How would the Home Guard have kept up?

[sproggi]

According to the Home Guard handbook 'Every Home Guard should know the uniforms and badges of any units of the regular army stationed near at hand, in order to be able to spot enemay agents in disguise'.

As I live in an area which had a high concentration of RAF and USAAF airbases and baring in mind the frequency of different squadrons being posted to these bases, How would the Home Guard have been expected to keep up with the different badges?
Would they have had a liason to relay the current badges to them?

Sproggi

[Bombardier]

Im sure they would have just had a pamphlet with all the local unit patches on and where the badges were positioned. I think a more important part of the training would have been in identifying falsified documents such as Id cards etc.

With regards to your question I suspect that there would have been some liaison between new units and the home guard, for instance if the local units were to conduct an exercise locally, then the HG would definately have to know about it and of course vice versa.

Interesting, ive never realy looked into the Home Guards activities in detail. Perhaps I should (Y)

[sproggi]

Thanks Bombardier,
It was just that it had occurred to me that they would have had to memorise a lot of badges at short notice due to the speed and frequency of squadron changes at the various local bases.

I have only just recently developed an interest in the activities of the Home Guard, since finding a small 1943 Home Guard handbook in the loft.
I would have thought that they would have been issued with Handbooks on signing up, but may have had to purchase any updated books as there is a price of 1/6 printed on the one I have.

Sproggi

[Bombardier]

I have just ordered

The Home Guard Manual
and
Instructions for American Servicemen in Britain, 1942

from Amazon

looking forward to reading them (Y)