What was the Home Guard? Who were the men and women who served in it? And what can be said of their real role and significance once the popular myths have been stripped away? Despite the fame of the Home Guard – of Dad’s Army – the true story of this wartime organization tends to be neglected. The myths obscure the reality.

Stephen Cullen’s aim in this new study is to cut through the misunderstandings in order to reassess the Home Guard and its contribution to Britain’s war effort – and to deepen our understanding of the men and women who were members of it. He achieves this, although his style is not one that I find easy to read.

Despite this he does a good job of setting the Home Guard in the long historical context of domestic defence planning, then focuses on the preparations made before the outbreak of the Second World War.

In detail he traces the changing role of the Home Guard during its wartime existence as it adapted to meet the multitude of challenges it faced – from civil defence and intelligence gathering to training for guerrilla warfare.

This is a book that I am glad I purchased but is more for reference that a good read. If you are interested “Operation Sea Lion” or gaming the “Very British Civil War”, which I am, then I would recommend it otherwise borrow it from your library, or try one of the following:

A much better read although less informative about the broader history, or:

which is by far the most entertaining “source” material!