Establishing the Home Guard
On 14 May 1940, and only four days after Churchill had become Prime Minister, his Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, announced the formation of the Local Defence Force (LDF), an armed citizen militia that would support defence needs on the home front, freeing up Britain’s regular armed forces for roles overseas. Initially, the LDF was charged with guarding key infrastructure such as factories and railways, but its role soon expanded into manning anti-aircraft guns, assisting bomb disposal and firefighting during air raids. They also trained for guerrilla warfare should Britain have been invaded by Germany, which seemed a very real possibility after the evacuation of Dunkirk in June 1940. In July 1940 at the request of Winston Churchill, the LDF was renamed The Home Guard.
Operational from 1940 to 1944, at its peak approximately 1.7 million people served in the Home Guard. These were mainly men too young (under 18 years) or too old (over 41 years) for regular military service. Nearly half of the Home Guard were men who had fought in the First World War and earlier wars, which led to the nickname ‘Dad’s Army’. The Home Guard also contained people who worked in reserved occupations: jobs considered vital to the war effort such as shipbuilding or mining, whose workers were required by law to stay in post and prevented from joining the Army. Recruits were not paid for their service but were provided with equipment (although not immediately).
From 15 May 1940, before they had official instructions about what to do, volunteers started to set up their own patrols, looking for enemy parachutists and coastal landings. County Home Guard battalions fell under the direction of regional headquarters which were organised into Areas and Commands. Each county had several local battalions. The Cornwall Home Guard was in the South-Western Area under Southern Command.
Cornwall’s Home Guard
On 17 May 1940, Colonel Charles Graves was approached by the Lord-Lieutenant of Cornwall, E.H.W. Bolitho, DSO, to raise a battalion of Local Defence Volunteers in Cornwall. However, from the very start it was apparent that a single battalion would be unable to cope with the flood of volunteers keen to contribute to the war effort. Over the course of several months the force was broken down into several battalions. At the end of this reorganisation Cornwall’s Home Guard consisted of 14 battalions:
- 1st (Stratton) Battalion
- 2nd (Coastal) Battalion
- 3rd (Castle/Launceston) Battalion
- 4th (Wadebridge) Battalion
- 5th (St Austell) Battalion
- 6th (Liskeard) Battalion
- 7th (Falmouth) Battalion
- 8th (Helston) Battalion
- 9th (Camborne) Battalion
- 10th (Truro) Battalion
- 11th (Newquay) Battalion
- 12th (Land’s End) Battalion
- 13th (Bodmin) Battalion
- 14th (Hayle) Battalion
Typically, battalions had around 1,000 men and were subdivided into companies based in different locations within each area. Each battalion had an insignia: an emblem symbolising a Cornish tradition, notable family, or reference to the geographical area covered by the battalion. Designs included a Camel for Wadebridge, a Lizard for Helston and the Killigrew family crest (a double headed eagle) for Falmouth. Bodmin had a horseshoe to counter the supposed bad luck from being numbered the 13th Battalion. These insignia were sewn onto cloth badges on a soldier’s uniform, known as shoulder flashes.
Bodmin, the Home Guard’s 13th Battalion
Companies of Bodmin’s 13th were stationed at Bodmin, Lanivet, Lostwithiel, Fowey and Par, in total numbering some 1,200 men. Exact locations of their platoons are not known but likely to have been parish churches and village halls. Across Cornwall, territorial drill halls operated as battalion headquarters and the County Territorial Association took over the running and maintenance of the Home Guard. With ammunition and artillery prioritised for the troops fighting on the continent, the Home Guard volunteers were often short of standard army issue weapons, however, the number of private rifles and shot guns in their possession was higher in Cornwall than the national average – almost 1,000 hunting rifles and over 6,000 shotguns.
The End of The Home Guard
The Home Guard was created at a time of great worry and undoubtedly raised the morale of the public. These men showed tremendous initiative and made do with the far from perfect weapons and resources at a time of great shortages. It was also the case that many young men in Cornwall’s Home Guard eventually sacrificed themselves on the field of battle some years later, when they were old enough to be called up for service.
The Home Guard was officially ‘stood down’ on Sunday 3 December 1944 with parades throughout Cornwall. All serving members of the Home Guard received a certificate of service with those who served three years or more receiving the Defence Medal.
