HOME GUARD. NEEDS
By LIEUT.-COLONEL S. J. M. SAMPSON
AS a Battalion-Commander in the Home Guard I find myself up against many of the difficulties and problems with which as a Territorial Officer I had to deal before and during the last war. " Please come to Richmond Park next Saturday. There will be tea and buns after an amusing little battle, and the band will play."—" Thank you for coming (those who have come) and do please try to get the others to turn out next time." How familiar it all was. Then came 1914, and we had to learn that please-and-thank-you soldiers will not do in war. It is discipline more than training which counts at three o'clock in the morning when everyone is dog-tired. You cannot have that on a please-and-thank-you basis. Per- sonal courage, even military knowledge, are not enough. The essential thing is the habit of obeying and being obeyed, and that cannot be learned in a moment.
The Home Guard now stands about where the Territorials stood in 1914. It has made remarkable progress since its formation as the L.D.V. sixteen months ago. Its staff, with the aid of the Field Army, which has been most generously and willingly given, have laboured devotedly to equip and train it. Many senior officers are giving almost whole-time unpaid services as zone, group, battalion and company commanders. many ex-regular soldiers, ex-soldiers of the last war and younger men are full of energy and keenness and now have a good knowledge of their duties as junior officers and N.C.O.'s. Arms and equipment and clothing are forthcoming in a steadily increasing quantity. Tactical dispositions and administrative preparations have been most carefully thought out. Officers and N.C.O.'s, and many of the men, know their own country thoroughly and are full of determination to fulfil their principal role, which is to destroy small parties and to delay large forces of the enemy and ultimately to set free the Field Army for its work indispensable to final victory, namely the destruction of Hitler's armies wherever they may be met. To this end Home Guard has learned a lot about all sorts of new weapons, though I think that in some cases these have interfered with practice in the use of the rifle, which is of course still the personal weapon of the large majority of the force.
In addition to this principal role, Home Guard has all sorts of secondary duties, in aid either of the Field Army or the. Civil Authorities and Defence Services, which it would be tedious, and in some cases undesirable, to mention. In the preliminary arrangements for these, as well as in their execution, very close co-operation between all the authorities concerned is essential and is gradually being obtained. In general, it may fairly now be said that little or nothing has been omitted or overlooked to ensure that invasion, if it ever comes, will be met by a nation in arms. Those of the invaders who escape the attention of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force, and the perils of the sea, will fmd awaiting them in every street and field a system of defence prepared and thought out in great detail.
But one thing is lacking—the regular attendance on parade of all ranks. For lack of this, much of the hard work of those responsible for equipment and training is not producing the results which we are entitled to expect. Admirable demon- strations by the Field Army do not produce the best results, because many men, even if they attend them, do not attend the subsequent parades at which the lessons taught by the demonstrations are practised and driven home. This is the weak spot, and now is the time to strengthen it. We now have, in all probability, a further period of time, perhaps till next spring, within which to prepare for our supreme ordeal. If invasion comes the Home Guard will find themselves dealing with the first-line troops of the enemy. Their battle in any particular locality will probably last only a few days—even a few hours. Within that time they will either have delayed the enemy for long enough to give the Field Army time to destroy him, or the enemy will have passed over the locality. It will be too late to learn by experience of war.
How can this necessary discipline be acquired and the necessary regularity of attendance on parades obtained? In a very simple way—namely by fixing and enforcing a minimum obligation of attendance. On September 7th last the Civil Defence (Compulsory Enrolment) Order came into force and required male civilians between the ages of 18-6o who live in areas where the Fire-Watching of Business Premises is com- pulsory, and who are not engaged in vital work for exceptionally long hours, to register with a view to enrolment in the Fire Guard. But a member of the Home Guard is exempted from this Order and need not register, however irregular his attend- ance on Home Guard parades may be. A man enrolled in the Fire Guard, on the contrary, becomes liable for 48 hours duty every four weeks. If Home Guard is allowed to become an easy way out of Fire Guard it will lose its prestige with the country and its own self-respect.
To prevent this let us extend registration to the whole country, abolish the exemption of the Home Guard from the need to register, apply to Home Guard a reasonable minimum obligation (subject to leave of absence for good cause) and then draft the men into Civil Defence, Fire Guard or Home Guard according to their own choice and the local require- ments. This needs no new legislation.
The supply of weapons and clothing is not unlimited and it is not unreasonable that weapons should be entrusted only to those who are prepared to learn to use them, and the uniforms given only to those who treat the wearing of them as a duty as well as a privilege. The voluntary character of the force is effectively secured by the right to resign at 14 days notice. So long as a man is in the Home Guard and consequently subject to Military Law (save that he cannot be required to live away from home or to give full-time service) he should be willing to comply with any reasonable conditions which the Army Council, under the powers given to them by the L.D.V. Regulations, may think well to prescribe. A minimum attend- ance. of six hours a month might well be so prescribed. Lastly. I suggest that there should now be a medical examination of all ranks and that those who because of age or infirmity are found below the necessary standard should be thanked for their services and allowed to retire. I believe that the adoption of these changes •would enable the Home Guard to continue the very remarkable progress in efficiency which it has made during the past summer.
Previous page
