Posted on 01/05/2009 8:25:49 AM PST by BGHater
By day they were ordinary civilians — from dentists and clergymen to gamekeepers and roadmenders – in a Britain gripped by fear of imminent invasion by Hitler’s blitzkreig troops.
The only clue to their alter egos might have been the pieces of paper in their pockets – informing any police officer suspicious of their behaviour “to ask no questions of the bearer but phone this number”.
But new details have now emerged of the highly secretive role played by a “resistance” army of fit young men and women chosen as would-be saboteurs and spies in the event of a German landing.
In the dark days of 1940, the unit grew to about 6,000 members, who knew little of each other and operated in small guerrilla groups. Recruited to disrupt a German occupation force – including roles such as blowing up tanks, lorry parks and communications – the teams prepared by carrying out covert missions, known as “scallywagging”, at night.
The Auxiliers, as they were known, formed operational patrols of seven or eight heavily armed men who emerged from hideouts to watch the coastlines of East Anglia for any sign of approaching German commandos.
Their role was to engage in irregular warfare, which meant that, as civilians, their capture by the Germans would have led to their instant execution as spies. Not everyone in the military hierarchy approved of the concept, believing that only men in uniform should be recruited to fight the enemy.
Official records of the GHQ Auxiliary Units – whose creation was authorised by the inner War Cabinet, chaired by Winston Churchill – have rarely been released by the National Archives.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Get the book mentioned on my FR page if you care to know the truth. Get it, and read it.
Cool find! Thanks!
Interesting comments at the source...
Canadian fellow, wasn’t he?
They would not have been "spies", they would have been at most "insurgents". No espionage charge in defense of nation on homeland territory.
That didn’t matter to the Germans. The Wehrmacht (not to mention the SS) were under orders to execute “francs-tireurs” or partisans, after interrogation, instead of treating them as POWs.
}:-)4
I suppose it’s redundant to point out that there are people in the UK today who have stashes of “explosives and weaponry.” It isn’t the nation’s freedom they have in mind, though.
yes he was.
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