[johnnybach]

Your comments on shortages of weaponary struck a chord with me Trooper. I recall a story that Churchill, upon finding out at some point, that around half of the Home guard had no weapon at all - wrote to the MOD and demanded that ALL should have a weapon of some sort "be it mace or pike".

The civil servants took this comment at face value - and had obsolete bayonets welded to the end of a steel tube. When these were tried to be issued - there was a huge controversy - which was brought to a head in Parliament by an MP who was also in the Home Guard. He described the issue of such poor weapons as either a joke - or an insult. Lord Croft took the blame - which was later resolved - with the mass issue of the cheap to produce Sten Gun. jb