American Home Guard unit

[Hyus]

Can anyone provide a bit of detail on the Home Guard unit composed of American citizens? I haven't found much other than a brief paragraph on wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_Guar ... Home_Guard

For instance, were they active for the duration of the Home Guard's existence? What sort of equipment did they receive? Any names or personal details of any Americans who served in this unit?

[Sheldrake]

There is a newsreel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=HDBCtD6n3yE
More details here. Unit organised by Charles Sweeney
https://www.schoolandcollegelistings.co ... n-District

[Hyus]

There is a newsreel.
https://www.youtube.com/watch/?v=HDBCtD6n3yE
More details here. Unit organised by Charles Sweeney
https://www.schoolandcollegelistings.co ... n-District

A very interesting video, thank you. That website is a bit hard to navigate, but I'll have a look.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Hyus,

It may be of interest that there was also a Newfoundland Home Guard battalion.

Newfoundland was not then part of Canada, but a separate Dominion. Amongst its contribution to the UK was the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit. These were experienced timbernen whose job was to fell trees and they mostly served in the forests of Scotland.

About a third of NOFU men volunteered to serve in their local Home Guard and in 1942 they were formed into their own 3rd Inverness (Newfoundland) Battalion Home Guard.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Hyus]

Thank you Sid, that's interesting. Although, as you say, Newfoundlanders were British subjects. What I found interesting about the American unit is that a group of non-Commonwealth, neutral citizens was allowed to not only join the Home Guard, but organize into a distinct unit. It seemed very unusual. I knew of course about the refugee/foreign volunteer units in the regular British forces (like the Polish and Czech RAF squadrons), but it was interesting to see a foreign unit in a British homefront militia.

[Sheldrake]

Thank you Sid, that's interesting. Although, as you say, Newfoundlanders were British subjects. What I found interesting about the American unit is that a group of non-Commonwealth, neutral citizens was allowed to not only join the Home Guard, but organize into a distinct unit. It seemed very unusual. I knew of course about the refugee/foreign volunteer units in the regular British forces (like the Polish and Czech RAF squadrons), but it was interesting to see a foreign unit in a British homefront militia.

Ever heard of the Eagle Squadrons of the RAF? It was a propaganda coup to have American volunteers serving in the cause of freedom, to prick the consciences of Americans. One of the first American casualties of the war was Billy Fiske III

There substantial numbers of Irishmen from the Free State, which only came into being after a bitter guerrilla war two decades earlier. Many served with distinction across the armed forces, but CXhurcull insisted that there should also be an Irish Brigade - 38th Brigade of the 78th Division which fought in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy

[Hyus]

Ever heard of the Eagle Squadrons of the RAF? It was a propaganda coup to have American volunteers serving in the cause of freedom, to prick the consciences of Americans. One of the first American casualties of the war was Billy Fiske III

There substantial numbers of Irishmen from the Free State, which only came into being after a bitter guerrilla war two decades earlier. Many served with distinction across the armed forces, but CXhurcull insisted that there should also be an Irish Brigade - 38th Brigade of the 78th Division which fought in Tunisia, Sicily and Italy

Yes, both are very interesting stories. But those men served in the regular armed forces, while the Home Guard was a local militia/home-defence group. Of course I can see the reason for foreign residents joining this force, I just found it unusual. I've never come across examples of homeguard/militia forces that had foreign units in them (not just foreigners sprinkled among locals, but an entire special unit, albeit small). I thought it was an interesting story.

[Sid Guttridge]

Hi Sheldrake,

I believe your second link above mentions that Charles Sweeny, who sponsored the Home Guard unit, also sponsored the first Eagle Squadron.

Sid.

[Knouterer]

An interesting HG unit. The members were mostly relatively wealthy businessmen, bankers, and such, and the unit was motorized because they brought their own private cars, as seen in that newsreel.
They were apparently armed with Winchester semi-automatic rifles sent over by some benefactor in the US. I´m not 100% certain but probably the .351 Model 1907 Police Rifle, with fitting for a knife bayonet. 59,000 of this model were produced from 1937 to 1957.

[Hyus]

That's very interesting Knouterer, I hadn't heard of them using semi-auto rifles. I'm not too familiar with the Winchester 07, I'll have to do a bit of reading to see whether it was a good choice. Have you heard anything about them purchasing Thompson smgs? This was something I saw claimed online, but couldn't find verification for (not even a detail on what models they used, if indeed they did use Thompsons).

I had heard that the unit included American journalists who were in Britain at the time, and so membership changed a bit as some of those correspondents left and new ones came in, but I don't know if that's accurate.

[Knouterer]

I´m fairly sure they didn´t have Thompsons, at least not in 1940, because there weren´t any to be had, at least not new ones. The Auto-Ordnance Company owned the rights to the Thompson but did not have its own production facilities and had sold off the last of the original Colt-produced batch in January 1940 (500 guns to Sweden). Production had been contracted out to Savage Arms but started only slowly, some 16,000 guns (of the M1928A1 model) were produced from April to September, and by that time the British government had ordered over 55,000, to be delivered as fast as possible, so there weren´t any for private buyers.
Of course they may have obtained a few second-hand ones.
Thompsons were issued to the HG from April 1941, on a remarkably generous scale for such an expensive weapon; according to the official monthly returns they had no fewer than 43,017 of them by March 1942, after which they were gradually replaced by Stens.

[AlanD]

The .351 Model Winchester rifles that the unit had may have come from via the American Committee for Defense of British Homes, which were rifles that may have been donated by the U.S. Justice Department. Or, they may have been purchased commercially in the USA. The various photos and films of the unit show that the rifles lacked a bayonet boss, they did have brass roundels in the butt, similar to an SMLE.
The unit did import some 1914 Colt machine guns. There are photos of squadron members training with them.

It would appear that the unit did get some Thompson's but there is contradictory information as to how many. Only one photo is known of a squadron member with one, which shows up in one of the links in post 2.

Regards

Aland

[Hyus]

Thanks Alan for expanding on that.