(Source 1) Winston Churchill,Letter to Sir John Anderson (7th October, 1939)

What about all these people of middle-age, many of whom served in the last war, who are full of vigour and experience, and who are being told by tens of thousands that they are not wanted? Surely this is very

foolish. Why do we not form a Home Guard of half-a-million men over forty, and put all our elderly stars at the head and in the structure of these new formations? Let these five hundred thousand men come along and push the young and active out of all the home billets. If uniforms are lacking, armbands would suffice, and I am assured there are plenty of rifles at any rate.

(Source 2)Anthony Eden (Secretary of State for War),Radio broadcast announcing the new LDV forces(14th May, 1940)

Since the war began, the Government have received countless

inquiries from all over the Kingdom from men of all ages…who wish to do something for the defence of their country. Well, now is your opportunity.

We want large numbers of such men in Great Britain, who are British subjects, between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five, to come forward now and offer their services in order to make assurance doubly sure. The name of the new Force which is now to be raised will be ' The Local Defence Volunteers'.

You will not be paid, but you will receive uniform and will be armed. You will be entrusted with certain vital duties for which reasonable fitness and a knowledge of firearms is necessary. These duties will not require you to live away from your homes.

(Source 3) Anthony Eden (Secretary of State for War),Memoirs (1965)I had expected the response to this appeal (for LDV volunteers) to be prompt. In fact it was overwhelming, the first recruit arriving within four minutes of the end of the broadcast. It was quite impossible to deal with the number of volunteers who

flocked to join, still less to provide them with weapons. But this was only a beginning and the answer which mattered had already been given. The Local Defence Volunteers acted as a catalyst, giving point to the nation's will to resist. As the years passed, the volunteers recorded long periods of service which were often dreary, but always devoted, with only one reward, the knowledge that 'The Home Guard', as it was re-christened, closed a gap in our defences which must have been dangerous and could have been fatal.

(Source 4) Tom Hopkinson, Of This Our Time, a journalist’s story 1906-1950 (1982)

The War Office, faced with the problem of re-equipping a large part of the British army following the evacuation of Dunkirk (in May 1940), did not want to be bothered with a lot of amateurs… The men who immediately joined it in large numbers were not the old

buffers of 'Dad's Army', but were mainly young men waiting to get into the army or working in reserved occupations, plus some ex-soldiers from the First World War longing to get back into action. All had only two wishes - to obtain weapons and to secure realistic training. The authorities had their hands full with the armed forces, or thought they had; meantime the LDV were told to wait patiently until someone or other could pay them some attention.

(Source 5) Tom Winteringham, “The Home Guard Can Fight” in Picture Post (21st September, 1940)

As I was watching yesterday 250 men of the Home Guard take their places for a lecture at the Osterley Park Training School an air-raid siren sounded, and a dozen men with rifles moved to their prearranged positions as a defence unit against low-

flying aircraft.

The lecturer began to talk of scouting, stalking and patrolling. And as I watched and listened I realised that I was taking part in something so new and strange as to be almost revolutionary - the growth of an "army of the people" in Britain - and, at the same time, something that is older than Britain, almost as old as England - a gathering of the "men of the counties able to bear arms."

But all was not plain sailing; there were prejudices to be broken down. Soon after the school was founded an officer high up in the command of the L.D.V. requested Mr. Hulton and myself to close the school down, because the sort of training we were giving was "not needed."

(Source 6) On 16th July 1943 the East Grinstead Courier reported on the bombing of East Grinstead.

Death dealing blows were struck at the heart of a quiet South-East town

soon after 5 o'clock on Friday, when one of about ten enemy raiders swept in from the coast to cause havoc in the shopping centre, and a large number of casualties among men, women and children.

Within a few minutes of this ruthless attack on an open town, Civil Defence workers, including members of the Home Guard, were on the scene effecting rescues. The combined services accomplished many feats of skill and daring, and worked feverishly throughout the late afternoon and night.

There were many harrowing scenes as children and women were recovered from the debris. One by one, and two by two, pale faced and lifeless children were brought out of the ruins. Some were found almost naked with their clothes blasted from them. It was a sickening scene, one which brought tears even to the stoutest hearts among the gallant lot of rescuers who toiled on through the night.

One man was told it was time to rest. The rescuer looked up, inwardly moved, but not betraying a sign of emotion, replied: "No, I work on. Under this rubble is my wife. I must find her."

(Source 7) Author J. B. Priestley, Britain Speaks, published for the Ministry of Information (1940)

It so happens that this war, has to be fought as a citizen's war. There is no way out of that because an order to defend and protect this island, not only against possible invasion but also against all the disasters of aerial bombardment, it has

been found necessary to bring into existence a new network of voluntary associations such as the Home Guard, the Observer Corps, all the A.R.P. and fire-fighting services, and the like... They are a new type, what might be called the organized militant citizen. Men and women with a gift for leadership now turn up in unexpected places. Britain, which in the years immediately before this war was rapidly losing such democratic virtues as it possessed, is now being bombed and burned into democracy.

(Source 8) Frances Partridge, diary entry (6th July, 1940)

Gerald is now in trouble with the police. It seems he was out with the Home Guard a few

nights ago, and used his electric torch to inspect the sandbag defences. A short time later several policemen rode up on motor bikes and shouted, "You were signalling to the enemy!" Gerald blew up and they became more reasonable, but he was later told, "We think it only fair to tell you we have reported you to Headquarters as signalling to the enemy".

The head of the Aldboume Home Guard was sympathetic but thought nothing could be done. He quite agreed with Gerald that these were Gestapo methods. Gerald is thinking of resigning from the Home Guard and is very cynical about the hopeless confusion of our home defences.

(Source 9) Angus Calder, The People's War (1969)

The L.D.V.s, drilling with stakes on village greens and city parks, looked ridiculous enough; and the proud title 'Home Guard' now summons up an image of overgrown schoolboys playing at soldiers.

Hindsight, as always, makes fools of us. Even before Churchill's speech, the Volunteers expected to fight in the fields and in the streets and never to surrender. How effectively they might have fought in these early days, one may doubt. One afternoon that summer, a parachute landing was reported in Croydon; a local platoon commander had only one Volunteer available, as the rest of his men were at their work in London, and when he was able to assemble fifteen of them, their armament consisted of one rifle, ten cartridges, a revolver and a shotgun.

(Source 10) Spartacus.co.uk, The Home Guard (2013)

After the defeat of France in June 1940, thousands of LDVs were deployed along the coast of Britain. They were also used to defend munition factories. At this time only one in ten was armed with a rifle. These were Lee Enfield rifles that had been used in the First World War.

When Adolf Hitler heard about that the Home Guard was being used to defend the five thousand miles of Britain coastline, he denounced them as "murder bands" and declared that after the invasion they would be executed if they attacked the German Army.

The public were invited to give their shotguns and pistols to the Home Guard and within a few months over 20,000 weapons were handed in. There was still not enough guns to go around and LDVs carried pickaxes, crowbars, coshes, spears and dummy rifles on duty.

Uniforms began arriving in the autumn of 1940. Later the men were issued with steel helmets, greatcoats and waterproof capes. Individual commanders made their own arrangements about training. One of the most important training schools was set up by Tom Wintringham, at Osterley Park in Middlesex.

The expected invasion never came and the main role of the Home Guard was capturing German airmen whose planes had been shot down over Britain. As well as guarding munition factories and aerodromes, the men also organised roadblocks and checked people's identity cards.