Birmingham's Home Guard Street Fighting School known as "GHQ Town Fighting Wing" was based at
130 Bristol Street
in a 19th c. church known as The Old Meeting Church on the corner of
Ashley Street.
The practical training was carried out in a derelict area of the city, adjacent to the Bristol Street premises, apparently in the area of Wrentham, Essex, Gooch and Kent Streets. See panel
(at foot of this page) for other pages relating to the School.
This specialist Home Guard training unit was operating until a relatively late stage in the war. The following documents indicate that there was no let up, even by September 1944, and students were still being drawn from far and wide.
On 21st August 1944
Sgt. I. Young and Sgt. A.E.S.D. Thomas of a Wiltshire Home Guard Battalion are overjoyed to learn that they are going to have a late summer break in Birmingham, for a week commencing 7th September.....
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And this is how the two N.C.O.s will be spending their time:
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Wihin 11 weeks of the return home of Sgts. Thomas and Young, fully trained to undertake house-to-house fighting in a city environment, the Home Guard will cease to exist in its WW2 form. Sunday, December 2nd 1944 will see its final stand-down parades in every part of the country.
The course attended by these men includes references to a School play, presumably performed by instructors. The script of one of these survives and may be read
here.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grateful acknowledgement is made to Mick Ackrill for providing the above material and permitting its publication here; and to members of the excellent
Birmingham History Forum through whose efforts and knowledge the exact location of the Street Fighting School was identified. |
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