The Middy, September 30 1999

Unbreakable spirit of the Home Guard

On May 14, 1940, Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for war, broadcast an appeal for citizens between the ages of 15 and 65 to join local defence volunteers.

Known as the LDV (or, more irreverently as Look, Duck and Vanish, or the Last Ditch Venture), it was soon to be renamed the Home Guard, following a speech by Churchill, and in the first six weeks more than one million men enrolled across the country.

The Home Guard, conceived as a part time, volunteer army, was divided into battalions, companies, platoons and sections.

A battalion consisted of approximately 1000 men, the company 400, the platoon 100 and a section about 25.

All of the men were answerable to the the Section Commander, who was usually a retired officer or senior noncommissioned officer with experience of warfare.

26 battalions were formed in Sussex, the fourth being at Billingshurst (formerly Steyning Battalion), and the 13th at Haywards Heath,.

Due to the shortage of equipment, the volunteers initially drilled in civilian clothes and carried broomsticks instead of rifles, though the situation improved after a shipment of firearms from the USA and in due course, shotguns, grenades and other weapons became available.

Shortly after Eden’s call to arms, seven men of Clayton formed their own little army and stood guard on the South Downs, waiting with shotguns and pitchforks for the first Germans to land. With neither uniform nor equipment, and identified only by a white handkerchiefs tied about their arms, they patrolled the hills every night, keeping vigilant watch.

One member, the late Edward Cooper, a coal merchant, said: "one lady (Mrs Anderson from The Windmills) heard we had not enough shotguns to go round, and came out with an old rook rifle and half a dozen rounds of ammunition – we were glad of it.”

By September 1940, the Clayton Section had been kitted out with uniforms and rifles and were practising physical training and stalking three or four times a week.

Mr Cooper explained, their philosophy was a simple one: "to bring down a raider with rifle fire. When we do that, much ale will be drunk at the Village Inn.”

The Evening News later described the Clayton heroes as "seven men who spirit Hitler will never break in a thousand years of Blitzkrieg.”

Many of the Home Guard’s younger members had scant knowledge of the requirements of warfare, such as scouting, observation or dealing with the enemy, but nevertheless they became part of the countries Armed Forces, and so acquired military rights and obligations. This gave them the power to arrest and detain any reasonably suspected persons and hand them over to the appropriate authorities.

Dick Dudeney of Burgess Hill, was in the Ditchling Section, and prior to joining had been a boy scout "runner". Strictly speaking, he was too young for the service, but being big for his age, convinced the official in charge, Mr Monty Button, of Elphicks farm, that he was old enough to enlist.

Other members included brothers George and Frank Thomas from Spatham Lane: Mark Peplar from Ditchling Press; his brother-in-law Freddie Faulkner from Ditchling Common; and Dunstan Pruden, the silversmith from the guild of St Joseph and Dominic.

These many others met regularly at their headquarters, a former Baptist Chapel in Eastern Lane, Ditchling. One of their main duties was to protect bridges and other installations from sabotage and it became their responsibility to mount a nightly guard at the bridge over the railway on the road crossing Ditchling Common.

Unfortunately, in their enthusiasm, they proceeded to stop and search just about everyone and everything that past, regardless of who or what it might be. The ensuing howls of protest caused High Command to reconsider its strategy, with the result that the men were moved a few hundred yards to the east, with orders to protect the cattle bridge instead.

It was widely feared that the vanguard of the German invasion would come in the form of a paratrooper landing, as this manoeuvre had been used during earlier conquests in Europe.

It was decided that, in such an emergency, designated men would cycle out to warn off-duty members and then return immediately; those who have been notified with likewise in for more distant members, and so on.

Dick Dudeney was among those awoken in the small hours by a worried looking Stanley Field, who told him that the Germans had arrived. His brother, Mark, recounts that full of trepidation, Dick pulled his uniform over his pyjamas, slung a rifle across his back and cycled Northwoods over the moonlit common – "convinced that every shadow concealed a Hun "– to warn others, before riding swiftly back to Ditchling.

By then, a large and anxious crowd had gathered at headquarters. The field telephone in Monty Button’s office rang and, as he answered, the men clustered around, wondering what the news would be. As it turned out, the whole evening had been a dummy run, an exercise set up by high command to test the general preparedness of the home guard!

A lingering fear of invasion remain, however, and in order to confront the German foe, Monty Button decided to form an elite group from within the ranks of his own section. They were jokingly referred to as the Killer Squad, and to compensate for their lack of field experience he enlisted the help of French – Canadian soldiers, who were billeted in the nearby Ditchling woods to take part in the exercises.

Dick was a member of the squad and etched in his mind is an alarming memory of when he and the rest of Monty’s killers were crouched in the defensive stance on Lodge Hill, ready to face a charge from their allies. Many of the French – Canadians had little love for the English, and with the bloodcurdling shrieks, a wave of men with blackened faces and bayonets at the ready bore down on the hapless villagers.

Their pounding feet, the flashing steel and savage cries quite unnerved the Killer Squad, who pressed themselves into the ground and were completely overrun.

In Sussex more than 70,000 men and women served in the home guard, membership reaching its peak of 40,000 in September 1943.

It was officially stood down in December 1944 and disbanded the following year.

Acknowledgements: The old century by Mark Dudeney.