Glamorgan Home Guard

On May 14 1940 Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, made an appeal on the wireless to the nation.

“Since the war began the Government has received countless inquiries from all over the kingdom from men of all ages who are for one reason or another not at present engaged in military service, and who wish to do something for the defence of their country. Well, now is your opportunity. We want large numbers of such men in Great Britain, who are British subjects, between the ages of 17 and 65, to come forward now and offer their services.

The name of the new Force which is now to be raised will be "The Local Defence Volunteers". This name describes its duties in three words. This is a part-time job, so that there will be no need for any volunteer to abandon his present occupation. When on duty you will form part of the armed forces. You will not be paid, but you will receive a uniform and will be armed.”

In a broadcast of 14 July 1940, Churchill first referred to the new citizen army as the 'Home Guard', and the name stuck. Qualifications required were minimal: There was no medical examination - recruits were required only to be 'capable of free movement'.
Many of the early recruits were veterans of the First World War.
At first it was impossible to arm the the volunteers with anything like effective weapons, for what remained in the nation's armoury was needed by the regular troops, so the enthusiastic recruits were armed with hastily improvised hand weapons, usually pickaxe handles, Knives, pitchforks and broomsticks. At first the only item of uniform was an armband marked ’Home Guard'.  Later a large consignment of 1917 pattern American "Springfield" rifles arrived but these were never really popular and their .300 calibre made them incompatible with the much-admired British service rifle, the .303 Lee Enfield Mk 4. Only a lucky few, however, were issued with Mk 3 Short Lee Enfield rifles, which had been standard equipment in the First World War.

• Clearing up after air raid attacks and arresting downed enemy aircrew, including safeguarding them against reprisals by the public
• Helping the civil defence Air Rid Wardens search for trapped civilians following air raids.
• Constructing and manning of concrete pill boxes (Machine Gun Posts)
• Patrolling Railway stations and freight yards, Factories, Aerodromes, Rivers & Canals and the British coastline in areas that were possible enemy landing points . . . . One year even guarding Buckingham Palace.
• Manning of aircraft batteries, over 140,000 men and women carried out this vital, but dangerous task.
• Laying of anti-tank obstacles, barbed wire barriers along beaches and acting as road block check points and placing obstacles in fields to prevent enemy aircraft from landing.
• Practising of guerilla tactics/formations - The Home Guard created special secret auxiliary units so that if invasion did happen, they would (in the words of Churchill) “fight every street of London and suburbs and devour an invading army”