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GENERAL INFORMATION ON THE HOME GUARD    

HOME GUARD BIBLIOGRAPHY
- UNIT HISTORIES -

This page lists a large number of Home Guard unit histories, most of which were first published shortly after the service's stand-down in December 1944.  (More general histories and publications dealing with specialised aspects of Home Guard activity are not included).

The unit histories are listed by 1940s county, as follows:

INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS
LIST of UNIT HISTORIES
ANGUS – AYRSHIRE - BEDFORDSHIRE – BERKSHIRE – BERWICKSHIRE – BUCKINGHAMSHIRE – CAERNARFONSHIRE – CAMBRIDGESHIRE – CARDIGANSHIRE – CHESHIRE – CORNWALL – CUMBERLAND – DENBIGHSHIRE – DERBYSHIRE - DEVONSHIRE – DORSET -  DUMFRIESHIRE - DUNBARTONSHIRE -   DURHAM – ESSEX – FLINTSHIRE – GLAMORGAN -  GLOUCESTERSHIRE New! – HAMPSHIRE – HERTFORDSHIRE – HUNTINGDONSHIRE - ISLE OF MAN -  KENT – LANARKSHIRE (incl. GLASGOW) – LANCASHIRE – LEICESTERSHIRE – LINCOLNSHIRE – LONDON – MIDDLESEX – MIDLOTHIANSHIRE (incl. EDINBURGH) – MONMOUTHSHIRE - MORAYSHIRE – NORFOLK – NORTHAMPTONSHIRE – NORTHUMBERLAND – ORKNEY – OXFORDSHIRE – PEMBROKESHIRE – PERTHSHIRE – RADNORSHIRE – RUTLAND – SCOTLAND ( General) – SHROPSHIRE – SOMERSET – STAFFORDSHIRE – STIRLINGSHIRE – SUFFOLK – SURREY – SUSSEX – ULSTER – WARWICKSHIRE (incl. BIRMINGHAM) – WILTSHIRE – WORCESTERSHIRE – YORKSHIRE
See also for additional information:
 OTHER

(The most recent addition was on 11th October 2022 - Isle of Man, Lancashire and Warwickshire.)


INTRODUCTORY COMMENTS

When stand-down was finally announced in the autumn of 1944, there must have been a general sense of relief: not only that years of heavy obligation to duty was to be removed, but also that an organisation which for some time knew that its time was over was finally being laid to rest. Adjutants and others had much tidying up to do: equipment and materials accounted for and returned to central stores, final returns prepared and submitted, HQs cleared and mounds of redundant paperwork binned (to the chagrin of historians decades later).

But clearly there were other emotions. Many of these men had served together for up to four-an-a-half years. They had assembled, entirely voluntarily, at a time of the deepest peril for their country, they had shared hardships, anxiety, tragedy, boredom, discomfort, disruption to their lives - and also laughs. A sense of cameraderie and pride in their unit developed from the very outset and rarely flagged. And even the least historically-minded amongst them must have sensed that they and their comrades had played an important part in a national endeavour as momentous as any in the long history of this country.

We can be grateful, but hardly surprised, that a number of Home Guards felt that the organisation, and the emotions which it prompted, should not be allowed to disappear with barely an acknowledgement after the farewell parades of Sunday 3th December 1944 had dispersed. A number of unit histories was the result: written sometimes by their commanders, sometimes not; some containing considerable detail, some quite slight; a number produced by organisations whose employees manned a particular unit; some produced in significant quantities, some with very limited circulation indeed; and appearing in the form of hardback, paperback and even just typescript. All of these works reflect the sense of pride of what was achieved. In some, not far below the surface, we see a regret that the feeling of fellowship in a common cause, forged in the most difficult of times, was being lost at a time of new, unimaginable challenges lying ahead in the post-war world; and a call for its continuation.

Many of these unit histories appeared very promptly, between 1944 and 1946 and a few in the immediately following years. As time went on, and the subject of the Home Guard started to become one of more general interest again (thanks in part to "Dad's Army" of the 1960s and 1970s), there appeared many general histories, analyses and memories of the service;
 
detailed examinations of specialised aspects such as uniform and equipment;

and further unit histories, dealing sometimes with specific units as did the earlier publications, and sometimes with whole areas such as counties.

The earlier histories are in some cases very rare beasts indeed.  Copies are tucked away in private collections and in the archives of libraries and museums - local, regimental and national (such as The British Library, I.W.M. and The National Archives) - with varying degrees of accessibility. But we are fortunate that a number have been reprinted over recent years and are thus readily available.

This page lists those unit histories, early and more recent, of which staffshomeguard is aware (and NOT more general histories and studies, nor books on specialised aspects of Home Guard activity). The summary probably covers most of the relevant publications but is almost certainly not exhaustive. Details of any omissions would be welcomed.


HOME GUARD BIBLIOGRAPHY:  UNIT HISTORIES
 (arranged by 1940s counties)
Angus

-  'Gordon Highlander': 4th L.N.E.R. Battalion, H.Q. Company, Home Guard. (I N Fraser)

-  3rd City of Dundee (13th GPO) Battalion Home Guard (15pp duplicated, held by IWM)

 Ayrshire
-  1st Battalion Ayr Home Guard (9pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  2nd Battalion Ayr Home Guard (8pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  3rd Battalion Ayr Home Guard (12pp duplicated, held by IWM)
- 4th Battalion Ayr Home Guard (7pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  5th Battalion Ayr Home Guard (7pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  Report on the 6th Battalion Ayrshire Home Guard (18pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  7th Battalion Ayr Home Guard (5pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  8th Battalion Ayr Home Guard (12pp duplicated, held by IWM)
-  Zone III Ayrshire Home Guard

Bedfordshire
-  2nd Bedfordshire Battalion Home Guard (1946, C G Hampson)
- "C" Company (formerly "D" Company) 4th Bedfordshire Battalion Home Guard memoirs, 1940-1944 (1945)
-  Willington: The War History of a Bedfordshire village (Willington W.I., 1946)


Berkshire
-  The Story of the First Berkshire (Abingdon) Battalion Home Guard (Manchester, 1945; and 2016)

-  5th Berkshire Battalion Home Guard (1945)

-  A History of the 6th (Bracknell) Battalion Berkshire Home Guard (ca. 1945)

-  A Short History of "B" Company 11th Berkshire Battalion, The Home Guard (1945, perhaps two copies only, location unknown)

 -  The Story of "D" Company 11th Berkshire Battalion Home Guard (1945)

-  Home Guard 'X' Zone, Hedgerley Park Training Establishment [guide]

-  Upper Thames Patrol (12th Berkshire and 31st Middlesex Battalions) (13pp typescript, held by IWM)

 

 Berwickshire
-  4th Scottish Border Battalion Home Guard (1945, typescript)



Buckinghamshire

-  BUX 4: Records and Reminiscences of the 4th Buckinghamshire Battalion Home Guard (1945, L W Kentish)

-  The Story of "A" Company 4th Bucks Battalion Home Guard 1940-1944

-  The Story of Olney Home Guard BUX 2 Battalion
(2019, Gerald Raymond Mann)

- Eton 1940 (1973 Etonia no. 127 - The Journal of Eton College)

 

Caernarfonshire
-  Four Years: The Story of the 5th Battalion, Caernarvonshire Home Guard (1944, H L Wilson)


Cambridgeshire

-  "We Also Served": the Story of the Home Guard in Cambridgeshire and the Isle of Ely: 1940-1943 (Cambridge, 1944)

-  Home Guard Diary of No. 19 (Meldreth) Platoon "C" Company, 4th Cambridgeshire Battalion 1943-45 (1945, J. Paterson)








Cardiganshire
-  3rd Cardiganshire Battalion Home Guard (Lampeter, 1947, J Davies and J E Lloyd; and 2014)



Cheshire
-  The Wirral Home Guard or The Rise and Ascent of "Number 2 Platoon", "A" Company, 17th Battalion, Cheshire Regiment (Home Guard)
(Liverpool, 1945, H Jager; and 2007)
-  "They Also Serve": The 39th Cheshire Battalion Home Guard (London, 1945, J C Spence)

-  History of the Cheshire Home Guard: From LDV Formation to Standdown 1940-1944 (Aldershot, 1950; and 2015))

-  35th Cheshire Battalion, Home Guard. "The Buffers" May 1940 to 3rd December 1944 (1945)

-  Things Worth Knowing [and] Some General Knowledge Points [issued to members of the 21st Cheshire Battalion, Home Guard] (1942)
-  Disley's Home Guard (1944, F Jones)

- The Rise and Ascent of Number 2 Platoon, "A" Coy., 17th Battalion Cheshire Regiment H.G. (Harold Jager, Daily Post, Liverpool)



Cornwall

 -  "Gulval Home Guard - Nos. 6 and 9 Platoons, "A" Coy., 12th Cornwall (Lands End) Battalion, Home Guard"    (1944/5, ?C. Tregoning; reproduced in its entirety elsewhere in this website).

Cumberland

-  A Record of the 5th (Cum.) Battalion Home Guard affiliated to the Border Regiment (1945, E. G. Sarsfield-Hall)

-  2nd Cumberland Carlisle Battaion Home Guard 1944 (1944)



Denbighshire

-  Bureaucrats in Battledress: A History of the Ministry of Food Home Guard (Conway, 1945, H Smith)

-  A Record of Service, No. 1 Battalion (Denbighshire) Home Guard (Conway, 1943, J R Williams)

-  7th Denbighshire Flint Home Guard (3pp, held by IWM)


Derbyshire
 -  No known full history publications

(- "B" Coy., 13th Battalion, Derbyshire Home Guard: Commemorating the Presentation of the freedom of entry to the Derbyshire Yeomanry and the Sherwood Forresters, Derby, July 20th 1946 (Derby Borough Council 1946))
Devonshire
-  The History and Record of "B" Company 10th (Torbay) Battalion, Devonshire Home Guard (Torquay, 1944, J Brady)

-  On Guard! A History of the 10th Torbay Battalion, Devonshire Home Guard. (1946, G. H. Lidstone)

-  History of the 5th (Bideford) Battalion Devon Home Guard (Bristol, 1946, D C Crombie)
-  A Note on the 19th (Seaton) Battalion Home Guard Devonshire Regiment (1945, J V Ramsden)

-  To the "Ever Faithful": The 1st (Loyal City of Exeter) Battalion, Devon Home Guard, 1940-1945 (Exeter, 1946, H J Wiltsher)
-  The Story of "C" Company, 14th (Moorside) Battalion Devon Home Guard (1945)

-  History of the 6th Battalion Devonshire Home Guard (D A Bradley)

-  Devon Home Guard 1940-1945 History of the 6th Battalion Devonshire Home Guard (D A Bradley)


Dorset
 - "A" Company, 3rd Dorset (Poole) Battalion Home Guard  1940-1944 (A T N Abbay, 12pp typescript, held by IWM)


Dumfrieshire
- 1st Dumfrieshire Battalion Home Guard - Historical Record 1940-1944 (1944, Ralph Hope Vere)


 Dunbartonshire
-  History of 2 Dunbartonshire Home Guard (12pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  3rd Dunbartonshire Battalion, Home Guard

-  101 DBT HG Rocket Battery R.A. (C R Willis)

Durham
 -  A Short History of the 2nd Durham Home Guard (11pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  "One O' One Durham": Being the Short Life Story of 101 (Durham) Home Guard Rocket Anti-Aircraft Battery (W M Patterson)

-  Book of 'F' Company, 14th Battalion Durham Home Guard


 Essex
-  Warmen Courageous: The Story of the Essex Home Guard
(Southend-on-Sea, 1951, P Finch)

-  The Essex Regiment Home Guard. Souvenir and Personal Log of Great Britain. Essex -  Home Guard.  (Harwich, W. Cooper, 1945)
-  3rd Essex Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1945 (F. Hughes, typescript)

-  13th Essex, 35th (GPO) Home Guard, Souvenir from the Battalion Commander (1945, T. Bagley)

-  A Short History of the 19th Essex Home Guard (4pp typescript, held by IWM)
-  51st Essex Battalion, Home Guard, No. 2 Platoon: Zone, Battalion and Company Orders, 1940-1941

-  History of the 196 (102 Essex H.G.) "Rocket" A.A. Battery

-  The Essex Regiment Home Guard, Souvenir and Personal Log of (1945)

-  They Took Up Arms: The Story of the Home Guard in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex (2016, D Snelling and R Carter)


Flintshire
-  Third Battalion Flintshire Home Guard


Glamorgan
-  A Short History of the 9th Glamorgan Battalion Home Guard (Merthyr Unit) (1946, D R Llewellyn/T Longville Bowen)


Gloucestershire
 - 11th Gloster (City of Bristol) Battalion - A Personal History of "R" Company by Major Jack Hartland Bromhead, M.B.E., D.C.M.
 (original manuscript dated ca 1945, held in Bristol Archives, later transcribed, interpreted, edited and supplemented by Ian Smith and now viewable in its entirety in this website)
New! Added July 2023

-  A Short History of the Local Defence Volunteers and Home Guard in the County of Gloucester (1948, P M C Hayman)
-  They Took up Arms: the Story of the Stroud Home Guard (1945, H H Stoney)

-  A Short History of the Local Defence Volunteers and Home Guard (1942, E F Eagar)

 -  They Took Up Arms: The Story of "B" Company 7th Battalion Gloucestershire Regiment Home Guard (1945, F W Smith)

 -  Brief History of 3rd (Cirencester) Battalion Gloucestershire Home Guard 1940-1945 (1945, Brian W. Robinson).  Available (2018) online.

-  History of the 12th Gloucester Battalion (City of Bristol) Home Guard (4pp typescript, held by IWM


Hampshire
 - A Short History of the 3rd (Basingstoke) Battalion, Hampshire Home Guard from 15th May 1940 to 31st December 1945 (87pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  With the Home Guard: The History of "A" (Winchester City) Company 5th Hampshire Battalion (Winchester, 1945, S W Wayman)

-  Salute the Home Guard, A Story of the Citizen Army, 6th (Bournemouth) Bn. Hampshire Home Guard (1945)
-  Unit histories of the County of Hampshire Home Guard, 1940-1945 (held by I.W.M., believed mainly typescript):
3rd Hampshire Battalion (Basingstoke) Home Guard;
17th Hampshire Battalion (Portsmouth);
18th Hampshire Battalion (Dockyard Port);
19th Hampshire Battalion (West Wight); 
23rd Hampshire Battalion (37th G.P.O.);
24th Hampshire Battalion notes;
29th Hampshire Battalion (Gosport);
32nd Hampshire Battalion (Connaught).

-  The Old and the Bold, 1554 Guard Nights: The Story of the Portsmouth Electricity Undertaking Home Guard, 17th (Portsmouth) Hants Battalion Portsmouth, July, 1940-December 1944 (1945, A H Watson)

-  Defenders of the Realm: A History of 1st Hampshire Andover) Battalion, Home Guard (2020, Andover History & Archaeology Society)


Hertfordshire
-  The 9th Hertfordshire Battalion Home Guard: A History 1940-1945 (London, 1946, D H Neale)

-  The Home Guard in Hertfordshire, 1940-1945: An Account of the Local Defence  Volunteers and the Home Guard in Hertfordshire from Raising in 1940 to Disbandment in 1945 ((2012, J.D. Sainsbury)
-  7th Hertfordshire Battalion Home Guard: A History of the Battalion, 1940-44
(1945, Alan St.H. Brock; and 2015)

 -  The Reminiscences of the Mobile Reserve Detachment, 13 Company and "E" Company raised as from 14th May 1940 (R S Waters)
Huntingdonshire
 -  A Short History of the 3rd Hunts Battalion Home Guard 1940-1944 (1944, T P Rogers)


Isle of Man

- Brief Record of Southern Company 2nd Manx Battalion Home Guard on its disbandment in December 1944.
(A written record by Major P.D. Kissack, transcribed 1997 - RH)

- A history of the Local Defence Volunteers later Home Guard on the Isle of Man (Typescript, 29 sheets, compiled by S.W. Corlett MBE, 1969)


Kent
-  The Bromley Home Guard: A History of the 51st Kent Battalion (1944, LDV)

-  5th (Wingham) Battalion, Kent Home Guard, Stand Down Parade, Sunday 26th November 1944

-  "The Willing Horse: The Journal of a Battalion of the Home Guard" (Bromley - KT51) (1941)

-  An Informal History of the 6th (Thanet) Battalion of the Kent Home Guard (2010, Ian Smales)

-  The Real Dad’s Army – the War Diaries of Col. Rodney Foster (2013)

-  Kent Home Guard : A History (1980, K. R Gulvin)

-  A Short History of the 20th (Sevenoaks) Battalion Kent Home Guard (1944)
 
-  The 19th (Farningham) Battalion Kent Home Guard (O H Moseley, 1945? and 2014)

-  1940-44: Being A Diary of "D" Company 20th Bn. Kent Home Guard (1944, Brown, Peek)

-  Kent Zone Home Guard in its Early Days (1941, H S Franklin, B G Holloway, H Banks, J E T Harper)

-  Kent Home Guard, A History (1980 K R Gulvin)

-  History of the 20th (Sevenoaks) Battalion, Kent Home Guard (1945, G Shaw)

 -  Home Guard Southern Railway in Pictures (64pp held by IWM)

 -  Pevensey Home Guard 1944-45
Lanarkshire (incl. Glasgow)
-  Record of 2nd Lanarkshire Battalion Home Guard

-  Eighth City of Glasgow (Second LNER) Battalion Home Guard  (typescript)
-  Brief record of 1st Glasgow Battalion Home Guard 1940-1944 (8pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  Brief record of 3rd Glasgow Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1944 (12pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  History of the 6th (Glasgow Corporation) Bn. the Home Guard (WJ McBeath, typescript)

-  Home Guard, Brief Historical Record of the 7th City of Glasgow (LMS) Battalion 1940-1945

-  Historical Record of the 9th City of Glasgow (14th GPO) Battalion Home Guard (4pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  10th City of Glasgow (15th GPO) Battn., Home Guard (3pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  Brief Historical Record of the 12th (City of Glasgow)  Battalion Home Guard (19pp, held by IWM)

-  Historical Record of the 13th Glasgow (40th GPO) Battalion Home Guard (2pp typescript, held by IWM)


Lancashire
-  The History of the Tottington Home Guard "C" Company, 21st County of Lancaster (Bury) Battalion Home Guard

-  From Brassard to Battledress: the History of the 46th Battalion County of Lancaster Home Guard (1944; and 2015))
-  The 42nd County of Lancaster Battalion Home Guard 1940-1944 (1944, FD Webb)
-  71 Lancs. HG HAA Bty
-  History of 216 (105 E.Lancs. HG) mixed rocket AA Battery R.A.

-  203 (102 E. Lancs. H.G.) Rocket AA. Bty. R.A.

-   Record of The Liverpool Corporation Passenger Transport Home Guard May 1940-December 1944 - 90th Bn (Lancs.) Home Guard

-  The History of Tottington Home Guard, "C" Company, 21st (Bury) Battalion Home Guard (1945, C G Hampson)

- History of the 89th County of Lancaster (Liverpool) Battalion, Home Guard
(TW Gornal & Co., Liverpool, 1947, unknown author)

 
Leicestershire
-  "To The Last Round": The Leicestershire and Rutland Home Guard 1940-1945 (Derby, 2007, Austin J. Ruddy)


 Lincolnshire
-  "Look, Duck and Vanish: The Home Guard in Rural Lincolnshire (1996)

-  History of the 3rd Holland (East Elloe) Battalion, The Home Guard  1940-44

-  Marching On! The Tale of a Home Guard Battalion
(Mill Platoon, "B" Company, 2nd Lindsey Battalion - John Lysaght Ltd., Scunthorpe) (1946, N A Spalding)


London
-  With the Home Guard (London, 1943, S Fine)

 -  The Book of 2 Platoon "A" Company 1st City of London Home Guard

 -  A Short History of the 6th City of London (Silvertown) Battalion May 1940-October 1944 (1944, J Cary)
-  35th City of London Battalion Home Guard (London, 1946)

-  Seven Battalions: the Story of London Transport's Home Guard 1940-1946
(1947, E T Brook)

-  A History of the 44th London (London Transport) Battalion of the Home Guard 1940-1946 (London, 1948)
-  The Royal Fusiliers ... 35 C.O.L. Bn. H.G., 1940-1945. (1946)

 -  Home Guard "Utility" - A History of the 22nd (5th GPO) City of London Battalion H.G. (1945, Lt.-Col. A.W. Hopkins)
-  Unit histories of the County and City of London Home Guard, 1940-1946 (consists of 10 pamphlets bound in 1 volume)
-  The London Taxi Battalion, Home Guard
-  Dulwich L.D.V. Log Book 1940-1941 (2014)

-  The Book of Number Two Platoon "A" Company, 1st City of London Home Guard (1945)
-  A Short History of the 19th County of London (S.S. Gas Coy.) Bn. Home Guard (J A Gould)
-  Ministry of Information Home Guard: No. 3 Company, 35th London (Civil Service) Battalion, C Company, 2nd City of London (Civil Service) Battn. (1945)

-  101 Up! (101st County of London HG AA Rocket Battery in Hyde Park) - (1945, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website).

-  A Record of the Technical Companies (originally Engineer Platoons) of the 40th City of London (GLCC) Battalion Home Guard 

-  48th County of London (LCC) Battalion, A Report as in the Form of a Resume of the History of "C" Company - 1940-44 (K Belsham)

-  Number Eight Sub-Section "D" Troop 71st County of London (Home Guard) Heavy AA Battery December 1942 - November 1944 (1944)

The Story of the 1st American Squadron Home Guard (11pp typewritten letter - perhaps IWM?)

- Miscellaneous histories held by the IWM in a bound volume:
London District Taxi Column;
"H" Sector, London District Home Guard;
2nd (City of London) Civil Service Battalion;
Ministry of Information Home Guard;
44th (London Transport) Battalion 1940-46;
45th London Battalion Line Telegraph and Phone Communications, "C" Company Signals;
48th County of London (LCC) Battalion, Memoirs of "B" Company (W S Brand)


Middlesex
-  North-West London Frontier. No. 6. Company, 23rd Middlesex Battalion ... A Souvenir of Home Guard training duties during the World War of 1939-45. (1946, H. E. Flight; and 2015)

-  Middlesex Home Guard Roll of Honour, 1940-1944 (1969)
-  Middlesex Home Guards who have Official War Graves (1969, C E E Scott)
-  16th H.G. A.A. Regiment : History of 71st County of London (H.G.) H.A.A. Bty. (typescript)

-  Upper Thames Patrol (12th Berkshire and 31st Middlesex Battalions) (13pp typescript, held by IWM)


Midlothianshire (incl. Edinburgh)
-  Lauriston 1940-1944: The Story of "A" Company of the 8th Battalion City of Edinburgh Home Guard (Edinburgh, 1945, A J Fiskin)
-  The Watch on the Braids: The Record of an Edinburgh Home Guard Company 1940-1944 (Edinburgh, 1945)

-  A Brief Summary of the 9th (STC) Battalion Home Guard, The City of Edinburgh (2pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  The Home Guardian. The official organ of the 2nd Edinburgh Battalion Home Guard. vol. 1. no. 1.-Vol. 2. no. 1. Dec. 1940-May 1944.  (Edinburgh, 1944)


Monmouthshire
 2nd Monmouthshire (Newport) Battalion Home Guard (Lleweyn Jones)


Morayshire
-  A Brief History of the 1st Moray Battalion Home Guard (1945, A A Boyd)


Norfolk
-  Standing up to Hitler: the Story of Norfolk's Home Guard and "Secret Army", 1940-1944 (Newbury, Adrian Hoare, 2002)

-  They Took Up Arms: The Story of the Home Guard in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex (2016, D Snelling and R Carter)

Northamptonshire


-  The Northamptonshire Home Guard 1940-1945: A History (Northampton, 1949, B G Holloway; and 2014, B G Holloway, H Banks)
-  History of the 12th Northamptonshire Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1944 (1945, L E Barnes; and 2014)






Northumberland
-  12th Battalion Northumberland Home Guard, "C" Company 1940-1944 (Gateshead-on-Tyne, 1946, C Browne)
-  History of the 109/101 Northumberland Home Guard Rocket A.A. Battery April 1942 - December 1944


Orkney
-  General History of 1 Orkney Bn. Home Guard May 1940 to Dec. 1944 (1944)


Oxfordshire
-  The "Highlands" Platoon (East Company), 6th Oxfordshire (Oxford City) Battalion (Oxford, 1945, R. Bint)

-  Record of 4th Oxfordshire (Bullingdon) Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1944 (CAL Graham)


 Pembrokeshire
-  Notes on the Home Guard in Pembrokeshire (1943)


Perthshire
-  History of 6th Perthshire Battalion Home Guard Perth City Battalion, Perth City Battery, Perth, Milne, Tannahill and Methven (1945)
-  3rd Perthshire Battalion Home Guard historical notes (1944)
-  History of the Fourth Bn. Perthshire Home Guard (1945, J M D MacKenzie)

 -  A Short History of the 1st Perthshire Battalion Home Guard (James Robertson, typescript)


Radnorshire
-  Radnorshire Volunteers: a Regimental History of Radnorshire, 1539-1968 (1968, G A Parfitt)


Rutland
-  The Rutland Home Guard of 1940-44 (Oakham, 1955, J W Ogilvy-Dalgleish)
-  "To The Last Round": The Leicestershire and Rutland Home Guard 1940-1945 (Derby, 2007, Austin J Ruddy)
Scotland (general)
-  The People's Army: the Home Guard in Scotland, 1940-44 (Edinburgh, 2009, Brian D Osborne)


Shropshire


-  From "Stand To" to "Stand Down": or with the 7th Battalion Shropshire Home Guard from May 1942 to December 1944 (Hereford, 1946, A W Churchill)
-  The Shropshire Home Guard (2010, Bernard Lowry)






Somerset
- The Story of No. 2 Company of the 7th Battalion, Somerset Home Guard  (1944, H J Tweedie)

-  The Somerset Home Guard : a Pictorial Roll-Call (Bath, 2004, Jeffrey Wilson)
-  "Stand Easy": A Short Record of the Bridgwater Company, Home Guard, 1940-1944 (1945, W H Tamlyn)

-  7th Somerset Bn. Home Guard. (H J Tweedie)

Staffordshire

 -  The Record of the 24th Staffordshire (Tettenhall) Battalion Home Guard (Wolverhampton, 1946, A J Parkes)
-  Staffordshire Home Guard (1976, R A Lewis)

-  The History of Number Seven Platoon, Milford, Brocton and Walton Home Guard, May 1940 to December 1944 (1945, J H Pharo)

-  "Home Guarding" by the 32nd (Aldridge) Battalion, South Staffordshire Home Guard (1945, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website)

-  The 8th (Burton) Battalion of the Staffordshire Home Guard.  An Appreciation of Their Record of Service to Their King and Country

-  Burton-upon-Trent & District Home Guard (n.b. This title may be not 100% correct and/or a duplication of the above 8th Battalion record)

 -  The History of the 13th (Cannock) Battalion North Staffordshire Home Guard (1945, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website)


Stirlingshire
-  Hard As Nails!: The Home Guard in Falkirk District (2008, G B. Bailey)


Suffolk
-  Ploughshares into Swords: the History of `G' Company (Beccles) First Suffolk Battalion Home Guard (1945, J H Esling)

-  The Ninth Post, Journal of the 9th Suffolk Home Guard - Vol. 1, No. 1  September 1941; Vol. 1 No. 2 November 1941

-  The Lion Roared His Defiance... 10th Suffolk Battalion

-  Battalion Souvenir: A Short Account of the Activities of the 11th Suffolk Home Guard (1945, W Gilbert, M H Robinson, L J Orvis)

-  They Took Up Arms: The Story of the Home Guard in Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex (2016, D Snelling and R Carter)


Surrey
-  "An Honour to Serve": A Short History of the 8th Surrey (Reigate) Battalion Home Guard, May 1940-December 1944 (Reigate, N R Bishop)

-  (Supplement to the above: “C” Company. A brief summary of its history and activity, May, 1940-December, 1944)

-  Home Guard. Surrey Battalion, 8th (Reigate) (1945) - perhaps a duplication

-  The Story of the 101 Surrey Home Guard Rocket Anti-Aircraft Battery, Anerley 1942-1944 (1944, W A Cooke)
-  Limpsfield Home Guard 1940-1945 (London, 1946, W A D Englefield)
-  The Hawker Platoon, "E" Company, 53rd Surrey Battalion H G: Service Record 1940-1944 (Claremont, 1945, G D S Garrett)
-  55th Surrey (Sutton and Cheam) Home Guard: An Historical Survey (Sutton, 1944, C E Greenshields)

-  Soldiers of The King: The Story of the 53rd Surrey Battalion Home Guard (Wells, 1946, R A Pepperall)
-  A History of the 58th Surrey Battalion, Home Guard. (1948, W.C. Dodkins; and 2015)

-  Home Guard 51st Surrey (Malden) Bn. Battalion history (typescript)
-  The Guildford Home Guard, SY4, 18th May 1940 - 31st December 1944 (1945)
-  Reminiscences of the 63rd Surrey (Richmond) Battalion Home Guard (1946, A E Redfern)

-  The Surrey Home Guard (2000, Paul Crook)
-  A Short History of the 8th Surrey (Reigate) Battalion Home Guard, May, 1940 - December, 1944 (1944, N R Bishop)

-  The Guildford Home Guard, SY4, 18th May 1940 - 31st December 1944 (1945)
-  The history of 71st County of Surrey (H.G.) H.A.A. Bty.

-  "Among Men": 58th Surrey Bn. Home Guard : dedicated to all members of "D" Company (N J Fishlock)

-  "E" Company 5th Battalion Surrey Home Guard, Cranleigh (Anon)

 -  "Croydon in The Second World War", W.C. Berwick Sayers, 1949- extract, viewable in this website.


 Sussex
- 1st Battalion Home Guard, A Brief Historical Record (typescript, held by IWM)

- 5th Sussex (Worthing) Bn. ("B" Company) (1944, typescript, held by IWM)

-  10th Sussex (East Brighton) Home Guard (typescript, held by IWM)

-  11th Sussex (39th GPO) Home Guard, Souvenir from Battalion Headquarters (1945, G Edward)

 -  The Night Hawk Magazine of the 14th Battn. Hove Sussex Home Guard. Vol. 1. no. 1-12 -1940-1.

-  Farewell of  the 20th Sussex Bn. Home Guard , 3rd December 1944 (1944)

-  "England Expected", Being a Brief History of the 23rd Sussex (Hastings) Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1945

-  Sussex Home Guard (1998, P Crook).
-  West Sussex Group Home Guard war diary 1941-1945 ((1945)

-  Sussex Recovery Company Home Guard 1940-1944


 Ulster


-  Duty Without Glory: The Story of Ulster's Home Guard in the Second World War and the Cold War (2008, D. R. Orr)

-  1st Derry City Battalion - Souvenir Review (1945, W. J. Traill)







Warwickshire (incl. Birmingham)
-  The History of the 45th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion Home Guard (Birmingham, 1945, E D Barclay; and 2015)
-  The Triumphs and Tragedies of a Home Guard (Factory) Company: B Company 41st Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion Home Guard (Birmingham, 1946, W P McGeoch)

-  The 29th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion Home Guard, May 1940-December 1944 (Birmingham, 1946, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website))

-   We You Salute: An Illustrated Account of Your Local Dads Army 1940-1944 - 1st Warks (Warwick) Battn. (1990, Roy Rowberry)



-  Record of the Birmingham City Transport Home Guard, May, 1940-December, 1944 - 31st/32nd Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battns. (1945, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website)

-  The Story of "A" Sector Warwickshire Home Guard 2nd and 7th Battalions (1946; and 2014)

-  105 Warwicks. Home Guard Rocket A.A. Battery Souvenir of Service (1945, A E Palfreman)

-  The Home Guard of Royal Leamington Spa 1940-1980 (Leamington, 1980, A. Kelly)

-  Handbook of the 6th Warwickshire Battalion Home Guard  (1940, W. Bigwood)

 -  Record of the Birmingham City Utilities Home Guard - 29th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battn. (1945, reproduced in its entirety elsewhere within this website)

 -  The Royal Leamington Spa Home Guard Factory Units of WW2 - A Personal Diary.  (Leamington, 2020, David G.P. Morse)

-  Home Front - A History of Britain at War & 6th Warwickshire (Sutton) Battalion, Home Guard  (2022, Peter Shergold)


 Wiltshire
 -  The History of the Wiltshire Home Guard (1946, E.A. Mackay; and 2014)

-  2nd Battalion Wilts Home Guard (1945, H H Stoney)

-  "A" Company 4th Battalion Wiltshire Home Guard 1940-1944

-  Look, Duck & Vanish: A History of the 6th (Marlborough) Battalion, Wiltshire Home Guard, 1940-1944 (2011, R. Day)

-  The Wiltshire Regiment, 7th Battalion Home Guard (1944, The Salisbury Times)

-  "F" Company 8th Battalion Wiltshire Home Guard 1st December 1942 - 3rd December 1944 (14pp typescript, held by IWM)

-  8th Bn. Wiltshire Home Guard, Intelligence Section (H Bailey)

-  8th Bn. Wiltshire Home Guard: History of Formation and Growth of Unit.

 -  9th Wilts Bn Home Guard (E J Hawkswell, N L Whatley)


Worcestershire
-  Halesowen Home Guard - 5th Worcestershire (Halesowen) Battalion (Shrewsbury, 1944, J G Mountford)

-  The Redditch Home Guard 1940-1945 (Redditch, 2009, Mike Johnson)

-  Chronicles of the Worcestershire Home Guard (2014, Mick Wilks)
-  "C" Company 11th Worcestershire Battalion Home Guard
 
-  The History of the 4th Worcestershire (Evesham) Battalion Home Guard May 1940-January 1st 1943 (ca. 1945, S B Carter)

-  The History of the 4th Worcestershire (Evesham) Battalion Home Guard January 1st 1943- December 31st 1944 (ca. 1945, S B Carter)

-  "U" Company 7th Worcs (Malvern) battalion Home Guard - Upton-on-Severn (1945, M F S Jewell)

-  "C" Company 11th Worcestershire Battalion, Home Guard

- "The Twelfth" A Souvenir of Friendship - The 12th Worcestershire (Warley) Battalion.  (1945, contents can be viewed elsewhere in this website)


 Yorkshire
 -  History of the 9th West Riding (Leeds) Battalion Home Guard, 14th May 1942 - 15th August 1945 (1945, H K Boyle)

 -  Histories of the 61st, 64th and 72nd Battalions, West Riding Home Guard (1946, H K Boyle, typescript)

 -  The History of the 1st West Riding (Bradford) Battalion Home Guard, 1940-1944 (1946, L A Parsons)

 -  The Duke of Wellington's (West Riding of Yorkshire) Regiment: The Upper Aggbrig Battalions, Home Guard 1940-1945 -: 34th Bn., Holme Valley, 35th Bn., Colne Valley, 36th Bn., Saddleworth (2009, Roy Bardsley)

-  A Short History of the 46 West Riding (Doncaster) Battalion Home Guard (26pp, held by IWM)

-  History of the Home Guard, The 62nd WR (Rotherham) Battalion (7pp typescript, held by IWM)


Other

-   Southern Railway:  Southern Railway Home Guard in Pictures (A pictorial history of six Home Guard Battalions: 28th Kent, 25th Sussex, 12th Surrey, 21st Hampshire, 22nd Devon and 36th County of London)

-   The Home Guard in Great Britain (1943, Charles Graves)
This significant work contains articles on many units throughout the country. The articles were written in late 1942 by authors within the unit concerned in response to a request from the compiler which was supported by the War Office. They vary in length and detail but include information on units about which most other information has been lost. These are the units which are mentioned:

LIST OF UNITS

Aberdeen
4th (City of Aberdeen) Battalion
7th Aberdeen (Works) Battalion
BBC
BBC Home Guard
Glasgow BBC Home Guard
X Unit BBC Home Guard

Berkshire
101 Berkshire
Buckinghamshire
101 Buckinghamshire Home Guard A A Battery
Caernarfonshire
1st Battalion Caernarfonshire
Cambridgeshire
1st Cambridgeshire Battalion
8th (University) Cambridgeshire
Cheshire
6th Cheshire (Chester) Battalion
19th Battalion Cheshire
No. 5 Sector, Chester Sub-Area
Cornwall
18th Platoon 6th Carrick Battalion  
The Home Guard in Cornwall
10th Cornwall (Truro) Battalion
Cumberland
1st Cumberland (Longtown) Battalion
9th Battalion, Zone I.E.L.D. Cumberland
Denbighshire
1st Denbigh Battalion
9th Denbigh Battalion
Derbyshire
B Company – Derbyshire Battalion
Devonshire
1st (Loyal City of Exeter) Battalion
Dumfriesshire
3rd Battalion Dumfries
Dumbartonshire
A Company, 2nd Battalion Dumbartonshire
B Company, 2nd Battalion Dumbartonshire
Durham
F Company – Durham Battalion
Essex
No. 4 Group Essex
4th Essex
14th Essex Battalion
15th Battalion Essex
51st Essex Battalion
Glamorgan
4th Glamorgan (Neath) Battalion
4th Gloucester Battalion
7th Glamorgan Battalion
15th Glamorgan (Gower) Battalion
Hampshire
8th (Avon Valley) Battalion, Hampshire
14th (Fareham) Battalion, Hampshire
18th Hampshire (Dockyard Port) Battalion
2nd (Whitchurch) Battalion, Hampshire
Herefordshire
Brief History of Herefordshire Home Guard
5th Battalion Hertfordshire, Harpenden
Hertfordshire
10th Hertfordshire Battalion
15th Hertfordshire Battalion
Kent
Zone HQ Kent Home Guard
8th (Cinque Ports) Kent
Dover Company, Kent 19th Battalion Kent
D Company, Bexleyheath
31st (Dockyard) Battalion, Kent
51st Kent Battalion
55th Kent Battalion
56th Kent Battalion
57th (Sidcup) Kent
D Company, 57th Kent Battalion
Kirkcudbrightshire
7th Company, 2nd Battalion Kirkcudbrightshire, Dalbeattie


*******
Also......
H.G Medical Organisation
*******		 Lanarkshire
Zone II, Lanarkshire
Lancashire
Group V, Zone 3, Home Guard,
Lancashire and Border District
No. 3 Zone Home Guard, Lancashire and Border District
5th Platoon – East Lancashire Battalion
A Lancashire Factory Unit
46th Lancashire
48th Lancashire
49th Lancashire
55th County of Lancaster Battalion
56th Lancashire
77th County of Lancaster Battalion
81st County of Lancaster (Prescot) Battalion
Leicestershire
9th Loughborough) Battalion, Leicestershire
Lincolnshire
Home Guard of the County of Lincolnshire and Parts of Holland
Fifth Lindsay (Grimsby) Battalion
 London
AB Zone (London)
Events in the Formation of GN, afterwards DN, Zone, London
J Zone (London)
R Zone (London)
X Zone and (London)
A A Battery, X Zone, London
1st County of London (Westminster) Battalion
2nd City of London (Civil Service) Battalion in
3rd County of London (Fulham) Battalion
5th City of London (Press) Battalion
5th Battalion (Press) City of London
C Company, 5th City of London (Press) Battalion
5th County of London Battalion
16th Company, 7th Battalion (London)
9th County of London Battalion
A Company, 10th London Battalion
B Company,10th London Battalion
C Company, 10th London Battalion
D Company, 10th London Battalion
Port of London Authority Group, comprising 14th, 15th, and 24th Battalions City of London (P.L.A.)
14th City of London (P.L.A.) Battalion
15th City of London (P.L.A.) Battalion
15th County of London Battalion
15th County of London Battalion D Company
19th County of London
21st County of London (Eltham) Battalion
D company, 23rd County of London Battalion
23rd Battalion County of London
24th C.O.L. Battalion
24th London Battalion
25th Battalion London
A Company – 25th Battalion London
C Platoon, 16th (Greenwich) Company
14th Company, 25th London
B Company, 26th London
30th County of London (Tooting) Battalion
31st County of London (Streatham) Battalion
34th County of London (L.R.S.) Battalion in
37th County of London (L M S Euston) Battalion
39th County of London (Metropolitan Water Board) Battalion
52nd County of London Battalion
58th County of London (Civil Service) Battalion
London Passenger Transport Board Home Guard Group
London District Taxi Column Home Guard
Upper Thames Patrol
A2 (Shore) Company, U.T.P.
 Merionethshire
No. 7 Platoon, C Company – Merioneth
 Middlesex
8th Middlesex Battalion
14th Middlesex Battalion
18th Middlesex Battalion
Y Zone Middlesex
D Company 26th Middlesex
27th Middlesex
29th Middlesex
30th Middlesex
 Monmouthshire
3rd Monmouthshire (Newport) Battalion
C Company, 4th Monmouthshire (RISCA) Battalion
 Montgomeryshire
7th Montgomeryshire Battalion
 Norfolk
 9th Norfolk
West Norfolk Zone
10th Norfolk (Norwich City) Battalion
 Northamptonshire
9th Battalion Northants
Northamptonshire Home Guard		  
 Northumberland
13th Northumberland (P O) Battalion
 North Wales
No.4 Zone Home Guard, North Wales District, Merioneth and Montgomeryshire
Nottinghamshire
7th Nottinghamshire
Oxfordshire
Oxford University Senior Training Corps
6th Oxfordshire (Oxford City) Battalion
Post Office
Post Office Home Guard
Renfrewshire
1st Renfrewshire and Buteshire Battalion
2nd Renfrewshire Battalion
3rd Renfrewshire Battalion
4th Renfrewshire Battalion
Zone 5 (Renfrewshire and Buteshire) Home Guard
Shropshire
Wellington Sector (Shropshire)
Shropshire (Training School, Drayton)
11th Battalion Salop
Somerset
5th Somerset (Bath City) Battalion
Staffordshire
18th Staffordshire Battalion
26th South Staffordshire Battalion
G (Wolverhampton) Sector, South Staffordshire Zone
Suffolk
6th Platoon – Suffolk Battalion
Surrey
1st Surrey Battalion
33rd Surrey (County Borough of Croydon) Battalion
51st Surrey Battalion
Medical Section, 51st Malden
56th Surrey (Epsom and Banstead) Battalion
62nd Surrey (Norbury) Battalion
63rd Surrey (Richmond) Battalion V Zone
64th Surrey (Kingston) Battalion
Sussex
5th (Worthing) Battalion, Sussex
12th Sussex (Southdown Motor Transport) Battalion
B Company,20th Sussex (Hailsham) Battalion
Recovery Company, Sussex Home Guard
Sutherland
1st Sutherland
No.1 Zone , North Highland District
No.3 Zone , North Highland District
A Factory Unit in Scotland
A Scottish Unit
Ulster
The Ulster Home Guard
Warwickshire
Warwickshire (Birmingham) Zone
Warwickshire Coventry Zone
4th Warwickshire Battalion
25th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion
Selly Oak Home Guard – No. 3 Platoon, C Company, 27th Warks
34th Warwickshire (Birmingham) Battalion
B Company 41st Warwickshire
41st Battalion (Warwickshire)
45th Warwickshire
A Warwickshire Factory Unit (now B Company)
48th (Mobile) Warwickshire Battalion and Senior Training Corps, Birmingham University
Westmorland
9th Westmorland (Lakes) Battalion
10th Westmorland (Appleby) Battalion
Wiltshire
No. 1 Battalion Wiltshire
6th Battalion Wiltshire
8th Battalion Wiltshire
Yorkshire
Barnsley Group
North Riding Zone
North Riding Home Guard
8th N.R. (Middlesbrough) Battalion
8th West Riding
10th West Riding (Selby) Battalion
Harrogate Battalion West Riding and Shropshire Zone
26th Battalion West Riding
West Riding Zone
43rd West Riding (Doncaster Group)
A Company 61st Battalion West Riding
E Company 61st Battalion West Riding

Another section of this website contains reproductions of many Home Guard Training Manuals

Grateful Acknowledgement and Thanks
  is made to David Morse for providing information on certain publications and cover images; to Austin J. Ruddy, Robin Hodges and other individuals who have generously provided information on additional titles;  to Malcolm Baxter who published in the Military Historical Society Bulletin a significant list of Histories which he had discovered and which are now included within the above list; and to several other individuals who have generously provided further information.

The information on this page has been collected from various sources including bibliographies within many publications, online databases and searches, articles in publications, suggestions by individuals, comments within social media groups (not least the Remember Britain's Home Guard Facebook page and its helpful members) and others.


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J21 July 2017; Additions Jan 2018, July 2018, Oct 2018, July 2019, Feb 2020, April 2020, May 2020, June 2020 (major update), Nov 2021. March 2022, Oct 2022