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BLAKEDOWN
Mr. R. Hobson
records a brief memory of his father's Home Guard service:
"My father was in the local platoon
of the Home Guard in 1940, which was known as the Local
Defence Volunteers (L.D.V.). I used to follow them around
and about Blakedown with my friends. We hid in the bracken
in the local woods and watched them training, they never
spotted us."
© R. Hobson 2004 (This
memory originally appeared in the BBC WW2 People's War Archive.
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).
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BROADWAY
In
an interesting memoir entitled "A
Wartime Childhood in Worcestershire" Mr.
Don Davies recalls a particular act of bravery by
a group of local Home Guards. (You will leave
this site).
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COOKHILL
An excellent
description of the activities of the Cookhill platoon within
"D" Coy., 9th Worcestershire
(Redditch) Home Guard Battalion can be read by clicking
on the title above. The
article has been written by Mike Johnson who is researching
the activities of this Battalion as a whole and will welcome
further information on it.
Extensive use has been
made of the reminiscences of a former member of the platoon,
Mr. Egbert Ganderton.
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CRABBS
CROSS and adjoining villages .....
New!
Click on the above title to read a fascinating article by
Mike Johnson on the subject of "C"
Coy., 9th Worcestershire (Redditch)
Home Guard Battalion. This Company defended Crabbs
Cross, Headless Cross, Hewell and Webheath. It draws
on the memories of two surviving members of the Company,
Mr. Bill Preece and Mr.
Albert Wharrad. The article is a companion piece
to that describing the nearby Cookhill
unit.
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EVESHAM
Joan Boulton remembers for the BBC
People's War Archive an incident from her father's Home
Guard service:
"My Father was a member of the
Home Guard in Evesham. One night when he was on duty a land
mine came down on a parachute. It failed to explode. The
area was evacuated & the bomb disposal team were called
presumably on a field telephone. Does anyone recall this
incident?
© Joan Boulton 2003 If
you wish to read the above in its original setting, the
BBC's 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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HARBORNE, QUINTON
and OLDBURY
The
memories
of Mr. Dennis Nash who was
a gunner in an AA unit, known as The Stonehouse Gang. (You
will leave this site).
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HEADLESS CROSS
Please refer to Crabbs
Cross above.
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Mr.
Charles Lucas was a member
of the Headless Cross Home Guard unit commanded by Mr.
Phillip Terry, of Terry's Springs. For further information,
click here.
(You
will leave this site).
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HEWELL
Please
refer to Crabbs Cross above.
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PERSHORE
In
The Home Guard defend the A 44 road from German Invaders
Mr. Alan Meikle describes
the defence of Pershore:
"Most
of the men left behind on our farm were in reserved occupations
so most of them joined the LDV and then the Home Guard as
it became later. We provided most of the training weapons,
pitchforks, axe handles. And hoes were used before proper
firearms arrived. Being a hopfarm we had an abundance of
long poles and heavy wires. The poles were used in the flat
fields outside Pershore, (also at Upton ) to provide obstructions
to any gliders that might land. The wire had a more deadly
use.
At the corner of our front orchard
at the cross roads at Wick on the A 44 a defensive trench
was dug, behind it attached to a tree was one of the coils
of wire .The idea was that when a German motorcyclist was
driving along the road from Evesham, one of the men would
run out across the road and attach the wire to a tree opposite
at the right height to decapitate the motor cyclist. How
did they know whether it was a German or a local who was
coming along the road? Well we had about ¾ of a mile
of road frontage towards Evesham, so scouts were to be posted
along the hedge that would shout out whether it was a friend
or foe. Thankfully no Germans ever came our way. If they
had got past our defence line they would have met a 6lb
ant-tank gun sided in the south side of Pershore Bridge,
(now converted to a pumping station for Pershore College)
and the Bridge itself was to have been blown."
© Alan Meikle 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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QUINTON
For a good description of the
12th Worcestershire (Langley) Battalion
which mentions many names and places, click
here. (You will leave this site).
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REDDITCH
Please
see Cookhill and Crabbs
Cross above.
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WEBHEATH
Please
refer to Crabbs Cross above.
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WORCESTER
Mr.
Bob Gammon remembers his Home
Guard service for the BBC People's Archive:
"I was at junior school and had
lost my mom at 6 years old. I had been pushed from family
to family and left school at 13. I was at Pershore
Senior School and I had joined the ATC. I went right through
the training and failed the final medical on my eyesight.
I was very upset because I had loved this way of life; we
had trained with the Wellington Bombers all along the coastline.
So in the early 1940’s
I joined the Home Guard at Worcester. I did all the basic
training with them. I didn’t want to sit around and
my heart was set on the forces but it wasn’t to be.
So the Home Guard was
the next best thing. We did have the advantage of going
on training days. We also had the same basic training and
armoury training as the Regular Army but I should have liked
to have had better eyes! Then I could have followed my ambition
fully."
© Bob Gammon 2005 To
read this 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.)
**************
Mr.
Eric Barker recalls an amusing
factory incident:
"During
the war I worked at Heenan and Froude and I joined the Home
Guard. One Sunday we were due to parade in the city, led
by one of the bosses. We assembled in the back of the Factory
ready to march, not realising that the boys from the Metal
Box had called the previous night and placed a boulder in
the middle of the entrance to the yard. The boss gave the
order to march and strode out, passing the boulder and the
Home Guard platoon found it difficult to get through, some
climbed over the boulder and resumed marching.
On the Monday we were told to assemble and the boss said
he would sack the ones responsible, which was impossible
because they worked for the Metal Box."
© Eric Barker 2004 To
read this 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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