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BRITISH "HOME GUARD" MANUALS

Sometimes it is just plain fun to pick up a small item as an accessory and to have it lead you down

another path of information on the Thompson. So is the case of the purchase of a British Home Guard

manual entitled " A Handbook for the L.D.V." by John Brophy. These little books are a fascinating

look into the dark hours of WWII in England when they were expecting an invasion at any minute.

These books were printed in a hurry, by both the military and private publishers to educate the

regular civilian and retired military men that would form the basis of a national guard for the British.

There were two separate Home Guard units. The regulars were the men and women that were trained

for everyday jobs like coast watchers and defending towns and the "Service units."

The purpose of the "Service Units" was to do nothing during an invasion, but to wait and become

the underground resistance to an occupying army. These men and women were highly trained in

explosives, weapons, and hand to hand combat. These men were so well trained that if a Service

Unit member was called up to the regular military units, he had the choice of any combat unit, even

the Commandos.

However, the commercially produced manuals for the regular Home Guard units were at times of

little benefit and are now interesting reading. One such passage is: " The Thompson Gun - This sub-

machine-gun, sometimes called the "tommy" gun, should be of double interest to the Home Guard,

because it fires the same .300 ammunition as the American "Springfield" rifle,,,"  Probably, this is

a rememberance of the Auto-Rifle not the Thompson. That had to be an interesting training session

trying to load the magazines. But, today these manuals are a great way to collect Thompson history.