MEMORIES
AND INFORMATION - STAFFORDSHIRE
ROWLEY
REGIS UNIT(S)
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Responsible for the defence of Rowley Regis
was the 40th Staffordshire (Rowley Regis) Battalion. Organisationally
this Battalion was grouped with its neighbours, the 38th
(Brierley Hill), 39th (Enville) and 41st (Tipton) Battalions.
In 2004 and 2006 there were a couple of
threads in Rowley Regis
Online's Forum discussing the local Home Guard. Snippets
of information emerging were as follows:
A Home Guard base was in a building called
"Unit Aid" in Birmingham Road, just down from
McMillan Road on the same side. The building still exists,
now behind a steel fence. Another suggestion is that a
unit was based in Hurst Green.
Drill practice used to take place in Britannia
Park.
One of the local unit's duties was to
guard "Big Bertha" on Rowley Hills.
There is a story whereby in the blackout
the unit succeeded in marching a visiting colonel and
his staff into the cut. (Translation
into non-Black Country English: canal).
A 1943 photograph of the unit has also survived,
taken in Lench's Grounds. The only identified member is
George Baker, back row, 5th from the right.
Grateful acknowledgement
is made to Rowley Regis
Online and to the contributors; and particularly to
MJ for allowing us to reproduce the picture. Any further
details about the Rowley Regis Home Guard, to add to the
above rather sketchy information, would be warmly welcomed.
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