Account of life in Home Guard

Kyt · Dec 13, 2007

OK, platoon, sharpen pencils to beat Hitler: Quirky account of life as a WWII Home Guard | the Daily Mail

Sharpening pencils at both ends to improve efficiency, practising forward rolls to avoid dizziness in combat situations and drinking tea to ease the effects of a gas attack - it sounds like an episode of Dad's Army.

But to Private Thomas Harper, a member of the Home Guard during the dark days when a Nazi invasion was a very real threat, anything that could help repel the enemy was important.

Aged 31 when the Second World War broke out and unable to join the Army, he was determined to still do his bit for King and Country.

His anti-invasion skills were never put to the test, of course. But a detailed, handwritten record of his service showed he was more than ready if the Germans had ever rolled into his home town of Derby.

The documents have been held by Private Harper's family since his death in 1999 at the age of 91, but have only now come to light after they decided to put them up for auction. After studying Home Guard manuals and attending lectures, Private Harper would write down a guide to which he could always refer.

Under the heading Summaries of Duties of Sending and Receiving Signals, he wrote: 'To make sure signals are correctly received, keep your pencil sharpened at both ends. It will then be correctly written down.'

Describing tactics when on patrol, he said: "By night be alert, by day move slowly.

"We can either walk in an alert, erect manner or for sharpness, roll. Practise rolling to avoid dizziness.

"Movement by night means silence is golden. Be careful of silhouetting and avoid skylines. On soft ground, place your heels down first."

Following a lecture on gas in 1942, he noted the effects included 'gums ache, dentures fall out'.

He went on: "If chlorine gas is used, it will smell like bleach and will result in choking and coughing.

"Lie flat and take plenty of internal warmth - like drinking sweet tea."

Private Harper also recorded the signals to be used when German forces were approaching.

"Red will display that enemy on tanks are approaching. Blue will mean motorcyclists are nearing, white that parachutists have dropped.

"To confirm signal, the matching colour must be signalled back."

What should happen if tanks, motorcyclists and parachutists all appeared at the same time is not clear.

Elsewhere, he described the importance of securing equipment to stop it rattling on the move.

The father-of-one worked as a bread round driver during the war and later became an accountant. His wife, Annie, died in 1997, aged 87.

The couple's daughter, Barbara Murray, 67, said yesterday: "He was a very meticulous and correct man all through his life. He believed in doing things right and I know he would have taken something like being in the Home Guard very seriously and given it his all.

"He didn't see any action, of course, but I do recall that a bomb once fell in the city and he might have been called out to help deal with that."

The documents are expected to fetch around £300 when they are sold on January 17 by Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire.

Auctioneer Charles Hanson, a regular on the BBC's Bargain Hunt show, said: "This is a snapshot of the war that brings home how real the threat of invasion was.

"The make-up of the Home Guard volunteers and their tactics often seem almost humorous, but these men took their tasks extremely seriously."

The BBC produced 80 episodes and three specials of Dad's Army between 1968 and 1977, portraying the accident-prone, disorganised platoon which protected the fictional South East resort of Walmington-on-Sea.

At its peak, as many as 18.5million viewers tuned in to watch the latest mishaps of Captain Mainwaring, Sergeant Wilson, Lance-Corporal Jones and Privates Pike, Godfrey, Walker and Frazer.

Classic episodes include Command Decision, in which the platoon is offered weapons by Colonel Square.

Captain Mainwaring agrees - before discovering the weapons are muskets and his men are expected to fight on horseback.

In the Battle of Godfrey's Cottage, the platoon is ordered to split into two sections in the event of an invasion. During exercises, the men scramble to their positions, but begin attacking each other in the confusion.
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spidge · Dec 13, 2007

Thank Chr*** he was only a Private.

Good on him though. Seemed to be a real good thinker.

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Account of life in Home Guard

Kyt Άρης

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