THE HOME GUARD OF GREAT BRITAIN - GENERAL INFORMATION

 MANUALS,  HANDBOOKS, GUIDANCE
and TRAINING MATERIAL


This is a page of  the www.staffshomeguard.co.uk website. Please go to Site Map for complete site contents.
Most recent update: 28th July 2023

THIS PAGE
is an Index to various publications:
HOME GUARD TRAINING MANUALS (1940 - 1944)
GUIDANCE TO HOUSEHOLDERS AND ALL INDIVIDUALS (1938 onwards)


A wide range of material was published between 1940 and 1944 in order to instruct, train and generally guide Home Guards as they attempted to master new techniques and equipment and achieve an ever increasing level of professionalism. Some of these publications are shown below; most are from a large private collection whose owner has generously permitted them to be shared with visitors to this website.

The documents so far contained within this website are listed immediately below, in the form of a link to the appropriate separate page via title; they will consist either of the complete manual or, more usually, of the front cover and the contents list to indicate what the complete document contains.

On this page also, at the foot of the page,  are a number of leaflets issued to householders in general as guidance in the event of air-raids and other circumstances of war.

Another section of this website is devoted to other types of paperwork with which Home Guard units had to deal constantly, the more routine paperwork necessary - or deemed necessary by higher authority - for the management of the force and the general guidance and encouragement of its members: see:  PAPERWORK, RED TAPE AND BUMF.

 

AVAILABLE DOCUMENTS

(CLICK ON THE APPROPRIATE BUTTON TO VIEW )
ALL TEXT
COVER/ CONTENTS HOME GUARD TRAINING MANUAL TITLE
(Click on the icon to view)
J16-4Bombards.htm
 
Bombards Bombs & Grenades - No. 3 School, Onibury
 
Home Guard Squad Commander's Hand Book, 1943 - North Midland District
 
Road Blocks and Check Points
 
Small Arms Instruction - for Police & Home Guard (Askew)
 
Manual of Grenades and New Grenade Chart (Cowan - Bernards)
 
First Aid for the Fighting Man (Keogh - Sifton Praed)
 
Tommy Gun, Rifle and Bayonet (Nicholson, Watson)
 
Browning Automatic Rifle (Gale & Polden)
 
Bren Light Machine Gun (Gale & Polden)
 
Squad Battle Drill 1942 - North Midland District
 
Enfield (1914) Rifle - the P14 (Gale & Polden)
 
Training Chart - Bayonet Fighting
 
Training Chart - Light Auto. Machine Guns for A-A
 
Training Chart - Drill
 
Training Chart - Field Sketching
 
Training Chart - How the Rangefinder Works
 
Training Chart - Theory of Small Arms Fire
 
Training Chart - Tank Fighting
 
Training Chart - Street Fighting
 
Training Chart - Manning the Barricades
 
Training Chart - Movement by Night
 
Training Chart - Stalking
 
Training Chart - Make Yourself an Invisible Man
 
Training Chart - What You Should Know about Hand Grenades
 
Home Guard Courses - South Staffs Zone (1943)
 
Hints for the Home Guard (Fitzwilliams)
 
Handbook for the Thompson Submachine Gun (1940)
Rough Stuff for Home Guards (Duffield and Elliot)
 
The HG Encyclopedia (Elliot)
 
Parachutes over Britain (Langdon-Davies)
 
The Art of Prowling (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
The Defence of Villages and Small Towns (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
Road Blocks (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
The Fighting Patrol (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
Fighting Patrol Training (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
Fighting Patrol Tactics (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
Fire Control (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
Combat without Weapons (Leather - Gale & Polden)
 
The Complete Lewis Gunner (Gale & Polden)
 
The Sten Machine Carbine (Gale & Polden)
 
The Thompson Submachine Gun (Gale & Polden)
 
Lewis Machine Gun Mechanism Made Easy (Gale & Polden)
 
Drill Up To Date
Wireless and How it Works (Longmans)
 
The Theory of Rifle Fire (Gale & Polden)
 
The Service Rifle and How to Use it (Gale & Polden)
 
We Shall Fight in the Streets (Cuthbert - Gale & Polden)
 
Home Guard Warfare (Langdon-Davies)
 
Home Guard for Victory (Slater)
 
Boys Anti-tank Rifle (Gale & Polden)
 
Bayonet Battle Training (Twine - Gale & Polden)
 
The Browning Heavy Machine Gun Mechanism Made Easy (Gale & Polden)
 
Unarmed Combat (Hipkiss)
 
Home Guard Pocket Book (Green - Worthing Gazette)
 
Map Reading, Scouting and Camouflage ("The Scout"
 
Rifle Training for War (Robinson - Cassell)
 
Home Guard Training (Levey - Eyre & Spottiswoode)
 
Unarmed Action - A Handbook for the Home Guard (Wood)
 
Training Course for Home Guard Instructors (Marques)
 
General Knowledge for Home Guards (Mackay)
 
.300 Lewis Gun for the Home Guard (Bodman - Bravon Ledger, 1941)
 
The Home Guard Signalling Manual (Walters - Pearson)
 
Harrying the Hun (Demuth)
 
Practical Camouflage (Demuth)
 
The Home Guard Pocket Manual
 
Camouflage Simply Explained (Smith - Pitman)
 
Guns for the Home Guard
 
How to Stalk (Langdon-Davies - Murray)
 
Manual of the Sten Gun (Manders, Capper)
 
The Fighting Patrol (Wade - Gale & Polden)
 
A Home Guard Drill Book and Field Service Manual
 
Advanced Training for the Home Guard (Brophy - Hodder & Stoughton)
 
Home Guard - A Handbook for the LDV (Brophy - Hodder & Stoughton)
 
Home Guard Proficiency (Brophy - Hodder & Stoughton)
 
Practical Unarmed Combat (Feldenkrais)
 
Small Arms Manual (Barlow - Murray)
 
The Home Guard Training Manual (Langdon-Davies)
 
The Home Guard Fieldcraft Manual (Langdon-Davies - Murray)
 
A Message to the Home Guard (Langdon-Davies)
 
A Manual of Street Fighting
 
Duties of Sentries (LDV Corps - Warley, Danilo Platoon - 23/7/40)
 
Outline of Battle Practice for Junior Leaders - Attack (S. Staffs)
 
Manual of Guerilla Tactics
 
Manual of Commando and Guerilla Warfare - Unarmed Combat
 
First Aid for the Home Guard (Morris Jones)   
 
Map Reading for the Home Guard (Lewis and Morgan)
 
Wireless and How It Works (Longmans)
 
The American Browning Automatic Rifle (Smith)
 
Home Guard Pocket Book ( West Sussex Home Guard - Green)
 
Shooting to Kill (Elliot)
 
Guerrilla Warfare ('Yank' Levy)
 
Signalling and Map-Reading for the Home Guard (Stokes)
 
Total War Training for Home Guard Officers and NCOs (Armour)
 
Book of the Blacker Bombard (Gale and Polden)  
 
.300 Vickers Machine Gun - Mechanism Made Easy (Gale and Polden)
 

When The Balloon Goes Up - 101 Questions for the Home Guard (Shillito)

  Armoured Vehicles, Allied/German - Sketches for a city battn. training (Bradbury)
  Home Guard Manual of Camouflage (Penrose)
  Know Your Weapons, Nos. 1-4 (Nicholson and Watson)
  Guerillas v. Tanks ("Cambrai")
  Invasion Tactics (Necker)
  Strategy and Tactics of the Modern German Army (Bernards)
  Tanks at War ("Factus")
  Aids to Weapon Training (Thornton, Walters)
  Home Guard Officers and Section Leaders Handbook (Kerr)
  Specialised Training for the Home Guard Despatch Rider (Motor Cycling)
  Personal Defence Against Gas - Coventry Zone Home Guard
  Flagwagger's Card
Aiming Practice/Triangle of Error Card
  Squad Battle Drill Procedure Cards (North Midland District)
  Small Arms Manual (Lt.-Col. J. A. Barlow - Murray)
Rights and Powers of the Home Guard (John Burke - Hamish Hamilton, 1940)
  Sten Machine Carbine Mk II and II (Bravon Ledger Co., 1942)
  Guns for the Home Guard
  Home Guard Instruction No. 24 - 1941: Protection against Gas

 

ALL TEXT
COVER/ CONTENTS GUIDANCE FOR HOUSEHOLDERS AND INDIVIDUALS
(Click on the icon to view)
J16-4Bombards.htm
 
What to Do about Gas (HMSO 1941)
 
Poison Gas and Food in your Home (Ministry of Food)
 
After the Raid (Ministry of Home Security - Dec. 1940)
  War Emergency - Information and Instructions (HMSO August/September 1939)  (New - June 2023)
  The Protection of your Home against Air Raids (HMSO 1938) (New - July 2023)
  National Service (HMSO 1939)  (New - July 2023)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Grateful acknowledgement is made to Mick Ackrill, the owner of the bulk of the original documents appearing on this page. He has generously made copies available to staffshomeguard and permitted their publication within this website; and to the original authors and publishers and their successors, most of whom are now untraceable after the passing of more than 70 years.
Similar grateful acknowledgement is made to the owners of many other documents which also appear: appreciation for their generosity in sharing their treasures is given on individual pages in this section of the website. These contributors include: Martin Barker, Graham Bradbury, the late Geoff Cradock (12th Worcs. (Warley) Battn.), Ramsey Green, David Morse, Derek Penrose and Chris Woffenden, several of whom are members of the excellent Remember Britain's Home Guard Facebook group.

This website is entirely non-commercial. Its sole intent is to commemorate the men who served in the Home Guard throughout WW2 and to inform others who wish to keep these memories alive. Nevertheless, if a visitor with a proprietary interest in the original material feels that ownership rights are not being properly observed, he or she is asked to contact staffshomeguard without delay using the Feedback link below. The material will then be removed from public scrutiny immediately if that is the owner's desire.

 

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J16 last updated December 2019, May 2020, June/July2023