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BIRMINGHAM
A short history of Home Guard activities
in Birmingham may be seen here.
(You will leave this site).
**********
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 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 To
read the whole of this memoir, Home
Guard, Royal Signals and Verdun,
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.)
**********
(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).
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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.
************
Mr.
Arthur Musson remembers
his Home Guard service with the Hercules factory unit,
part of "D" Coy. of the 25th
Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion. (Recent
addition)
************
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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BIRMINGHAM, CASTLE
BROMWICH
See "Castle Bromwich" below.
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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).
**********
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,
NECHELLS
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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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. (Recent
addition)
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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, 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 -
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 Battalion. See:
History
of Kynoch Works 1862-2008
Kynoch
Works Home Guard - a 1942 report
Kynoch
Works Home Guard - a 1944 image and a reminiscence
Kynoch
Works - air raids
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CASTLE
BROMWICH
The Nuffield Spitfire
factory, its Home Guard unit and Edward
Johnson who was active in both.
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COVENTRY
To see images of and interesting information
about the Humber Works Home Guard - part of the 15th
Warwickshire (Coventry) Battalion - and about an
adjacent battalion, the 16th Warwickshire
(Coventry), click
here. (You will leave this site).
**********
The
interesting reminiscences
of Mr. George Pearson in his
local unit whose HQ was the Bull & Anchor in Wheelwright
Lane. (You
will leave this site).
**********
Here
is the exciting story of how Pte.
Frank W.C. Smith and
his Home Guard comrades defended his factory, A.C.
Wickman Ltd., from the Drawing Office roof during
a daytime attack by a lone Junkers 88 on Friday, January
10th 1941. (You will leave this site).
**********
Interesting
details
of life on a Coventry AA Rocket battery in Memorial Park
are provided by Mr. H.J. Poulter.
(You will leave this site).
**********
The
Home Guard unit of George Wilson Gas
Meters investigates a suspected spy in the factory
in Put
One Up The Spout Fred. (You
will leave this site).
**********
After
experiencing the blitz in Wallasey, Mrs.
Margaret Andrews (nee Parrott) recalls happier times
in Coventry:
"........Because our house was
destroyed by a bomb we moved to Coventry. I was now 20,
and although I had signed up with my age group to join the
forces I was sent to Morris Motors. Once again my life changed
and I was working in a factory making munitions and new
friends who were also strangers to factory life.
The memory of Coventry was joining
the 18th Battalion Warwickshire Women’s Home Guard,
one of the few forces in England. Apart from the bombs life
was good with many new friends. We formed a concert party
comprised of talented people from the munitions factory
who came from all over the country. Our audiences were the
RAF and Army boys stationed around Warwickshire.
I have very fond memories of the last
show of the Home Guard, “This is the Home Guard”,
which was held in the Coventry Hippodrome on the 3rd of
December 1944. Our audience of over 500 packed the theatre
and came from camps all over Warwickshire. That I think
is the memory I have of war days. The joy and the pleasure
of hearing them sing our songs and their songs; the applause
we had was wonderful. At the end of this last show a senior
officer thanked us and presented us with a silver medal
for all our work. It reads: 18TH WARWICKSHIRE
(COVENTRY) BATTN WOMEN’S AUXILIARY HOME GUARD.
The war ended in September 1945. We
celebrated in London and had the honour of walking in the
victory parade.
My experiences in the Home Guard were
very different from the war days I knew and went through
in my home town. War changes lives but memories live forever.
I made many good friends and my family was very fortunate
as we all survived.........."
© Margaret
Andrews 2004 To
read the whole of this interesting 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.)
**********
Within a fascinating and
moving memoir of a city under attack, A
Child's War: In Coventry, Mr.
Peter Cox describes a city centre exercise where
the local Home Guard takes on a unit of battle-hardened
Polish troops. (You
will leave this site).
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HILMORTON
In
My War in the Local Defence Volunteers, Mr.
Ken Clark gives an interesting description of his
service in the Hilmorton unit and later with the Singer
Motors factory unit in Coventry. (You
will leave this site).
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KNOWLE
and DORRIDGE
A glimpse of an earlier WARWICKSHIRE
Home Guard. Click the title to see an image of the Knowle
and Dorridge Volunteers in September 1918.
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SUTTON COLDFIELD
Click
here to read about several members of the Sutton unit,
the 6th Warwickshire
(Sutton) Battalion, including mention
of Rupert
L. Thomas of Four Oaks and a memoir of Lt.
Harold E. Pearce
of Boldmere.
**********
Captain
John Reardon Brosch was another member of the 6th
Warwickshire. Click to read his story and see group
images of units within the Battalion.
**********
This
1941 diary written by Mr. Peter
Geoffrey Bate of Mayfield Road
provides fascinating glimpses of the Sutton Coldfield Home
Guard and of other aspects of life in the town at war.
**********
In April 2005 there appeared
and was sold on eBay an autograph album which appeared from
the illustration to have been beautifully produced. It had
been signed and presented to Lt. James
Iveson by members of his No. 7 Platoon, "B"
Coy., 6th Warwickshire (Sutton) Home Guard - a unit adjoining
the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion - in appreciation of his leadership
on the occasion of his being transferred to become Commanding
Officer of No. 6 Platoon in September 1941.
Webmaster…..
17th October 2005
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SUTTON COLDFIELD,
BISHOP VESEY'S GRAMMAR SCHOOL
The
late Mr. David Riggall, a chemistry
master at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School
prior to his transfer to essential war work on explosives,
provided within his memoirs a glimpse of Civil Defence support
duties in Sutton in 1940. This was originally published
within the BBC People's War Archive.
"....In
January 1940, I moved digs to no 3 Royal Road, Sutton Coldfield,
recommended by Mr and Mrs de Jersey (distant relations)
who thought I might be put up under better conditions than
at 90 Victoria Road......."
....On
Sunday May 7th 1940, I had my first night at the Report
Centre, from 6-11pm, and then two days later I was there
from 11pm until 8.30am. Mr Hudspith, the French Master at
Bishop Vesey’s, who often invited me to his house in
Belwell Lane, had persuaded me to join this Civil Defence
job at Sutton Council House. We had to man the telephones
out of office hours, taking messages from organisations
such as the Auxiliary Fire Service, the Home Guard (called
the Local Defence Volunteers or ‘LDV’ at first),
and the Rescue Services. We then passed them on as required.
It was anticipated that enemy parachutists
might be dropped to disrupt services and their location
needed to be reported by the public and pin-pointed as soon
as possible. If the telephones had broken down we would
have had to go out and deliver the messages in person. In
fact, we never had anything serious to deal with, only a
few ‘suspicious circumstances’ reports and normal
peace-time mishaps. We actually had a marvellous time, telling
jokes and playing ‘solo’ for halfpennies. If nothing
seemed to be happening by about 1 or 2am we unrolled the
mattresses provided and went to sleep in the Council Chamber
or elsewhere. We went in usually about 3 times a week, on
various shifts. One preliminary requirement for this service
was to attend a ‘Gas Course’ held at ‘Oakhurst’
in Anchorage Road. This was a series of lectures about the
types of gas likely to be used, procedure etc and finished
with a practical exercise of putting on a mask and going
into a room full of gas (probably ‘tear’ gas).
At the end of November 1940, I changed
my digs again, this time to ‘Leafield’ at 31 Clifton
Road in Sutton........."
©
David Ernest Riggall
and family 2005 To
read the rest of this article, entitled What did you
do in the war Daddy ? (part 1) which includes other
mentions of B.V.G.S.,
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.)
**********
The title of David Riggall's
memoir could equally have been adopted by the French master
at Bishop Vesey's Grammar School who is briefly mentioned
above, Mr. William Hudspith,
had he ever written of his experiences. There was rather
more to William Hudspith's
wartime activities than could ever have been imagined by
his colleagues and pupils. Click to read the
remarkable story of this Sutton Coldfield Home Guard.
**********
It appears
that the war had some effect on the academic performance
of boys at Bishop Vesey's, or was at least a quotable excuse.
In 1941, according to 'A History of Bishop Vesey's Grammar
School - The Twentieth Century' by Kerry Osbourne, "thirteen
out of twenty-nine boys from form 5M1 failed their School
Certificate but the Headmaster explained that they 'were
giving a good deal of time to Home Guard duties.'"
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UFTON
In Colin
Birt in a Warwickshire village Home Guard, Mr.
Birt remembers his Home Guard service:
"The Home Guard
Company and Platoon HQ was at Southam. In Ufton our Section
had a sergeant and 9 privates. We were all countrymen, not
very good at drill, but all very good shots! Our routine
was a parade one evening a week in Ufton Village Hall. Three
of us carried out guard duty at Southam HQ overnight once
a month. We were guarding the ammunition store, which was
one room in a Public House. The rifles were P47 American
'lease lend'. Occasionally we had weekend manoevres, but
by Sunday morning most of the privates had disappeared to
milk the cows."
© Colin Birt and Warwickshire Libraries 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.)
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WARWICK
A memory of the service
of Lt. Cecil Fullerton (Pat
Fullerton) in the 1st Warwickshire (Warwick) Battalion
can be seen
here. (Recent
addition)
***********
Memories
of Warwick Home Guard by Mr. Bernard
Grimes and Mr. Tom Leedle
in Blackout
Duties in Warwick.
(You will leave this site).
***********
An
image of, and a plea for more information about Warwick
Home Guard's armoured car, which belonged to a unit commanded
by the vicar of Marton, the
Rev. A. Wilbraham and was apparently
bult by Councillor Sam Myers,
can be seen here. Can you help the St. John's House Museum
find out what happened to it? (You
will leave this site).
***********
Mr.
Ian Dellow remembers aspects
of his father's Home Guard service in Warwick which will
be familiar to many visitors to this site 'of a certain
age':
"Prior
to the start of the war, the government was eager to have
the population ready in case of air raids, should war be
declared. My father put himself forward as an ARP Warden,
our house becoming a temporary warden’s post, mainly
as a distribution centre for gas masks to the locals.
Later, as volunteers were called for the LDV (Local Defence
Volunteers) my Dad left the ARP and, eventually, became
a sergeant in the LDV, later known as the Home Guard.
It fell to my lot to keep his uniform and equipment in good
order for his regular parades and exercises. This meant
polishing leather gaiters and belt, cleaning rifle, bayonet
and any brasses. He would put on his equipment and cycle
off to his duty, the rifle slung under the cross bar of
his bike. On one occasion, he was pulled up on parade for
having his bayonet the wrong way round in it’s scabbard,
this leading to me having a telling off as being responsible.
Not that I got any pay for my war cleaning contribution.
Dad also had to put in an appearance at his works on occasions
to do fire watching, his company having timber stores that
were liable to take a liking to incendiary bombs."
©
Ian Dellow 2003 To
read Mr. Dellow's 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.)
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