****************************************************************************************
ALDRIDGE
and Adjoining Areas
View a wealth of information about the
32nd Staffordshire (Aldridge) Battalion
and the area it defended: Aldridge,
Barr Beacon, Brownhills, Little Aston, Pelsall, Pheasey,
Rushall, Shelfield, Streetly, Walsall Wood and neighbouring
areas.
****************************************************************************************
BARLASTON
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
****************************************************************************************
BARR BEACON
Go to this page of the
site.
****************************************************************************************
BILSTON
The defence of Bilston
was the responsibility of the 34th
Staffordshire (Bilston) Battalion.
See WOLVERHAMPTON
- SPECIFIC HOME GUARD UNITS
below.
****************************************************************************************
BREWOOD
The defence of Brewood and the surrounding
area was the responsibility of the 25th
Staffordshire (Brewood) Battalion.
****************************************************************************************
BROWNHILLS
Go to this page of the
site.
****************************************************************************************
BURSLEM
Here is information about the 2nd Staffordshire (Burslem) Battalion and its Commanding Officer, Lt.-Col. Reg Brown, (ex-R.N. and a leading local businessman). (New!)
****************************************************************************************
BURTON-UPON-TRENT
Evelyn
Jones describes
her role as a phonogram operator in the local unit of which
there is also an image. (You will leave this site).
****************************************************************************************
CANNOCK
Leslie Daniel Vernon served
in the Home Guard in Cannock during the war. He was known
as Dan and was the manager of Salmon's grocers in Cannock.
His grandson, David Cobham of Albrighton, Shropshire, is
seeking memories and images to share. Please see GUESTBOOK
for contact details.
****************************************************************************************
CHEADLE
A Home Guard unit parades in the Memorial Park, Cheadle, in November 1940 where they are to be inspected by the Earl of Harrowby, Lord-Lieutenant of Staffordshire.
***************************************
CODSALL
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES and
WOLVERHAMPTON - 24th Battn.
below.
****************************************************************************************
ELFORD
An image of the local unit, pictured
outside Haselour Hall, can be seen towards the bottom of
this linked
page of the Elfordian Times website. (You
will leave this site).
****************************************************************************************
FAZELEY
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
****************************************************************************************
FEATHERSTONE and
WILLENHALL
An unidentified member
of the Home Guard in Staffordshire wrote as follows of his
experiences:
".........Not long after this
I was directed by the Ministry of Works to report to a firm
of Civil Engineers and Building Contractors who had just
started work on the Ordnance Factory at Featherstone and
known to us as Bransford Lodge. The senior officer of the
company decided to form a Home Guard section to cover the
site of the works. You had no option but to join, it was
an order. It was quite a large force of people and ten of
us formed an Engineers Section. We had instructions twice
a week after we had finished work by a regular soldier and
we also did one night guard duty per week. When the Ordnance
Factory was completed in 1942 I was transferred to the Ministry
of Fuel and Power, looking out for and boring sites for
open cast coal production. I did find two or three sites
in Essington and worked these until November 1943.
On leaving the Ordnance Factory I
joined Willenhall Home Guard Section and to my surprise
they had an engineers section controlled by the friends
from the Surveyor's Department. Again we had instructions
from a regular soldier every Sunday Morning. Our Headquarters
was the old Willenhall Football Club and Greyhound Racing
Track in Temple Road. Again we did one night per week guard
duty. The section built a rifle range under one of the covered
areas and we practised quite often. A Home Guard competition
was set up round the area for the rifle range and we managed
to get to the final. The final was held at a rifle range
set up under the stand of the old Bushbury end of the Molineux
ground (Cow shed) and we won the competition.
I left the Home Guard in November
1943 when I was drafted to Southampton to help build the
Mulberry Harbour boats...."
© Willenhall History Society 2000 Full
acknowledgement is made to the author and to Willenhall
History Society. To read this interesting memoir in its
entirety which also includes details of ARP activities,
please click
here. You
will leave this site.
****************************************************************************************
FORSBROOK
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
****************************************************************************************
HANLEY
Mr.
Colin Chesworth remembers
aspects of Home Guard life including home-made entertainment.
(You will leave this site).
(right) An identified Company Commander meets Col. Sir Percival Heywood, D.S.O., T.D., in Hanley Park in August 1940 . The latter officer was C.O. of No. 3 Zone, West Lancashire Area, to which the North Staffordshire Home Guard Battalions belonged.
*********************************************
LICHFIELD
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
*********************************************
LITTLE ASTON
Go to this page of
the site.
*********************************************
KIDSGROVE
Mr.
J.W. Colclough's reminiscences
of the Kidsgrove unit.
(You will leave this site).
****************************************************************************************
LONGTON
Read how an RAF pilot instructor,
Alfred Leslie Jones, supported
the local Home Guard unit, "C"
Coy.
3rd Staffordshire (Longton) Battalion.
(Updated!)
See
also Meir below.
****************************************************************************************
MEIR
Memories
of "C" Coy. 3rd Staffordshire
(Longton) Battalion and the Goodwin family can be
seen here.
See also Longton above.
****************************************************************************************
NEWBOROUGH
Click
above to see information about the HG unit of this Staffordshire
village to which Mr. Les Mosedale
and
his brother belonged .
The village is located within about three miles of the Fauld
munition explosion of 1944.
****************************************************************************************
NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME
A Home Guard unit marches through the town in October 1940.
***********************
PATTINGHAM
A fascinating description of the organisation,
activities and personalities of the Pattingham Home Guard
units comprising "D" Company of the 24th
Staffordshire (Tettenhall) Battalion can be read
by clicking the title above.
****************************************************************************************
PELSALL
Go to this page of
the site for the main stories relating to Pelsall.
To
see all the many references to Pelsall in the story of the
32nd (Aldridge) Battalion told
elsewhere on this website, please click
here.
****************************************************************************************
PHEASEY
Go to this page of the
site.
****************************************************************************************
ROCESTER
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
****************************************************************************************
ROWLEY
REGIS
Miscellaneous
information
*****************************************************************************************
RUSHALL
Go to this page of
the site.
****************************************************************************************
SEDGLEY
The defence of Bilston
was the responsibility of the 35th
Staffordshire (Sedgley) Battalion.
See WOLVERHAMPTON
- SPECIFIC HOME GUARD UNITS
below.
****************************************************************************************
SHELFIELD
Go to this page of the
site.
****************************************************************************************
SHUGBOROUGH
See VARIOUS
TOWNS AND VILLAGES
below.
****************************************************************************************
SMETHWICK
A
visitor to this site is seeking information about Smethwick
Home Guard units, in one of which her father, Mr.
William George Bridges, served. Please see GUESTBOOK
for further details.
An early member of a
Smethwick unit was John McGeough
of 24 Stony Street, Smethwick, born in Dublin and later
a glider pilot who was captured at Arnhem.
"I joined at Piddock Road Police Station, Smethwick
and proudly donned the denim uniform with the LDV armband
on the left arm and the cap badge of the South Staffordshire
Regiment."
Mr. Geough's remarkable subsequent story after joining the
army can be read here.
(You will leave
this site).
****************************************************************************************
STAFFORD
See
also VARIOUS TOWNS
AND VILLAGES below.
****************************************************************************************
STOKE-ON-TRENT
The memoirs of Ken
Green, a member of the Stoke
Battalion, can be read here.
(You will leave
this site).
See also Burslem, Hanley, Longton and Meir, elsewhere on this page.
****************************************************************************************
STREETLY
Go to this page of
the site for the main stories relating to Streetly.
To
see all the many references to Streetly in the story of
the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion
told elsewhere on this website, please click
here.
****************************************************************************************
SWYNNERTON
Information on the Royal Ordinance Factory,
Swinnerton and its Home Guard unit, the 18th
Staffordshire Battalion.
****************************************************************************************
TETTENHALL
See WOLVERHAMPTON
- 24th Battn. below.
****************************************************************************************
UTTOXETER
Stories
of the late Mr. Sydney Brookes.
And a further page on which an incident
involving an unpopular member of the unit is described.
(You will leave this site).
See
also VARIOUS TOWNS
AND VILLAGES below.
****************************************************************************************
VARIOUS TOWNS AND
VILLAGES
The Staffordshire Past-Track website contains
a number of excellent photographs of Staffordshire Home
Guard units. See the Links page to access that site as a
whole. For convenience, direct links to the various images
on it are provided below. Please click on the headings.
(When you do so, you will leave this, the staffshomeguard
website. To return to it and to this list when you have
finished with the image, please click your browser's Back
arrow).
BARLASTON
- Wedgwood Home Guard Platoon
CODSALL
- Home Guard group
CODSALL,
Wolverhampton Road - Home Guard group
FAZELEY,
Memorial Hall - Fazeley Home Guard
FORSBROOK,
Cheadle Road - Marching troops
LICHFIELD
- Lichfield area Home Guard unit
LONGTON
and MEIR - Home Guard Group (see also this website)
PATTINGHAM,
The Pigot Arms - Home Guard Dinner
ROCESTER
- Rocester Home Guard
SHUGBOROUGH
PARK - Home Guard unit
STAFFORD
- "D" Coy., 14th Battalion
North Staffordshire Home Guard
STAFFORD
- English Electric Co. Home Guard Platoon
UTTOXETER,
Market Place - 3rd Home Guard Anniversary Parade (1)
UTTOXETER,
Market Place - 3rd Home Guard Anniversary Parade (2)
UTTOXETER,
Holly Road - Mr. E.A. Wilson, Uttoxeter Home Guard (1)
UTTOXETER,
Holly Road - Mr. E.A. Wilson, Uttoxeter Home Guard (2)
UTTOXETER
- Uttoxeter Home Guard, E. Martin
UTTOXETER
- Uttoxeter Home Guard group
*****************************************************************************************
WALSALL
Walsall was defended
by the 27th Staffordshire (Walsall)
Battalion of the Home Guard. The first ceremonial
parade of the Battalion took place in the centre of the
town on July 27th, 1940, only 10 weeks after its founding,
and was reported as follows
"In
a march past before the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire
were professional workers and manual workers, young men
and old men, who typified in striking fashion the patriotism
of all sections of the community".
**********
Please click
here to see an image of a unit of the
27th (Walsall) Battalion and information about two
of its members, Pte. David Reay
and Capt. T.E. Mayo.
**********
There
are many references to Walsall in the story of the 32nd
(Aldridge) Battalion told elsewhere on this website.
Click here to find
them.
*****************************************************************************************
WALSALL WOOD
Go to this page of the
site.
****************************************************************************************
WEDNESBURY
Mr. George Fellows
remembers an incident in Wednesbury for the BBC People's
War Archive:
".....During
a dark December night in 1942 and whilst on duty for the
home guard manning an ack-ack ant-aircraft gun outside a
factory called the Patent Shaft in Wednesbury (they made
tank parts for the war effort).
A German bomber raid
took place. The target was obviously the factory and bombs
reigned down - and we fired on approx 10 aircraft. All but
one of the bombs dropped missed the target, the bomb which
hit, narrowly missed the tank track assembly line.
One of the bombers
was hit with flak, fired by a unit some 2 miles away from
our position. The bomber started to decend and eventually
crashed in a field not far from Tipton. At the time I had
heard that the German crew had all been captured without
injury.
Years later - in 1958,
whilst doing some building work, I happened to do a contract
for a person called Boris Stein. It later turned out that
he was a crew member of the very aircraft which had crashed
and that he had been taken prisoner held in Cannock until
after the war - he stayed in the UK and married an Englishwoman.
©
George Fellows 2003 (To
read this memoir in its original setting, the excellent
BBC People's War Archive, please
click here. WW2 People's War is an online archive of
wartime memories contributed by members of the public and
gathered by the BBC. The complete archive can be found at
www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.
You will leave this site).
***************************************************************************************
WEDNESFIELD
The
26th Battalion, South Staffordshire
Home Guard was responsible for the area of Willenhall
and Wednesfield. Please see below under WOLVERHAMPTON
- SPECIFIC HOME GUARD UNITS.
***************************************************************************************
WEST BROMWICH
West Bromwich was defended by the 28th
and 29th Staffordshire (West Bromwich) Battalions.
(An Australian visitor to this website is
trying to establish whether a man with the surname LEE was
a member of either unit. Please use Feedback
if you can help).
***************************************************************************************
WILLENHALL
The
26th Battalion, South Staffordshire
Home Guard was responsible for the area of Willenhall
and Wednesfield. Please see below under WOLVERHAMPTON
- SPECIFIC HOME GUARD UNITS.
There
are some interesting memories of the war years in Willenhall
written by people who were children or young adults at the
time and collected by Willenhall History Society. They contain
several references to Home Guard activities in the area.
Click
here to view. (You
will leave this site).
See the entry above under Featherstone
and Willenhall
*****************************************************************************************
WOLVERHAMPTON
The Wolverhampton Archives and Local
Studies website contains interesting information about Wolverhampton
Home Guard units, including contemporary "Express &
Star" cuttings on the subject. There is an image of
the 22nd Staffordshire Battalion and
mention of the 24th and 34th Battalions
as well as of various factory units. An image of the Boulton
Paul and Goodyear factory units is also included. To see
all of this information, click
here . (You
will leave this site).
*****
Mr.
J. Ford remembers
his Home Guard service in the areas of Hordern Road and
Dunstall Park where there was an anti-aircraft rocket battery.
There is also interesting mention of various Wolverhampton
companies of the time. (You
will leave this site).
*****
In
the Wolverhampton Borough Cemetery there is a memorial to:
Denham,
Alfred Albert, Sergeant, 6th
Warwickshire (BSA Birmingham) Bn. Home Guard. Husband
of Katie Winifred Denham, of Springfields, Wolverhampton.
Died - 12 January, 1941. Aged - 31.
*****
In
German Parachutists at Wolverhampton Mr.
Syd Bailey demonstrates that sometimes it was the
police rather than the Home Guard who were first to meet
a perceived threat:
"In 1940 I was a Probationary
Police Constable in Wolverhampton. One evening I was instructed
to meet a police car, and I was then driven with 3 other
officers towards Penn - where German parachutists were reported
to have landed. Heavily armed with truncheons and whistles
( plus handcuffs ) we then set out to search for the enemy.
What we were supposed to do when we found them was not made
clear to us. What a heavily-armed German force would make
of a welcoming committee of 4 policemen looking like the
chorus in "The Pirates of Penzance" was anybody's
guess - but the whole business turned out to be a false
alarm so the problem never had to be resolved."
© Syd Bailey
2005 To
read the memoir in its original setting, the BBC's excellent
People's War Archive,
please click here. (You will leave
this site.
WW2 People's War is an online archive of wartime memories
contributed by members of the public and gathered by the
BBC. The complete archive can be found at www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)
*************************************************************************************
WOLVERHAMPTON - SPECIFIC
HOME GUARD UNITS
'G'
(WOLVERHAMPTON) SECTOR, SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE ZONE
The Wolverhampton
units, the 20th - 26th Staffordshire Battalions, all fell
within 'G' Sector of the South Staffordshire Zone. This
page of the website reproduces a 1942/1943 report of
the Sector's activities with references to specific battalions,
places and people. More specific information on individual
units may be found below.
***********
21st
STAFFORDSHIRE (WOLVERHAMPTON) BATTALION
The
Wolverhampton Roll of Honour, commemorating those who fell
in the two wars, includes the following member of the Home
Guard:
Private Henry Evans,
21st Staffordshire (Wolverhampton) Bn.
Home
Guard, husband of Mary Evans, of Wolverhampton. Died 28
May, 1944. Age unknown. Memorial - Wolverhampton Borough
Cemetery - Wolverhampton, United Kingdom. Plot H. Grave
54.
(With acknowledgement to Wolverhampton
War Memorials website).
In St Mary's Church, Bushbury there is a commemorative tablet
placed there by surviving members of the 21st Battalion.
(With acknowledgement to the Wolverhampton
Remembers website).
***********
22nd
STAFFORDSHIRE (WOLVERHAMPTON) BATTALION
Click
here to see a partly captioned image of the Bradmore
unit of the 22nd Battalion as well as certificates given
to Cpl. Leonard Cowan.
See
above comments on Wolverhampton Archives website.
An
image of another unit within the 22nd Battn. may be seen
here.
(You
will leave this site).
***********
23rd
STAFFORDSHIRE (WOLVERHAMPTON) BATTALION
Images, including group
photographs, and other memorabilia relating to the 23rd
Battalion and to one of its officers, 2/Lt.
C.N. Wood can
be seen here.
Click
here to read a fascinating memoir by an old member of
this Battalion especially written for staffshomeguard.co.uk.
And read a further interesting
memory of the Battalion here.
An image of a Company of
the 23rd (Wolverhampton) Battalion, commanded by Major
Heyhoe and photographed at Chillington Works, can
be seen here. (You
will leave this site).
***********
24th
STAFFORDSHIRE (TETTENHALL) BATTALION
This
Battalion covered a great swathe of land from the north-west
to the south-west of Wolverhampton. Its final area stretched
roughly
from Codsall Wood in the north to Swindon in the south;
and from Tettenhall village in the east to Burnhill Green
in the west. It was one of the handful of Staffordshire
units which decided to record its activities after the war
and published in 1946 "24 Home Guard - The Record of
the 24th Staffs. (Tettenhall) Bn. HG." This rare book
is full of images and factual information and means that
the Battalion must be one of the best documented in the
country. A copy is lodged in Wolverhampton Library.
The Battalion was commanded
throughout its existence by Lt.
Col. A.J. Parkes M.C. (pictured right, at
Patshull in 1944) who was also the author of its
above record. There is available online detailed information
on Lt. Col. Parkes's life and military service which can
be read by clicking here.
(You will leave this site).
The Battalion's various
HQ locations are listed here.
See
also:
- comments above on Wolverhampton Archives
website
- the Codsall images within the Various
Towns and Villages section above
- the section above under "Pattingham"
- the story of John
William Green and "C" Coy., located in Stockwell
House, Tettenhall (New!)
In Hadley Cemetry, Shropshire,
there lies Arthur Dennis Brown, Private,
24th Staffordshire (Tettenhall) Battalion, husband of Winifred
May Brown of Oxley, Staffordshire, who died in the course
of his Home Guard duties on January 17th 1943 at the age
of 39. He was originally from Hadley.
***********
26th
STAFFORDSHIRE (WILLENHALL AND WEDNESFIELD) BATTALION
Information
on this Battalion is available here.
***********
34th
STAFFORDSHIRE (BILSTON) BATTALION
See above comments on Wolverhampton
Archives website.
***********
35th
STAFFORDSHIRE (SEDGLEY) BATTALION
A visitor to this site is seeking information about this
unit of which her father, Pte. Ronald
Withers, was a member (Please see GUEST
BOOK ).
Also visit this
page which shows Pte. Withers's signaller's confirmation
and record.
*************************************************************************************
2.
OTHER INFORMATION
COMMEMORATIVE BOOKS FOR
STAFFORDSHIRE UNITS
"Home Guarding" on which this
website is partly based was a commemorative booklet produced
by members of a particular unit at the end of Home Guard
activities, the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion. Other similar
books were produced throughout the country. Those for the
county of Staffordshire as a whole include the following,
copies of which are held in the Imperial War Museum:
The Record of the
24th Staffordshire (Tettenhall) Battalion Home Guard, 14th
May 1940 - 3rd December 1944
by A.J. Parkes.
Published Steens, Wolverhampton, 1946.
"Home Guarding"
May 1940-December 1944, by the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion,
South Staffordshire Home Guard
by Capt. F.H. Timings.
Published Walsall Lithographic Co, Walsall, 1945.
The History of No 7 Platoon,
Milford, Brockton & Walton Home Guard, May 1940-December
1944
by Capt. J.H. Pharo & Lt. S. Duke.
Published Hourd & Son Ltd, Stafford, 1945.
The 13th Battalion North
Staffordshire Regiment Home Guard
by A.N. Other.
Published Whitehead Bros, Wolverhampton..
(with acknowledgement to genuki.org.uk and Mike Harbach)
****************************************************************************************
HONOURS AWARDED TO STAFFORDSHIRE
H.G. MEMBERS
Cpl. H. Kitson
of the 27th Staffordshire (Walsall)
Battalion received the King's Commendation for Brave
Conduct as a result of his actions during the night of 30th/31st
July 1942 when a number of incendiary bombs fell on the
Walsall Corporation bus depot at Birchills.
Following the Home Guard stand-down,
the following men of various Staffordshire
Home Guard units were honoured on 15th December 1944
as follows:
O.B.E.
Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. Lane, 23rd Bn.
M.B.E.
Major N. J. Cochran, 8th Bn.
Major F. C. Ducie, 3rd Bn.
Major P. W. Edwards, 16th Bn.
Captain S. H. Elkes, 7th Bn.
Major L. Hales-Finch, 27th Bn.
Major C. H. Shaw, 22nd Bn.
B.E.M. (M)
Sergeant J. E. Allsopp, 34th Bn.
Sergeant S. C. Arblaster, 32nd Bn.
Sergeant A. Blyde, 37th Bn.
Corporal C. Charles, 31st Bn.
Sergeant A. Lyons, 27th Bn.
Sergeant J. Pointon, 1st Bn.
Sergeant A. Rudge, 13th Bn.
Sergeant G. T. Shuker, 36th Bn.
Sergeant W. Thomson, 40th Bn.
Sergeant S. Whittingham, 16th Bn.
Previously on 8th June 1944 the B.E.M. (M) had been
awarded to Sergeant Samuel Elwell, Corporal Stanley Jacques
and Sergeant William King of unspecified Staffordshire units
(with acknowledgement to www.home-guard.org.uk where
a complete list of all the awards earned by Home Guard members,
including those for outstanding bravery, can be viewed.
CLICK
HERE. You will leave this site).
****************************************************************************************
ORGANISATION
OF THE SOUTH STAFFORDSHIRE HOME GUARD
Click above to view the page.
****************************************************************************************
