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414:. They and their weapons would be concealed, they would not be under the control of the local Home Guard commander, and they would not be constrained by the 'rules of war' in combat. General Home Guard units were instructed to fight on and not to surrender, but it was expected that nevertheless, once their ammunition was exhausted, they would have to give themselves up to capture. That was seen as creating an opportunity for a hidden Auxiliary Unit in the locality to kill as many Germans as possible just when they might be considering themselves as victors.
36:
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Separate from the
Auxiliary Units' Operational Patrols was the Special Duty Branch, which was originally recruited by SIS and carefully vetted and selected from the local civilian population. It acted as "eyes and ears" and would report back to military intelligence any information that it heard from
482:
From 1942, the
Operational Patrols of the Auxiliary Units tried to reinvent themselves as an anti-raiding force. That was primarily a device to avoid them from being disbanded, as the War Office had made a promise that the volunteers would not be returned to normal Home Guard duties. They therefore
173:
commanders, who were to be wholly unaware of their existence. Auxiliaries would not participate in the conventional phase of their town's defence, but would be activated once the local Home Guard defence had been ended to inflict maximum mayhem and disruption over a further brief but violent period.
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I had, in fact, been given a blank cheque, but was there any money in the bank to meet it? Everything would have to be improvised. Time was of the essence ... at the shortest we had six weeks before a full-scale invasion could be launched; if we were lucky, we might have until
October, after which
203:
In modern times, the
Auxiliary Units have sometimes misleadingly been referred to as the "British Resistance Organisation". That title was never used by the organization officially but reflects a subsequent misunderstanding of what their role might have been. Colloquially, members of the Auxiliary
406:
The mission of the units was to attack invading forces from behind their own lines while conventional forces fell back to prepared defences. Aircraft, fuel dumps, railway lines, and depots were high on the list of targets, as would be the assassination of senior German officers and any local
383:
Each Patrol was a self-contained cell, expected to be self-sufficient and operationally autonomous in the case of invasion, generally operating within a 15-mile radius. They were provided with elaborately-concealed underground
Operational Bases (AUOB / OB), usually built by the
341:, possessed excellent local knowledge and were able to live off the land. Gamekeepers and even poachers were particularly valued. They were always intended to fight in Home Guard uniform and from 1942 the men were badged to Home Guard battalions 201 (Scotland), 202 (
177:
Service in the
Auxiliary Units was expected to be highly dangerous, with a projected life expectancy of just twelve days for its members, with orders to either shoot one another or use explosives to kill themselves if capture by an enemy force seemed likely.
277:
structure, as they would probably be fragmented and isolated from one another. They were distributed around the coast rather than being countrywide, with priority being given to the counties most at risk from enemy invasion, the two most vulnerable being
423:'careless talk' or from watching troop movements and supply routes. It was supported by a signals network of hidden, short-range, wireless sets around the coast. The structure allowed no means to pass on such information to the Operational Patrols.
174:
They were not envisaged as a continuing resistance force against long-term occupation. The secrecy surrounding the insurgent squads meant that members "had no military status, no uniforms and there are very few official records of their activities".
442:
The
Special Duties Sections were recruited largely from the civilian population, with around 4,000 members. They had been trained to identify vehicles, high-ranking officers and military units and were to gather intelligence and leave reports in
451:
operated by trained civilian signals staff. The civilian personnel operated as 'Intelligence
Gatherers' and operated the OUT Station radios. ATS subalterns or Royal Signals personnel operated the Special Duties IN-Stations and Zero Stations.
426:
It is unlikely that the wireless network would survive long after invasion and that it would not have been possible to link the isolated
Operational Patrols into a national network that could act in concert on behalf of a British
487:
from being attacked by German commandos. It was then suggested that the
Auxiliary Units should be fully administered by the Home Guard, but that was not enacted before the final stand-down in November 1944.
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had to be kept in existence until the general stand-down of the Home Guard. Nonetheless, some units were deployed to the Isle of Wight prior to the D day landings in 1944 to help protect the
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Some Patrols had an additional concealed Observation Post and/or underground ammunition store. Patrols were provided with a selection of the latest weapons, including a silenced pistol or
407:
collaborators. Patrols secretly reconnoitred local country houses, which might be used by German officers, and prepared lists of suspected fifth columnists as early targets for killing.
317:
859:
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The Auxiliary Units were kept in being long after any immediate German threat had passed and were stood down only in November 1944. Several Auxiliary Unit members later joined the
403:, incendiary devices, and food to last for two weeks. Members anticipated being shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot themselves first rather than be taken alive.
158:. With the advantage of having witnessed the rapid fall of several Continental European nations, the United Kingdom was the only country during the war that was able to create a
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in a local woodland, with a camouflaged entrance and emergency escape tunnel. It is thought that 400 to 500 such OBs were constructed in England, Wales and Scotland.
237:
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Operational Patrols consisted of between four and eight men, often farmers or landowners. They were usually recruited from the most able members of the
595:
220:, began recruiting personnel and accumulating arms and equipment in mid-June, 1940. This roused suspicion among the military authorities, and General
291:
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Gubbins used several officers who had served with the Independent Companies in Norway and others whom he had known there. Units were localised on a
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were specially trained, highly secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using
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British partisans feature in two UK films that imagine what would have happened if Germany had successfully invaded Britain: the 1966 film
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initiated the Auxiliary Units in the early summer of 1940. This was to counter the civilian Home Defence Scheme already established by
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224:, the C-in-C of GHQ Home Forces, insisted that all guerrilla and sabotage organisations be subject to military control. Colonel
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Although the Auxiliary Units would fight in Home Guard uniform, they would otherwise clearly be irregular combatants under the
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527:. The partisans in the latter are loosely based upon Auxiliary Units, albeit with considerable artistic licence.
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although there is some confusion between the roles of the Operational Patrols and the Special Duties Branch.
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68:
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169:", into which they were to disappear in the event of invasion. They would not maintain contact with local
244:
of 1919–1921. From early 1939, he had served with MI R, another guerrilla organisation controlled by the
472:
253:
1291:"UK Pillbox, Pillboxes, Bunkers, Anti-tank traps and other Anti-Invasion Defences built in World War 2"
860:"Scallywag bunkers: geophysical investigations of WW2 Auxiliary Unit Operational Bases (OBs) in the UK"
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551:). The novel examines an alternate history following a successful German invasion of England.
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The Auxiliary Units and Special Duties Branch feature heavily in Gordon Stevens' 1991 novel
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Carr, S.; Pringle, J.K.; Doyle, P.; Wisniewski, K.D.; Stimpson, I.G. (2 January 2020).
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drops. The reports would be collected by runners and taken to one of over 200 secret
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464:(SOE), which had incorporated Section D and MI R, as its Director of Operations.
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439:) with powerful wireless sets that was intended to act on a longer-term basis.
1146:
Churchill's Underground Army: A History of the Auxiliary Units in World War II
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was the obvious choice to command the new organisation. Gubbins was a regular
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471:. Many men saw action in the campaign in France in late 1944, notably in
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196:(MI6), but outside War Office control. The Auxiliary Units answered to
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and its representatives still in the United Kingdom. Instead, SIS (
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soldier who had acquired considerable experience and expertise in
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With Britain in Mortal Danger: Britain's Most Secret Army of WWII
496:
An Auxiliary Unit arms cache features in the 1985 BBC TV series,
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392:
279:
1230:"Myth and Reality: the Auxiliary Units of the Second World War"
1208:
1167:. Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (Foreword by David Blair).
703:"Plea for public to help find secret Second World War bunkers"
682:"Plea for public to help find secret Second World War bunkers"
432:
29:
1047:
The Last Ditch: Britain's Resistance Plans Against the Nazis
216:
Section D, a sabotage and resistance unit which was part of
566:
British anti-invasion preparations of the Second World War
561:
Military history of the United Kingdom during World War II
1220:
830:"Hidden tunnels and Britain's secret WW2 resistance army"
758:
Secret army of 'scallywags' to sabotage German occupation
165:
Auxiliary Units relied on pre-prepared bunkers known as "
942:
Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939 - 1945
511:(which simply refers to 'partisans') and the 2011 film
1370:
Paramilitary organisations based in the United Kingdom
990:
Fighting Nazi Occupation: British Resistance 1939-1945
200:
but were legally an integral part of the Home Guard.
352:
Around 3,500 men were trained on weekend courses at
786:
784:
60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
1084:
290:. The two best known officers from the period are
530:The Auxiliary Units feature in the BBC TV series
333:Auxiliary Units, Operational Base, emergency exit
27:British stay-behind units in the Second World War
1365:Anti-fascist organisations in the United Kingdom
1049:. Greenhill Books (Foreword by Gary Sheffield).
1267:"Museum of the British Resistance Organization"
269:climatic conditions would give us a respite ...
260:, before succeeding to the acting command of a
1182:Wilkinson, Peter; Astley, Joan Bright (2010).
632:"Britain's secret resistance plans | The Past"
435:) created a separate resistance organisation (
8:
738:British Resistance Archive (staybehinds.com)
238:Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War
1329:"The Caithness Secret Army in World War II"
208:" and their activities as "scallywagging".
248:. Most recently, he had returned from the
1303:"Hurstpierpoint Patrol (Auxiliary Units)"
1242:"Record of the Auxiliary Units 1940-1944"
734:"Detailed history of the Auxiliary Units"
727:
725:
723:
596:Hypothetical Axis victory in World War II
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
853:
851:
622:
460:In November 1940, Gubbins moved to the
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571:Military history of the United Kingdom
162:force in anticipation of an invasion.
1213:The Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team
7:
804:"Trevor Miners, Auxilier - obituary"
58:adding citations to reliable sources
630:History, Military (11 March 2021).
606:Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia)
321:Operational Base reconstruction at
1380:Defunct paramilitary organizations
611:List of paramilitary organizations
591:Rab Butler § Resistance plans
25:
1350:World War II resistance movements
1320:The Mills Grenade Collectors Site
969:Angell, Stewart (28 April 1996).
790:Wilkinson and Astley (2010), p.69
601:Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team
418:Special Duty Sections and Signals
397:Fairbairn–Sykes "commando" knives
34:
870:(1). Informa UK Limited: 4–31.
864:Journal of Conflict Archaeology
45:needs additional citations for
18:British Resistance Organisation
1360:Government paramilitary forces
944:. Pen and Sword. p. 158.
910:The British Resistance Archive
1:
876:10.1080/15740773.2020.1822102
701:Evans, Joe (4 January 2021).
1209:"British Resistance Archive"
971:The Secret Sussex Resistance
462:Special Operations Executive
360:, Wiltshire, in the arts of
1316:"Stuart Macrae's "Toy Box""
1221:"British Resistance in WW2"
992:. Barnsley: Pen and Sword.
204:Units were referred to as "
1396:
1108:Resisting the Nazi Invader
256:, the predecessors of the
1355:Stay-behind organizations
264:brigade. He later wrote:
242:Irish War of Independence
154:of the United Kingdom by
1144:Warwicker, John (2008).
1125:Warwicker, John (2002).
1083:Stevens, Gordon (1991).
1314:Sampson, David (2013).
1228:Atkin, Malcolm (2016).
1223:. Malcolm Atkin (2015).
988:Atkin, Malcolm (2015).
940:Atkin, Malcolm (2015).
906:"Special Duties Branch"
836:. BBC. 11 November 2016
586:Clandestine cell system
140:Home Guard Shock Squads
1375:British Defence Forces
1307:Subterranea Britannica
1273:. 2013. Archived from
1271:Parham Airfield Museum
1255:"Britain's Guerrillas"
1244:. 2007. Archived from
1163:Watson, Bill (2011) .
1087:And All The King's Men
1045:Lampe, David (2007) .
1009:Somerset versus Hitler
1007:Brown, Donald (2001).
810:. London. 8 April 2016
541:And All the King's Men
499:Blott on the Landscape
334:
326:
323:Parham Airfield Museum
271:
252:, where he headed the
1253:Ward, Arthur (2007).
1106:Ward, Arthur (1997).
1064:Sheers, Owen (2008).
1011:. Countryside Books.
473:Operation Houndsworth
332:
320:
266:
254:Independent Companies
1327:Leet, Geoff (2008).
1028:Fire from the Forest
1026:Ford, Roger (2004).
54:improve this article
1148:. Frontline Books.
1068:. Faber and Faber.
973:. Middleton Press.
930:Lampe (2007), p.113
808:The Daily Telegraph
492:Cultural references
485:Pluto fuel pipeline
477:Operation Bulbasket
469:Special Air Service
429:government in exile
313:Operational Patrols
240:in 1919 and in the
144:GHQ Auxiliary Units
661:www.auxunit.org.uk
449:radio transmitters
412:Geneva Conventions
335:
327:
288:South East England
250:Norwegian campaign
1295:pillboxesuk.co.uk
1193:978-1-84884-421-6
1186:. Pen and Sword.
1184:Gubbins & SOE
1174:978-1-908374-06-6
1155:978-1-84832-515-9
1075:978-0-571-22964-2
1056:978-1-85367-730-4
999:978-1-47383-377-7
951:978-1-47383-377-7
690:. 4 January 2021.
401:plastic explosive
362:guerrilla warfare
258:British Commandos
234:guerrilla warfare
190:Winston Churchill
167:operational bases
152:possible invasion
150:in response to a
148:irregular warfare
130:
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69:"Auxiliary Units"
16:(Redirected from
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1335:on 20 July 2008.
1331:. Archived from
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1257:. Archived from
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343:northern England
299:Grenadier Guards
181:Urged on by the
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1279:. Retrieved
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1246:the original
1234:Academia.edu
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1129:. Cerberus.
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