| Description | The records chart the history of the Caithness Home Guard over a three year period, from May 1940 to March 1943.
The records describe the origins of the Caithness Home Guard in 1940, as men from all over the county enrolled in the Local Defence Volunteers, and then prepared for a possible imminent German invasion, which included the manufacture of petrol bombs (Molotov Cocktails), the removal of sign posts, the installation of road blocks and the guarding of Post Office buildings and communications.
The records then chronicle how in the following two years the Caithness battalion became better equipped, with for instance rifles, grenades, Northover Projectors and Vickers, Lewis and Browning machine guns; and better prepared, through lectures, exercises, courses, military schools and improved training.
Originally, the records were not in any order or schema. They have been rearranged by archive volunteer Daniel Parsons into chronological order. They were put in this order to reflect the historical significance of each document so that they can better be understood.
Two indexes for the records are available: a subject index, which includes, inter alia, Aerodrome Defence, Arms, Censorship, Code Words, Courts Martials, Enrolment, Exercises, Firing Practice, Guard Duty, Guides, Mines, German parachutists, Petrol Coupons, Prisoners of War, Resignations, Road Blocks, Training and Visits. And a person index, detailing the names of all those mentioned in the Caithness Home Guard records. |
| Administrative History | The Home Guard was established in May 1940 to defend Britain against a possible German invasion.
Those who volunteered for the Home Guard were men who were either too old or too young to serve in Britain’s armed forces, or were in reserved occupations.
The original name of the force was the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) but was changed by Churchill to the Home Guard in August 1940.
Initially the Home Guard was no more than a poorly equipped militia, but during the war would evolve into a well-trained and equipped army of 1.7 million men.
Home Guardsmen were principally trained to repel an enemy invasion. They also played a role in bomb disposal, manning anti-aircraft and coastal artillery, guarding munitions factories and aerodromes, and capturing German airmen whose planes had been shot down over Britain.
Home Guardsmen were not paid, and continued to do their regular jobs and then drilled and patrolled around their work.
During World War II, 1,206 Home Guardsmen were killed and 557 were seriously wounded.
The Home Guard was stood down in December 1944 and disbanded a year later.
The history of the Caithness Home Guard, in many respects, mirrored that of other Home Guard units in Britain, lacking at first proper uniforms or modern weapons. Caithness Home Guardsmen in 1940 for example were trained in the preparation and use of Molotov Cocktails. In the years that followed, however, the battalion would gradually be properly equipped.
But the Caithness Home Guard differed from many other Home Guard battalions in Britain as a result of the large area it was responsible for, and the difficulties that winter in the north of Scotland could bring.
The Caithness Home Guard was led by Captain, later Lieutenant Colonel, Ian McHardy. The battalion’s Headquarters was located at the Bank of Scotland building in Wick. |