BIRMINGHAM (non-specific areas)

- An overview of the Home Guard in Birmingham in September 1940 is available here.
It includes messages from the Lord Mayor (himself a Battalion commander) and from the HG Zone Commander; images of early parades; portraits of Battalion C.O.s; mention of Dunlop's pigeon post; and details of Ladywood's own naval force.

- The initial ten Birmingham battalions in September 1940 are listed elsewhere in this website. Their Commanding Officers are identified and images shown.

-  A massive exercise took place over the weekend of 6/7th March 1943 when HG units from Staffordshire and Worcestershire attacked the city from the south and west. The defence of the city was the responsibilty of the Birmingham's own battalions. Around 10,000 men were involved. "Fighting" took place in many areas, the main thrust of the attack concentrating on on Harborne and Selly Oak with subsidiary engagements involving street-by-street penetration of the subutbs - all at the same time as a theoretical aerial bombardment of the city. A contemporary description is available. (New!)

- A short history of Home Guard activities in Birmingham may be seen here. (You will leave this site).

- Birmingham had its own Street Fighting School. There are various pages relating to this School providing information about location, individuals, course details (including the script of a play performed by instructors) and the training area off Bristol Street in the area of Ashley, Wrentham, Essex, Gooch and Kent Streets. Links to these pages are provided within the box to the right. (Contains new information)

- Birmingham City Transport Department was one of the first to form a Home Guard unit in the city, to defend its premises and equipment. See The initial ten Birmingham battalions. The unit eventually expanded to become the 31st and 32nd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalions. A page in this website gives information on those Battalions and the men who served in them. Recent addition - 5 May 2013

- Memories of Birmingham during WW2, not specifically related to Home Guard activities, are contained within this website:
          A Memory of New Street, Winter 1942/1943
        A Luftwaffe View of Birmingham, November 1940

- The Birmingham History Webring forums contain a wealth of information and reminiscence about Birmingham during WW2. Use the index or the search facility on the site to find particular aspects.

- 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. 

- Mr. Frederick Jones of an unknown Birmingham unit recalls:

"......When I was in Dad’s Army — you know, the Home Guard - they gave me a Browning automatic. It was slightly larger than other rifles. You had to hold it like that … it was gas operated: a gas cylinder would propel the bullet then return and move the next one into position … the empty cases were sent up and over your head … hell of a thing it was … I fired Springfields, Winchesters, Gud knows what else......
© Frederick Jones 2005  (From the BBC People's War archive ww.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar.)

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• A non-H.G., non-WW2 page dealing with another aspect of Birmingham history is contained within this website: images of the King Edward's School building in New Street, 1838-1936).
• A further non-H.G. page with a tenuous link with Birmingham but dealing more with aspects of European history between 1932 and 1945 is Two Birmingham Businessmen in Berlin.

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BIRMINGHAM, ACOCKS GREEN
Please see BIRMINGHAM, ROBIN HOOD below.  (New!)

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BIRMINGHAM, ASHTED
The Ministry of Labour and National Service in Staniforth Street enquires of Messrs. Fellows & Darby Ltd. of Snow Hill whether they wish to make any representation concerning the imminent conscription of their employee, Mr. A. Terry of Ashted, into the Home Guard.                                                                                        

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BIRMINGHAM, ASTON (see also NECHELLS below)

The story of Aston Home Guard's two heroes, Section Leader Alfred Henry George Brunges and Patrol Leader Charles William Lovelace Tozer who won the George Medal for their bravery on the night of October 26th 1940.
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Mr. Arthur Musson remembers his Home Guard service with the Hercules factory unit, part of "D" Coy. of the 25th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion. 
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A contemporary account of an air raid on Aston, on an unknown date and involving Albert, Frederick and Victoria Roads, with which various named members of the 23rd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion were closely concerned.
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There is a fascinating film clip here showing "D" Coy. of the 23rd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion parading in Trinity Road and Aston Park. Many individuals are clearly visible and recognisable. (You will leave this site).
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The Astonbrook-through-Astonmanor website contains a number of interesting memories of wartime Aston. (You will leave this site).

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BIRMINGHAM, BORDESLEY GREEN

Here is information on Sgt. Jim Baker of Fordrough Lane and the Bordesley Green Home Guard unit of which he was a member, "B" Coy. of the 39th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion.       

And reminiscences and images from another member of the same unit, Pte. Geoffrey Bennett including the night when he and his section overran Elmdon Airport!

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BIRMINGHAM, CASTLE BROMWICH
Information on the Nuffield Spitfire factory, its Home Guard unit and Edward Johnson who was active in both, can be seen here.

Another employee and member of the factory HG unit - as well as a trainer of Air Cadets - was Cpl. George Ronald (Ron) Barton whose story is told on a further page of this website.

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BIRMINGHAM, CENTRAL
Click on the thumbnail to see an image of the factory Home Guard unit of J. B. Brooks & Co. Ltd.  (J.B. Brooks's factories, which were subject to incendiary attack, were located in the area of Great Charles St., Livery St., Ludgate Hill and Lionel St. Their products included bicycle and motorcycle saddles and the Antler range of travel goods. Their wartime products included parachutes and harnesses).

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BIRMINGHAM, DERITEND
The linked page stands in memory of the victims of the Bishop Street bombing of the night of 15th/16th October 1940 and in particular the heroism of Section Leader George Walter Inwood of the 10th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion Home Guard for which he received a posthumous George Cross. There were many other acts of great bravery on that dreadful night from a number of people including Messrs Tidball (HG), Wade (Police), Woodland, Rainbow and Pickersgill (all ARP).

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BIRMINGHAM, EDGBASTON

Pte. E.W. Best of the 36th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion successfully passed his Signalling Test on 16th October 1942.

The 36th Warwickshire Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. A. Scrivener, M.C., (late Royal Warwickshire Regiment) was one of several Home Guard Battalions defending the Edgbaston area of the city.

(with grateful acknowledgement to Mick Ackrill, owner of the original certificate)

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HQ for the Birmingham Zone in which all Birmingham Home Guard Battalions served was in Vicarage Road, Edgbaston. Rex and Charles Owen, brothers both living with their families in Sheldon, were Despatch Riders attached to Zone HQ. Their story is here.

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BIRMINGHAM, HANDSWORTH

The story of Lt. George Harry Griffiths who served with the 44th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion in the unit responsible for the defence of the Great King Street factory of Joseph Lucas Ltd.

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And the story of another member of the same Joseph Lucas group, Lt. Zechariah Tolley M.M., can be read on an associated page. This includes information relating to his Great War service.

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Information concerning a third officer in this Battalion is also available. Lt. Jock Orr was a career sodier and joined the 44th in 1941 after leaving the Regular Army.  (Recent addition)

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Within an interesting article entitled "Memories of Handsworth" in the Handsworth History website, Paul Holmes relates his family Home Guard connection:

......At the time I was too young to remember have first hand knowledge but I was often told of the Endwood pub (on the far side of the park). According to folklore, my father defended this establishment from a German invasion when he was a member of the Home Guard. It would seem the defensive plan was simple: drink the place dry, leaving nothing for the invaders to plunder. I'm led to understand that the operation turned out to be one of the most successful of WW II, with the enemy not daring to venture within rifle-shot of the place.........

(Full and grateful acknowledgement is made to the above author and website. To read the full article, please click here. Within the same website, here, the author has also published fascinating information about the Hill Top anti-aircraft gun battery . You will leave this website in each case).

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The 46th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion had a responsibility for areas of Handsworth and also I.C.I.'s huge Kynoch Works at Witton.

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BIRMINGHAM, HARBORNE

A 1941 image of the Harborne Home Guard Signals Company can be see here. (You will leave this site).

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Gunner Dennis Nash's story of serving on a Harborne anti-aircraft battery, which includes references to Quinton and Oldbury. (You will leave this site).

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BIRMINGHAM, KINGS HEATH

The story of L/Cpl. Alexander Schadowsky (later Alexander Sinclair), a German national who joined the local Home Guard at a very early age and eventually served in the 71st Warwickshire Home Guard Heavy Anti-Aircraft Battery, “F” Troop.

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BIRMINGHAM, MOSELEY

The linked page shows an image of No. 4 Platoon of "E" Company of the 24th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion including one of its members, Sgt. Jimmy Brown.     

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BIRMINGHAM, NECHELLS (See also ASTON above)

The 25th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion, previously the 5th, was responsible for this area and its factories as well as parts of Aston. Click the heading above to read about this Battalion and about M.B. Wild & Co. and its activities; the air raid on L.H. Newton & Co.; and the involvement of 2/Lt. Harry Poppitt.

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Home Guard Volunteers A.R. Beesley and A.D. Morrall received Commendations for their work at Nechells Power Station during the blitz of November 1940.

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Click on this thumbnail to see a group of officers of the Nechells unit.     

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BIRMINGHAM, QUINTON
There is information on Quinton in the Worcestershire section of the website.
 (Contains a recent addition)

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BIRMINGHAM, ROBIN HOOD
Lt. E. J. Moon M.C. was an officer in the 42nd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion of the Home Guard which was responsible for the defence of an area covering Robin Hood, Sparkhill and Acocks Green. His page on this website includes a fully captioned image of the Battalion's officers and details of a celebratory dinner in 1944 at the Imperial Hotel, Birmingham. (Recent addition)

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BIRMINGHAM, SELLY OAK
The 49th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion covered the Selly Oak area (although the 27th had some responsibility for it, at least in the first years of the war). After stand-down a Comrades Association was formed which later evolved into the 49th Rifle and Pistol Club which still exists. There is a web page about the Battalion and its later history here. (You will leave this site).

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BIRMINGHAM, SMALL HEATH

This area of the city was defended by the 37th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion, Home Guard, commanded by Lt.Col. A.L. Paterson, M.C.
One of this Battalion's members was Charles Herbert Skellett. Charles Skellett served in the Great War and in 1940 volunteered for the Home Guard, being appointed sergeant in March 1941. He regrettably did not live to see the peace as he passed away in February 1945, just two months after the Home Guard's stand-down.
His daughter has contacted this website and is appealing for any information about this unit and her father's role in it, and especially for any unit photograph which may have survived. If you can help, please contact this website via Feedback and we shall ensure that all information is passed on.   

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Several Home Guards, members of the 6th Birmingham Battalion, were honoured for their heroic work during the night of 19th/20th November 1940, when the BSA factory was bombed and many employees lost their lives. They were Albert William Bailey who received the George Medal (pictured right) and J.H. Beattie, William Saragine and Joseph Topham, the British Empire Medal.    

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Read the story of a member of the 37th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion. Harold Lucas who worked on Lancaster tooling at William E. Farrer in Heath Mill Lane, Digbeth was later a member of the 107th Warwickshire Battalion which manned an anti-aircraft "Z" rocket battery on Billesley Common.

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See also SPARKBROOK below                                                

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BIRMINGHAM, SPARKBROOK/SMALL HEATH

The life of Lt. Leslie McGregor of the 37th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion is remembered in this website.

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BIRMINGHAM, SPARKHILL

Please see BIRMINGHAM, ROBIN HOOD above. (New!)                                                                                 

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BIRMINGHAM, STECHFORD (also ACOCKS GREEN and SOUTH YARDLEY)

Here are images and information concerning the Stechford Home Guard, the 39th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion which included a Rover factory unit, its Grand Concert at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham in December 1941 and one of its long-serving members, Eric Pain.  
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The Copsey brothers of Charles Edward Road, South Yardley had close dealings with local units, the elder, Dennis, with the 38th of which he was a member before being called up as a Bevin Boy; and Len with the 39th which provided help with his military training as a young cadet. Their story is here.

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BIRMINGHAM, STOCKLAND GREEN
Read about the night when John Welch of Hidson Road received a knock on the door from the local Home Guard.

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BIRMINGHAM, WASHWOOD HEATH
Home Guard Volunteer Reuben Haigh, a gas clerk at the Washwood Heath gasholder, was awarded the George Medal for his bravery there during the blitz of November 1940. Vol. S.A. Tyler received an official Commendation for his work during the same incident.  

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BIRMINGHAM, WITTON and GREAT BARR
Mr. Stan Arthurs wrote of his Home Guard experiences for the BBC People's Archive:

".........My story begins in 1939 when I answered a call to join the "Local Defence Volunteers" (LDV). Issued with an armband and a truncheon, I patrolled the outskirts of the GEC at Witton, confident with the information that any German paratrooper, unstable as he landed would be easy meat. This I did for two hours per night, three times a week. Quite rough on a 17 year old working a 48 hour week! Then the "Home Guard". Armed with a Canadian Ross rifle and five rounds, I was stationed on the flat roof of the Clifton cinema at Great Barr. With the bombs whislting overhead and shrapnel falling like rain, our job, again three nights a week, was to sight major city explosions and fires and declare the sighting angle. Together with similar sightings carried out at other high points the convergence gave a near indication of the bombed area.

So, I was pleased in 1941 to be released by my employers to join the RAF.......... "

© Stan Arthurs 2005   To read the rest of this article, entitled The Horsa Glider, 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.)

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BIRMINGHAM, WITTON - GEC WORKS

This Company, like all major factories in the area, had its own works Home Guard unit. It was part of the 46th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion. Just one of its members has been so far been identified with reasonable certainty.

Samuel Rhodes (1903-1953) lived in Westwood Road. He had been born in Birmingham but spent his early life from the age of nine in Canada, returning in the mid-1930s. The war years found him working at the G.E.C.

Just two relics from those times survive: his G.E.C. Home Guard lapel badge and an image of him in uniform taken in autumn 1944 with his wife and newly born son.

(Grateful acknowledgement to Julie Thacker, Samuel's granddaughter, for providing this information)

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BIRMINGHAM, WITTON - KYNOCH WORKS
The Kynoch Works at Witton was during the war the Metals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. and a major contributor to the national war effort. This website contains information on its long history, from 1862 to the present day, some of its wartime experiences and its large Home Guard unit, 'B' Company of the 46th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion. See:    

Kynoch Works Home Guard - main page
Kynoch Works Home Guard - a 1942 report   
Kynoch Works Home Guard and Lt. E. Long
and also
46th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion
Kynoch Works - air raids
History of Kynoch Works 1862-2008