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By the end of 1940, the Home Guard was established into 1,200 battalions, 5,000 companies and 25,000 platoons. [12] ... Contracts had been placed in the UK, Canada ...
Home Guard improvised weapons. By July 1940 the situation had improved radically as all volunteers received uniforms and a modicum of training. 500,000 modern M1917 Enfield Rifles, 25,000 M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles and millions of rounds of ammunition were bought from the reserve stock of the U.S. armed forces, and rushed by special trains ...
Urged on by the War Office, Prime Minister Winston Churchill initiated the Auxiliary Units [6] in the early summer of 1940. This was to counter the civilian Home Defence Scheme already established by SIS (MI6), but outside War Office control. The Auxiliary Units answered to GHQ Home Forces but were legally an integral part of the Home Guard.
14 May 1940 In a BBC radio broadcast Anthony Eden calls for the creation of the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) militia – renamed on 23 July the Home Guard. 22 May 1940 The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940 is passed, granting the government even more authority to control persons and property for the duration of the war. [10] 10 June 1940
14 May – Recruitment begins for a home defence force – the Local Defence Volunteers, renamed as the Home Guard from 23 July. [2] 16 May – Large-scale alien internment begins. 22 May – Parliament passes the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940, giving the government full control over all persons and property. 23 May
A Home Guard volunteer with a Thompson sub-machine gun in December 1940. This photo was staged, as the Thompson had not at that point been issued to HG units. The campaign donated Thompson sub-machine guns , which its British partner, the Civilian Committee for the Protection of Homes in Britain, falsely claimed were unavailable in the UK.
From about September 1940, 300 Home Guard units received a kit of parts provided by the PWD - a 50 to 65 imp gal (230 to 300 L) barrel, 100 ft (30 m) of hose, a hand pump, some connective plumbing, and a set of do-it-yourself instructions.
A Home Guard unit in Kent with their Northover Projector. The Northover Projector was issued to both Home Guard and regular British Army units, [10] and by August, 1941 over 8,000 Northover Projectors were in service. [5] This number had increased to 18,919 by the beginning of 1943. [11]