Dad's Army: What Was It Like To Serve In The British Home Guard?

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  • Опубліковано 21 лис 2024
  • Explore what it was like to serve in the British Home Guard during WW2. From its formation in 1940 as the Local Defence Volunteers, this civilian force rapidly grew to defend Britain against potential Nazi invasion. This video delves into the experiences of volunteers from all walks of life, their training, the improvisations they made to protect their country, and the role they played in Britain’s defense.
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 68

  • @annehersey9895
    @annehersey9895 28 днів тому +28

    Actually, the Home Guard was a stroke of genius by Churchill. By having an organization for defense if the .Nazi’s ever did invade the Island, the Guard would at least slow them down. Often both father and son were in it together which brought them closer in a special relationship. It made the elderly feel useful and gave teens a start in marching, drills, weaponry etc. so that when they were called up, they would have a bit of a head start!

  • @user-pn9db8sm5w
    @user-pn9db8sm5w 24 дні тому +4

    This was before my time but I can feel it, as if I was there. It's amazing how the people of Great Britain came together to take on extra jobs for country, actively protect, and ready to fight an ememy if they were invaded. Watching this program I felt proud for them. Sad to say, in many countries this might not be the same these days. So much fighting between citizens over politics, religion, any number of subjects. You'd hope citizens could put it all aside and work as one.

  • @robertthomas1717
    @robertthomas1717 29 днів тому +38

    There's no one more riled up than someone seeing an enemy force trying to take your home town. Fair play to those brave citizen soldiers.

    • @ronniew3229
      @ronniew3229 27 днів тому

      If England had been invaded would they be called,
      A. Freedom fighters
      B Insurgents
      C. Terrorists

    • @borninvincible
      @borninvincible 19 днів тому +2

      That's hilarious considering that's exactly what the British empire did for centuries 😂

  • @shaunmcclory8117
    @shaunmcclory8117 29 днів тому +21

    My pop and his home guard platoon set up their command post in the Hare&Hounds public house in Sheffield!👍😂

    • @minuteman4394
      @minuteman4394 12 днів тому

      My father and his pals did the same in the Ring o` Bells He He !

    • @jimpooley2672
      @jimpooley2672 11 днів тому

      @@minuteman4394 wise men all

  • @johnstephens8303
    @johnstephens8303 29 днів тому +9

    Great video, especially that from the horses mouth. Loved the commentaries on the WW2 News Films, keeping the dogs out of the field for camouflage training etc.

  • @jokodihaynes419
    @jokodihaynes419 29 днів тому +20

    "We're doomed doomed"-Pvt Frazier Dad's Army

    • @youdontneedtoknow6621
      @youdontneedtoknow6621 24 дні тому +2

      After a watch of the series dvd boxset I was shocked to learn that was only said by him 4/5 times in all 9 seasons. Still surprises me given how popular that line is

  • @angloaust1575
    @angloaust1575 29 днів тому +9

    My father had to perform.home guard duties as well as his railway shift during ww2

  • @ednammansfield8553
    @ednammansfield8553 23 дні тому +3

    In the 1980's a similar idea came about again and units called the Home Service Force was created by Margaret Thatcher due to the Russian threat to the UK back then during the Cold War. The HSF was formed from former military servicemen and women from all the Armed Forces Royal Navy, Army and the Royal Air Force. Some of the HSF units also had former members of the special forces SAS, SBS and Parachute Regiment. I was also a member of the Home Service Force having served previously only three years before the HSF was formed in the RAF and I served at first with 15 Battalian RAOC at Donnington in Telford which was a regular army unit. We later were rebadged to a Territorial Army unit which was the Queen's Own Mercian Yeomanry at Dawley Bank Army Reserve Centre in Telford. The Home Service Force was disbanded in June 1992. There is a memorial at the National Arboretum at Alrewas in Staffordshire dedicated to the Home Service Force and all the regiments that they were part of. We would have been the last form of defence if the UK was invaded by Russian forces at the time. We were already highly trained ex military at the formation of the Home Service Force so an advantage that the Home Guard didn't have at their formation during WW2. Like the Home Guard though we all started out with the rank of private and officers and former NCO's were selected for each HSF unit. Our duties were to protect key points throughout the UK which would be targets for enemy forces in a case of invasion. Many of us still have reunions every year since we were disbanded in 1992 today. We were proud of the service we did.

  • @80sMod1
    @80sMod1 26 днів тому +6

    Bless em all feel so proud of them watching this.

    • @lordeden2732
      @lordeden2732 9 днів тому

      They were ten times funnier than the TV series so inept the Germans would have died laughing.
      They managed to kill loads of their own men during training.

  • @colinjohn2708
    @colinjohn2708 5 днів тому

    Good coverage tku. Loved most of the appropriate background music.

  • @died4us590
    @died4us590 26 днів тому +4

    Both my grandpa's and my uncle's served in wwll, and my maternal grandpa was my best friend, he once told me i saved his life. After having open heart surgery for the second time, he was having trouble getting through the recovery, so i helped him more than i usually did, and he told me thing's about the war that he had never spoken about. My grandpa was a medic, and saw some really bad stuff, along with helping liberate a concentration camp after the invasion of Normandy. He served over 4 year's, and he returned to England several time's after the war, he really liked the British soldier's and people he met. He didn't like the whole royalty bit, i guess some of the guy's he talked to didn't care for them either, but they did respect Churchill. That generation were the best, most of them are gone now, and i know they would have a lot to say about the way the world is being run right now.
    G-d bless.

  • @behindthespotlight7983
    @behindthespotlight7983 21 день тому +3

    9:29 There was a program in 1940-41 that advertised in American gun magazines. Privately funded freight shipments were enacted whereby sportsmen and veterans of WW1 in the US were solicited to send every type of equipment from bird guns to binoculars, deer rifles to Boy Scout mess kits over to England for donation to the Home Guard. A moment or two of research on any search engine (except google) will yield images of full page ads asking for donations of everything from .32 auto pistols to shotgun shells. Few today realize how close the British Isles came to being invaded and occupied just as the Guernsey Islands were, directly off the coast of France. If this interests you watch “Another Mother’s Son” (feature film 2017).

  • @lemmy6782
    @lemmy6782 26 днів тому +6

    My grandfather joined the army as soon as war declared. He hated the Germans he was a toddler when his dad, my great grandfather, was killed on the somme he was never found has no grave. My grandad was medically discharged he was deaf in one ear, so he joined the local steelworks home guard . He also served on the anti-aircraft guns on the mouth of the river tees. .I remember once finding some bottles with rags in them, he told me they were for German paratroopers, the petrol long gone from them .

  • @mbak7801
    @mbak7801 21 день тому +3

    In the 1960s as a young child it was quite easy to come across blank and occasionally live .303 rounds in parks and along the side of footpaths. Most of this probably came from the Home Guard. I took a live round into school but the teacher told me to take it home and give it to my parents. Very sensible compared to the hysterical response you would get these days.

  • @markcolyer1989
    @markcolyer1989 10 днів тому

    Really good thanks

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +3

    Hände hoch

  • @murrayscott9546
    @murrayscott9546 29 днів тому +6

    Bless'm all.

  • @camrenwick
    @camrenwick 29 днів тому +9

    "They don't like it up em"

  • @gijake1989
    @gijake1989 29 днів тому +5

    Lazerpig, lazerpig
    When do we get your take on this?

  • @skylongskylong1982
    @skylongskylong1982 28 днів тому +3

    Bring back the volunteer Home Service Force.

  • @grantovenden2646
    @grantovenden2646 6 днів тому

    Fantastic - thank you so much for sharing; I thought I knew about Dad's Army but who knew they had a roller skate division haahaa

  • @jameskelly7782
    @jameskelly7782 27 днів тому +4

    DON'T PANIC!!!!!....DON'T PANIC!!!!!.....

  • @jamesmichael3609
    @jamesmichael3609 29 днів тому +3

    They were never tested, so whatever we say is speculative. America had the "Angels" in the Pacific. Late 20s and 30s is somewhat younger than the Home Guard, but they absolutely terrorized the Japanese.

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    The Hebrides Overture or id it the Unfinished Symphöny not sure!

  • @joeaustin4472
    @joeaustin4472 27 днів тому +3

    "Stupid boy" - Capt Mainwaring 😁😁😁.

  • @mickbutton3625
    @mickbutton3625 10 днів тому +1

    I can't believe that out of 37k views only 748 people gave this a like :(

  • @richardrichard5409
    @richardrichard5409 12 днів тому

    We shouldn't forget that most of the men whom served in the Home Guard, had already seen action in WW1, so they weren't complete rookies.

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +2

    Captain Mainwaring

  • @joec3840
    @joec3840 17 днів тому

    Anyone know the name of the song at the beginning ?

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    Cromwell?

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +2

    Jonsey and Mrs Fox

  • @mohammedsaysrashid3587
    @mohammedsaysrashid3587 29 днів тому +3

    The majority of British people .they understood the political prospectives of their government, and they loved their kingdom
    . theirs governments duty call positively responded 👍🏻 by them .

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    Is John Le Meur speaking in this I mean 'Uncle' Arthur Wilson

    • @Rob-e8w
      @Rob-e8w 15 днів тому

      John le Mesurier died in 1983. According to the titles at the end of this video the narrator was Mark Adderley

  • @lesklower7281
    @lesklower7281 23 дні тому +2

    Australia had a home guard my father served in Australia's home guard because the threat from Japan why my father was of Army age during WW2 it is the fact that he wore glasses and couldn't serve in the regular army but served in the home guard and he occupation was a school teacher

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    Dad's Army.

  • @jokodihaynes419
    @jokodihaynes419 29 днів тому +6

    "Don't panic don't panic"-Corporal Jones Dad's Army

  • @Kiwionwing
    @Kiwionwing День тому

    In New Zealand
    A ferry ⛴️ was blown up by home guard because skipper got fed up by orders

  • @jameskelly7782
    @jameskelly7782 27 днів тому +7

    God bless the LDV,and the Home Guard,.....and the sten did NOT kill more friendless than e enemies....Britain has lost it's firearm savvy culture.

    • @AnnetteMurphyger
      @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому

      Frank Pike always used to mention the Geneva Convention

    • @willevans429
      @willevans429 9 днів тому

      thats right the sten didnt kill as many friendlies because the bloody thing hardly worked lolol

  • @jamesbutler6253
    @jamesbutler6253 9 днів тому

    The skating section 😂😂😂

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +2

    Wilson 😅

  • @Wobbler619
    @Wobbler619 24 дні тому +2

    It wasn't really like it was portrayed in Dad's Army. Many fit 40somethings who would have been WW1 combat vets plus 17 year olds doing some basic military training before being called up.

  • @wondledonkey
    @wondledonkey 29 днів тому +2

    So like PDF from Warhammer 40k

  • @660einzylinder
    @660einzylinder 16 днів тому

    Shame the fellow demonstrating the Sten could hold it correctly.

  • @patrickrichards2577
    @patrickrichards2577 29 днів тому +2

    ✨🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿✨🥰✨👍✨♥️✨🤗✨.

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    What were the women doing? welding?

  • @stuartmcnaughton1495
    @stuartmcnaughton1495 21 день тому +1

    My uncle was wounded while serving in the Home Guard. His unit was practicing firing live rounds into the sea, but they didn't realise there were underwater rocks there until a ricochet came back and hit him in the leg.

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +2

    PIkey

  • @AnnetteMurphyger
    @AnnetteMurphyger 27 днів тому +1

    and the women lost their jobs as welders!

  • @grahamlait1969
    @grahamlait1969 4 дні тому

    Why is it that we never examine the reality of the Home Guard but exalt it nevertheless? The fact is that the Home Guard was the largest volunteer army the world had ever seen that never saw any action at all, never killed any enemies and killed exclusively it's own members and members of the public it was supposed to protect in training exercises... and did it at huge expense to the war effort. It was a complete waste of money and effort in reality. These are the facts and indisputable. Why is it that patriotic Brits are unable to see that entirely obvious truth?