The need for a volunteer home defence force was not at first realised when war was declared in 1939 but when the “Phoney War” ended with the German assault on France and the Low Countries in 1940 action was taken. The initial call for “Local Defence Volunteers” quickly changed to a very much more belligerent, Home Guard. Manned and led at first by veterans of World War 1 together with many of those to young to fight in 1914 the Home Guard looked to defence the country whilst the regular army recovered, re-armed and re-trained after Dunkirk. Tasked to be ready for invasion and defend key industries in the village the Mountsorrel Platoon of the Home Guard played a small but vital role in World War 2.
Any information/photos of the Women’s Home Guard based in MountSorrel? Thank you.
Good Morning Carol, Sorry We have very little beyond what I’ve included in the articles published last week. There’s nothing to indicate women serving in the Home Guard here although as you’ll have seen from the Civil Defence article there was a strong female presence in those services but beyond some of the names there’s little else. We would however welcome anything that you can add. Cheers, John