HOME GUARD MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - WARWICKSHIRE, BIRMINGHAM

BIRMINGHAM BATTALIONS
in
SEPTEMBER 1940

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Shortly after the call to arms in May 1940, ten Home Guard Battalions were formed covering all parts of Birmingham. Areas of responsibilty, Battalion names and senior personnel all changed in the following few months and by early 1941 the Home Guard's organisation in the city was largely established in the form in which it would exist until stand-down in December 1944.

This page lists the initial ten Battalions as they existed in August/September 1940 and their Commanding Officers at that time. By 1941 all Battalion commanders would hold the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. Most of those 1940 officers remained with their newly renamed units although one or two transferred elsewhere or in some cases disappeared entirely from the records, either retiring or even enlisting in the Regular Army. At the same time many new battalions were formed amounting, eventually, to over thirty serving different parts of the city or different organisations such as public utilities.

Regrettably, information on geographical areas of responsibility is at present sketchy.

 

 
  1st BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
    later 21st Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion
    (Birmingham Zone)

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officer:
    Captain A.B. Jarrett


 

  

 

  2nd BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 22nd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battn.     (Birmingham Zone)

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officer:    
    Captain Martin F. Baker
    (late R.W.R.)

 


 

 

  3rd BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 23rd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion     (Birmingham Zone)

  Area: Aston/Erdington (part)

  Commanding Officer:
     Captain S.A. Godsall, M.C.
     (late Worcestershire Regiment)

 


 

 

  4th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 24th Warwickshire (Birmingham)      Battalion (Birmingham Zone)

  Area: Moseley

  Commanding Officer:
     Major E.H. Robinson, D.S.O., M.C.
     (late K.S.L.I.)

 


 

 

  5th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 25th Warwickshire (Birmingham)      Battalion  (Birmingham Zone, Group 'C')

  Area: Aston/Nechells

  Commanding Officer:
     Captain N.F. Rose, M.B.E.

 

  

 

  6th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 26th Warwickshire (Birmingham)      Battalion  (Birmingham Zone, Group 'B')

  Area: Small Heath

  Commanding Officers:
     Major F. Jones, T.D. (1940)
     (later Colonel and C.O. Birmingham Zone, "B"      Group)
     Lt.-Col. M. Robinson (1941)

 


 
  

 

  7th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 27th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion      (Birmingham Zone, Group 'D')

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officers:
     Col. A.W. Newman, M.C., T.D. (1940)
     Lt.-Col. H. Goodwin (1941)
     (late R.A.F.)

 


 

 

  8th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 28th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion     (Birmingham Zone, Group 'E')

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officers:
     Lt.-Col. H.G. Wickes, M.C., T.D.    (1940)
     Lt.-Col. A. Woodward (1941)

 


 

  

  9th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 29th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion     (Birmingham Zone, Group 'A')

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officers:
     Major T.B. Pritchett, M.C. (1940)
     (Lord Mayor of Birmingham)
     Lt.-Col. E.V. Horton, M.C. (1941)

 


 

 

  10th BIRMINGHAM BATTALION
     later 30th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion     (Birmingham Zone)

  Area: unknown

  Commanding Officer:
     Lt.-Col. R.I. Scorer, M.C.
     (late Wiltshire Regiment)

 


 
     

 

  CENTRAL MIDLAND AREA
  BIRMINGHAM ZONE
     comprising Groups "A" to "E"  (1941)

  Commanders:
     Colonel A. Woods, T.D. (1940)
     Colonel J.C. Piggott, M.C. (1941)
     (late Coldstream Guards)

 


 
     

Images of one of the above Battalions, No. 3, parading in the summer of 1940 can be seen on this page.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Much of the above information is based on documentation owned by Mick Ackrill, to whom grateful acknowledgement is made.