The Home Guard much more than Dad’s Army | World War 2 

Quite a high chance, just look at how many volunteered to join the home defence forces in Ukraine

It's such a great rifle. Shooting one was fun

It’s actaully quite a good representation of the Hg

Eagle eyes, well spotted.

Funny thing is he later praised a dictator 10 times worse than Hitler

If you watch my Operation Brave Defender there is a section on the Home Service Force that were an 80s Home Guard like force. The HG were raised again in the 1950s, and I also wrote a 4 page article about HG weaponry for the Armourer Magazine here in the UK. Thanks for watching!

Glad you enjoyed the video! I may return to the format in the future! 😎

It’s great footage! That guy on the Oerlikon looks like he is having a whale of a time!

@@RMMilitaryHistory Wouldn't you?

Thank you! Stay tuned for more 😀

Glad you enjoyed it!

The main problem is that the Home Guard just weren’t that old. The average age in 1940 was 37 and that reduced as the war went on. There were plenty of young men and it became a useful training organisation for seventeen year olds and others waiting to be called up.

Indeed they did, I actually rate the 1st 2 seasons as being pretty accurate on the creation of the HG and the procurement process ect. It settled into normal sitcom fayre in later seasons. But it’s still great telly

Well for now you’ve got my video 🥰😎

@@RMMilitaryHistory True.

It’s interesting how both were lampooned by comedy writers and the regualr army had more serious dramas like Red Cap or Spearhead over a straight comedic take on television

IMS it was not, ‘…humerous depictions…’ of the TAVR that caused the government to re-designate the ‘Territorial Army’ to the ‘Reserve Army’. It was the attempt by Tony Blair’s government to mobilise select elements of the TA to fight in one of the various ‘Gulf Wars’ that led to the change. One mobilised TA soldier refused his mobilisation orders, claiming that the mobilisation was illegal since ‘Queen’s Order 2’ (conventionally understood to be the full mobilisation of the TA in support of the Regular Army following a State of General War) had not been signed and, consequently, the TA proper could not be mobilised, and that nominated TA solders could only be ‘invited to attend’. I also seem to recall that another part of his defence was that he had always understood that the purpose of the TA was to fight [on the plains of Northern Germany] against the Warsaw Pact in defence of the Homeland and that he had enlisted under that premise and for that purpose, and that this mobilisation was decidedly NOT in defence of the Homeland. I cannot recall the eventual verdict of the trial, but the episode did cause the government (presumably on the advice of its lawyers) to change the TAVR to the RA and amend the Terms of Service for all RA personnel.

Great question I will see what I can dig up!

@@RMMilitaryHistory what kind of rations did they receive? Civi rations or military rations ?

Here’s a discussion in parliament from 1940 on that very topic api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1940/aug/07/home-guard-posts-tea-and-sugar-rations

The series in the early few seasons were not that bad in their portrayal of the HG, later seasons it flows into generic comedy plots, but yes it did cement the Hg in pop culture forever

My pleasure! Stay tuned for upcoming videos

@@RMMilitaryHistory I am researching Crime and Policing in Staffordshire in WW2. 1) didn't know there were Police 'units' of the Home Guard. 2) Some Home Guard were killed when a mortar blew up near what is now Hednesford Raceway. 3) Mr Bostock connected to Lotus shoes was asked to resign from the head of the Stafford Branch of the Home Guard because of his association with the intern Herman Simon who founded 'Evode Limited' ie Evo-Stick adhesives. Hope this is of interest.

@@cuthbert246 oh wow that’s some great research!

@@RMMilitaryHistory Thank you I have only covered 2 -3 years of the war. Keep up the good work.

@@cuthbert246 I will do! The podcast & the channel keep me busy!

Perhaps!

I knew you would know something like that :) In the MOI film I think Bernard Miles is trying a Norfolk type accent. The interesting thing to me is footage from that film is also used as the bulk of the 1941 film Citizens Army that I used in the video. I only noticed as they try and edit our Bernard Miles but he sticks out among all the HG regulars!

@@RMMilitaryHistory Ah, interesting!

@@jonathanferguson1211 i had to sit through so much footage I was like it’s BERNARD! When I saw him haha

As a Peterboroughian, with a big family history in the East, this is definitely a "fen-billy" accent... Fenland farmers accent.

Thanks for watching, indeed the series does show the courage of the men but I think as it goes on in later series it loses its early charm a little. The remake wasn’t great although it was cast quite well

ive seen more than one comment on these lines...

Well, really it’s “stupid boy”. 🤦🏻‍♂️