Local Home Guard divisions assemble for inspection in Edenbridge

The Home Guard were officially known as ‘Local Defense Volunteers’ (LDV) and was formed in 1940 in response to Anthony Eden’s broadcast request for ‘…large numbers of men in Great Britain who are British subjects between the ages of seventeen and sixty-five to come forward now and offer their service in order to make assurance doubly sure…’  The War Office were completely unprepared for the number of men that volunteered. Hoping for an initial response of some 150,000 and getting nearly twice that number in the first twenty-four hours proved a problem not only in supplying a uniform in sufficient quantities but also in the supply of weapons with which this new ‘army’ could defend its country. Training was sparse at the outset, and early weaponry crude in the form of first world war rifles, but the advantage of this ‘local army on the ground’ was especially noted in rural areas where it was formed of local men who knew the people living in their villages and strangers appearing in an area would be subject to immediate check and report.

Don Adams “…When I was in Crockham Hill a few of us travelled to Maidstone barracks to try and sign-up but the bloke on the desk there said ‘agricultural workers? – the army marches on its stomach my lad, go home and get on with your job.’ We were in a reserved occupation, so we didn’t get called-up. That was much to my disgust as I wanted to get away from home and travel. So I signed on for the Home Guard at Surbiton, when I was on warwork in the Tolworth factory. I was nearly seventeen at the time and three of us went down to Surbiton Police Station to sign on, as we were desperate to do something. The result was I was taken off the Tolworth war-work and registered with a platoon of the Home Guard in Crockham Hill. We used to do Sunday manoeuvres,  practising throwing live hand-grenades in Squerryes sand pits and training on the rifle range on the Pilgrims Way…”