MEMORIES AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD
71st WARKS (B'HAM) HOME GUARD
H.A.A. BATTERY
and
L/Cpl. ALEXANDER J. SCHADOWSKY
("F" Troop)

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Alexander Schadowsky was a young member of the 71st Warwickshire Home Guard Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, “F” Troop.

Alexander was a refugee from Nazi Germany. He was the son of a Latvian Jew and a German Christian mother and lived in Penig in Sachsen (Saxony). The family converted to Christianity but still had to flee from Eastern Germany in July 1939 in order to escape persecution. Alexander was 13 years of age at the time. He, his parents and his sister sought sanctuary in England, initially in London and then later in Devon. Finally they settled in Kings Heath, Birmingham in November/December 1940.

The date of Alexander’s entry into Home Guard service is not known. It may have coincided with his arrival in Birmingham or may have been later. If it had been in late 1940 or early 1941, he would only have been 15 years of age. Whilst this was below the minimum age for a Home Guard – which was 17 – it would still have been a possibility, given a little white lie in the paperwork! But whatever his age, Alexander would have been very unusual in being a German citizen serving in a military unit being trained to defend against a German attack. (The British authorities would presumably still have regarded him as such - even though in his own country he would have been wholly disenfranchised – and it is remarkable that after the initial internment of all German nationals after the outbreak of war, the degree of trust shown later had so significantly improved.)

In the course of 1942 members of the Home Guard became increasingly involved in the manning of anti-aircraft batteries. It is at this point where evidence of Alexander’s Home Guard service starts to become apparent. The following group, where Alexander is to be seen in the front row, extreme right, may well date from that period and may show fellow members of "F" Troop.


The location of the battery in which he served has not yet been identified but all the indications are is that it was situated in the King’s Heath area. There are recollections of the existence of A.A. guns on Billesley Common and possibly at Swanshurst, both in the vicinity, but whether either of these is where Alexander and his comrades served, is so far unknown.


A larger group photograph also survives, of unknown date although it probably coincided with one of the anniversaries of the Home Guard's founding in May 1940. A visitor to this website identifies the location as The Maypole, a pub subsequently demolished (although still standing in the 1950s - see right). Alexander Schadowsky is in the third row from the back, 6th from the right.


(Click on the image to see a magnified version)

Alexander clearly served through until the Home Guard was "stood down" in December 1944 and by that time had received the stripe of a lance corporal. He and his comrades enjoyed a Stand Down dinner and concert on Saturday 10th February 1945 and the programme survives, with many signatures including his own. The programme shows that this event took place at Brandwood House Barracks, King’s Heath.

In addition to Alexander himself, two of the men who appear in the programme can be identified. Captain George H. Powell, who commanded the Battery, had in 1941 been a second lieutenant in the 30th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion whence he later transferred to anti-aircraft battery duties as did so many Home Guards at the time with varying degrees of enthusiasm. Colonel R. E. Cole had been a Birmingham Area Commander for all of the Home Guard’s 4½ year existence.

Whilst it is at present unconfirmed, these images may show Brandwood House at the time.



Alexander received acknowledgement of his service from the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Anti-Aircraft Command dated February 1st 1945 (left).

He was also in receipt of a Defence Medal, the transmission document for which survives (below).

 


Amongst several other categories of people who had served the war effort, Home Guards were eligible for this latter award, normally on the basis that they had served for a minimum of three years. It is reasonable to assume therefore that Alexander joined the Home Guard at some point before the end of December 1941 and served continuously thereafter. His initial service would have been in one of the original Birmingham battalions performing a more traditional Home Guard role; it would have been some time later that he transferred to anti-aircraft duties. Somewhere in the area - regrettably it is not known precisely where, nor any further details of the incident - there may well remain evidence of those earlier activities: mismatched brickwork in a building badly damaged by an exploding Home Guard shell within.

Alexander became a British citizen in 1947 and at that point he and the rest of the family changed their name to 'Sinclair'. In later life he married an English woman and had 3 children. He went to Birmingham University where he obtained two degrees and then entered the teaching profession, eventually becoming a Secondary School Headmaster at schools in Worcester, Heidelberg (in the 1970s) and Reading. He was also a Christian lay-preacher. He spoke word-perfect English and had no German accent whatsoever.

Alexander Schadowsky, later Sinclair, died in Reading in 1986, aged 60 and is buried with his wife. His mother, father and sister lie in Brandwood Cemetery, Kings Heath.

Addendum:
A further member of this unit has been identified. He was L/Cpl. Buffery. Regrettably L/Cpl. Buffery does not appear in any of the above images but he served on a gun battery in Crabmill Lane, not far from The Maypole. This may well have been the battery in which Alexander Schadowsky himself served.

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Let this page stand as a modest tribute to a remarkable man, rejected by his own country when the latter was under the thrall of a brutal and evil regime and then eager to give service with bravery and devotion to the nation which had given him refuge.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We are much indebted to Mrs. Elizabeth Aldridge of Devonshire for all the above information about her father, Alexander Schadowsky, and for her generous permission for its publication within this website.
Images © Elizabeth Aldridge 2010 (except "The Maypole" - © Barry Buffery 2010)