155-602: Captain George Mainwaring ( / ˈ m æ n ər ɪ ŋ / ) is a fictional Home Guard captain, first portrayed by Arthur Lowe in the BBC television sitcom Dad's Army . In the 2016 movie he is played by Toby Jones and in the 2019 remake of three missing episodes he is played by Kevin McNally . Mainwaring is the bank manager and Home Guard platoon commander, in the fictional seaside town of Walmington-on-Sea during
310-533: A Labour MP, wrote to the prime minister asking that the entire adult population be trained in the use of arms and given weapons to defend themselves. Similar calls appeared in newspaper columns: in the 12 May issue of the Sunday Express , a brigadier called on the government to issue free arms licences and permits to buy ammunition to men possessing small arms, and the same day, the Sunday Pictorial asked if
465-646: A blackpowder -powered mortar ; the No. 76 Special Incendiary Grenade , a glass bottle filled with highly-flammable material and the Smith gun , a small artillery gun that could be towed by a car. By late 1940, the Home Guard had amassed 847,000 rifles, 47,000 shotguns and 49,000 machine guns of various kinds. With more than 1,682,000 volunteers, 739,000 men were thus unarmed. There was little improvement in June 1941, when Churchill wrote to
620-447: A draper 's shop. On occasion Mainwaring has even described some of Wilson's ideas as " Bolshie " when he says something along the lines of "Let's have none of your Bolshie ideas here!". Despite their various issues with each other, Mainwaring and Wilson do have moments during the series where they reach a sort of understanding, if not actual friendship. In the episode " Boots, Boots, Boots ", Mainwaring tells Wilson that he considers him
775-519: A Mile , which is set in 1948 (three years after the Second World War ended), it is revealed that Mainwaring spent two years manufacturing cuckoo clocks in Switzerland . However, the first episode of Dad's Army shines light on Mainwaring's future: briefly set in the present day 1968, it features Mainwaring as guest of honour at the launch of Walmington's " I'm Backing Britain " campaign, where he
930-442: A bath and looters will be shot. He changes position when this power is taken from him by an official from GHQ, describing such an act and the imposition of martial law as "monstrous". Mainwaring often claims to know something, only to be proven wrong almost immediately. The men under him, however, are mostly devoted to him. At heart, he is a kind-hearted man with a deep-rooted sense of duty. Mainwaring has nearly had two affairs. One
1085-544: A captain while Arthur Lowe was a Sergeant Major. Lowe tried to enlist in the Merchant Navy prior to the Second World War but was also rejected with poor eyesight). Despite his shortcomings as a leader, Mainwaring considers himself an excellent military tactician. His height and background are frequently mocked as indicating a Napoleon Complex and his nemesis, ARP Warden Hodges , often refers to him as "Napoleon". In one episode, " A Soldier's Farewell ", Mainwaring dreams he
1240-582: A designated 'runner' (no Home Guard units were issued with wireless sets until 1942), who would usually be a motorbike owner. Otherwise, the battle platoon was static and would defend a defined local area and report on enemy activity in that area, but it was neither equipped nor expected to join up with the mobile forces of the regular army. Each Home Guard unit would establish and prepare a local strongpoint, from which 'civilians' (non-Home Guard) would be cleared if possible, and aim to defend that strongpoint for as long as possible. It might be forced to retreat towards
1395-484: A friend and that he actually admires how Wilson handles the men "quietly and subtly". In the episode " Something Nasty in the Vault ", Mainwaring and Wilson bond during their time trapped in the bank's vault while holding an unexploded and potentially unstable German bomb that was dropped during an air raid, with Mainwaring even going so far as to scratch Wilson's nose for him when it began to itch and Wilson could not reach it. At
1550-689: A head when in " The Honourable Man " Wilson inherits a courtesy title and becomes The Honourable Arthur Wilson. Whilst Wilson resented this, Mainwaring became infuriated and did everything in his power to demonstrate that he outranks Wilson, even going to the lengths of telling Wilson when he was allowed to smoke. While believing Wilson to be involved in some kind of orchestrated social conspiracy against him, it transpires that Mainwaring's inverted snobbery goes as far as doing all he can to hold Wilson back from promotion by writing negative reports on him to Head Office – as discovered in " A. Wilson (Manager) ". He often rants about how society will be different "after
1705-567: A journalist and key advocate of the LDV and later the Home Guard, opened a private training camp for the LDV at Osterley Park , outside London, in early July 1940. Wintringham's training methods were mainly based on his experience in the International Brigades in Spain. Those who had fought alongside him in Spain trained volunteers in anti-tank warfare and demolitions . Bert "Yank" Levy was one of
SECTION 10
#17328761026981860-465: A letter to Samuel Hoare , the Lord Privy Seal , on 8 October 1939, Churchill called for a Home Guard force of 500,000 men over the age of 40 to be formed. While government officials were debating the need for a home defence force, such forces were actually forming themselves without any official encouragement. In Essex , men not eligible for call-up into the armed forces were coming forward to join
2015-571: A mixture of petrol and a gelling agent. The Home Guard inherited weapons that the regular army no longer required, such as the Blacker Bombard antitank weapon, and weapons they no longer desired, such as the Sticky bomb . The arsenal also included weapons that could be produced cheaply without consuming materials needed to produce armaments for the regular units such as the Northover Projector ,
2170-477: A more aggressive role. Nevertheless, it would have been expected to fight well-trained and equipped troops despite having only negligible training and only weapons such as home-made bombs and shotguns (a solid ammunition for shotguns was developed for that purpose), personal sidearms and firearms that belonged in museums. Patrols were carried out on foot , by bicycle , even on horseback and often without uniforms, although all volunteers wore an armband printed with
2325-537: A neighbouring strongpoint but would not surrender so long as ammunition held out. Most towns of any size would have a number of such Home Guard units, each defending its own strongpoint and providing 'defence in depth', which should ideally be sited to offer supporting fire to cover one another and to control road access through the town from all directions. Each battle platoon had a headquarters section; commander, second in command, runner, and at least one marksman 'sniper' with an M1917 Enfield rifle. The fighting force of
2480-410: A patient's medical history . A time of day is written in the 24-hour notation in the form hh:mm (for example 01:23) or hh:mm:ss (for example, 01:23:45), where hh (00 to 23) is the number of full hours that have passed since midnight , mm (00 to 59) is the number of full minutes that have passed since the last full hour, and ss (00 to 59) is the number of seconds since the last full minute. To indicate
2635-481: A pet cat called Empress. In " The King was in his Counting House ", it is mentioned that Captain Mainwaring and his wife have three goldfish. In " The Royal Train ", Mainwaring reveals his desire to drive a train ever since he was a child, and that wish comes true. Mainwaring has several redeeming qualities, including a deep concern for the welfare of the men under his command. His bravery and courage cannot be denied: he
2790-464: A rolling pin. Dad's Army ends with the Second World War still in progress. Mainwaring gives Mrs Fox away when she marries Corporal Jones because her own father is dead. As shown at the start of the first episode, set in 1968, Mainwaring, who was born in 1885, would have been 82 years old then, and 60 at the end of the Second World War. In a radio sequel to Dad's Army , It Sticks Out Half
2945-475: A semiautomatic rifle fired from the shoulder (as was advised in Home Guard training manuals), one or two such weapons in a battle platoon could provide formidable additional firepower. In the hands of a trained soldier, each BAR could maintain a firing rate of up to 40 single shots per minute. Furthermore, the British government had placed large commercial orders for Thompson submachine guns , which were issued first to
3100-508: A sense of comradeship and purpose lacking in other parts of his life, such as his career and marriage. On one occasion when his men spurned a parade to play darts against the ARP he expressed bewilderment, saying coming to the platoon is "the highlight of my day". It is frequently implied that he is trapped in a loveless and unhappy marriage to Elizabeth , his unseen wife, who is domineering, neurotic and withholding of affection. For example, in " If
3255-502: A time-traveller from the 1990s – goes into a bank in 1941 and meets a bank manager named Mainwaring and his chief clerk named Wilson, both of whom are in the Home Guard. When he hears the names Mainwaring and Wilson, Gary begins singing the Dad's Army theme song. In June 2010, a statue of Captain Mainwaring by sculptor Sean Hedges-Quinn was erected in the Norfolk town of Thetford , where most of
SECTION 20
#17328761026983410-450: A wooden fore-grip and rigid triangular bipod added. Within a few months, the Home Guard had acquired proper uniforms and equipment as the immediate needs of the regular forces were satisfied. Special trains were laid on to rush the M1917 rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles to Home Guard units, and by the end of July, all had been distributed. Priority in mid-1940 was given to Home Guard units on
3565-481: Is Napoleon Bonaparte and is thwarted at the Battle of Waterloo by a Duke of Wellington resembling Wilson. His pomposity and conviction of his prowess mean that Mainwaring yearns to be in control of any situation and he behaves in an arrogant manner; for instance in the first episode he organised the Home Guard unit and appointed himself commanding officer despite lack of experience and qualifications (and had to wait until
3720-437: Is Napoleon, he dreams that the bus conductress is Marie Walewska (Napoleon's mistress). In " War Dance ", Mainwaring claims to have been very vexed at Mrs Mainwaring and gave her a "good dressing down" when she burnt some sausage rolls. He turns and it is revealed he has a black eye . Mainwaring claims he did it on the wardrobe door, but it was obviously done in a domestic dispute. Walker later jokes, asking if Mrs Mainwaring has
3875-505: Is a common response when Wilson points out problems. Mainwaring sees all regular British servicemen ("Our Boys") as exceptionally brave and resourceful, while seeing the Germans as inept and cowardly. Mainwaring's character flaws, however, are presented in a comical rather than a spiteful manner and there is often a sympathetic subtext to his own personal neuroses; it is apparent several times that he devotes his energies to his Home Guard unit for
4030-477: Is a late-19th century adaptation of the German midnight-starting system, and then prevailed in the world with the exception of some Anglophone countries. Striking clocks had to produce 300 strokes each day, which required a lot of rope, and wore out the mechanism quickly, so some localities switched to ringing sequences of 1 to 12 twice (156 strokes), or even 1 to 6 repeated four times (84 strokes). Sandford Fleming ,
4185-613: Is a pompous, blustering figure with an overdeveloped sense of his importance, fuelled by his social status in Walmington-on-Sea as the bank manager and his status as captain and commander of the local Home Guard volunteer unit. He became commander of his home guard unit by saying that he had served as a captain in the last British conflict, despite serving "somewhere in the Orkneys " during the Great War and only being deployed to France in 1919,
4340-523: Is an inverted snob who believes that it is the class system that prevents his promotion to the higher echelons of the bank. By contrast, Wilson seems to have no social ambitions at all, is down to earth and easy going and seems amused by Mainwaring's hostility. Ironically, when Mainwaring tries to ingratiate himself with local potentates and dignitaries, they often turn out to be far more interested in talking to Wilson – much to Mainwaring's chagrin. This feeds Mainwaring's sense of social inferiority. This comes to
4495-539: Is briefly decommissioned as he had never actually been made an officer, implying that he was merely overzealous rather than a control freak. He hates conscientious objectors ; he sees them as abnormal as they do not want to fight for their country, as shown when he discovers Private Godfrey was a "conchie". However, when he learns Godfrey served at the Battle of the Somme and risked his own life (and received injuries) crawling into No Man's Land to save several men, earning him
4650-495: Is essentially brave, loyal and industrious, generally kind-hearted beneath the bluster, and unfailingly patriotic. Mainwaring believes in following rules and orders, sometimes to a ludicrous degree, and is class -conscious and a snob . Being educated at the local Grammar School – as a scholarship student – he considers himself middle class and looks down on anyone he considers beneath him, which may be because he struggled to rise above his working class background. He claims to be
4805-537: Is frequently dependent on those in the Home Guard that he considers beneath him, such as Sergeant Wilson, his chief clerk at the bank with whom he shares an antagonistic friendship, and Private Walker , a black marketeer who interrupts Mainwaring's lectures with a quip or a sly revelation that Mainwaring is benefiting from underhand deals. Mainwaring is particularly jealous of Wilson, who is more relaxed and charming and possesses combat experience that Mainwaring does not, and takes every opportunity to remind his sergeant who
Captain Mainwaring - Misplaced Pages Continue
4960-400: Is in " Mum's Army " with a woman called Fiona Gray who joins the Home Guard when they recruit female soldiers. The pair start meeting in cafes all over the town. Gossip starts about them and Mrs Gray leaves by train. Another is with a bus conductress in "A Soldier's Farewell" whom Mainwaring compliments and defends when she is being flirted at. At the end of the episode, when Mainwaring dreams he
5115-407: Is probably the main reason for his lack of promotion. Mainwaring is prudish and repressed and can be judgmental about people who do not share his moral outlook. Contrastingly Wilson is portrayed as flirtatious with women and has slightly more bohemian ideas about sexual morality (as he is in a secret relationship with Private Pike's mother). We discover in " When You've Got to Go " that Mrs Mainwaring
5270-497: Is referred to by Wilson as a magistrate , alderman and chairman of the Rotary Clubs for both Walmington and Eastgate. A series of Barclays Bank adverts featured George Mainwaring retiring from his position at the bank, to be succeeded by Pike, to whom Mainwaring nevertheless refers to as "stupid boy". Mainwaring appears in one with his granddaughter on their way to her wedding. At the end of " Absent Friends " Mainwaring had told
5425-471: Is required, the seconds can be a decimal fraction ; that is, the fractional part follows a decimal dot or comma, as in 01:23:45.678. The most commonly used separator symbol between hours, minutes and seconds is the colon , which is also the symbol used in ISO 8601. In the past, some European countries used the dot on the line as a separator, but most national standards on time notation have since then been changed to
5580-422: Is the same time as 00:00 of the following day. The notation 24:00 mainly serves to refer to the exact end of a day in a time interval. A typical usage is giving opening hours ending at midnight (e.g. "00:00–24:00", "07:00–24:00"). Similarly, some bus and train timetables show 00:00 as departure time and 24:00 as arrival time. Legal contracts often run from the start date at 00:00 until the end date at 24:00. While
5735-432: Is the senior. As a bank manager, he is efficient, if ruthless and stingy; as a military commander he can at first glance be seen as barely competent, such as being confused by the 24-hour clock , and his plans often result in chaos. Mainwaring nonetheless managed to pull a group of local shopkeepers "up by their bootstraps" to become some kind of fighting unit. Mainwaring has no combat experience, which causes tension with
5890-457: Is to begin for all the world at the moment of midnight of the initial meridian coinciding with the beginning of the civil day and date of that meridian, and is to be counted from zero up to twenty-four hours. The Canadian Pacific Railway was among the first organisations to adopt the 24-hour clock, at midsummer 1886. A report by a government committee in the United Kingdom noted Italy as
6045-454: Is willing to endanger himself for his country and platoon and to take the risks that he orders his men to undertake. In one episode, " The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage ", the platoon thinks the Germans have invaded and Mainwaring, with his men, fights what they think is the German army but turns out to be other members of the platoon. He also clears bricks from a bombed-out corridor which could have fallen at any moment. Mainwaring insists he work in
6200-523: The .30-06 Springfield cartridge, an 0.30 inch round, a type of ammunition totally different from and more powerful than the 0.303 round used by the service issue British Lee–Enfield rifle. A 2-inch-wide (51 mm) red band was painted around the fore end of the stock of the Enfield and BAR weapons as a warning since a 0.303 round would not load, but jam the rifle. The Thompson guns used .45 ACP pistol ammunition, again not British Army standard, which
6355-610: The Amazon Defence Corps . In December 1941, a more organised but still unofficial Women's Home Defence (WHD) was formed under the direction of Dr Edith Summerskill , Labour MP for Fulham West . WHD members were given weapons training and basic military training. Limited female involvement in official Home Guard units was to be permitted later 'auxiliaries', on the understanding that these would be in traditional female support roles (e.g., clerical, driving) and not in any way seen as combatants. The War Office continued to lay down
Captain Mainwaring - Misplaced Pages Continue
6510-619: The Armadillo armoured truck , the Bison mobile pillbox and the Bedford OXA armoured car (some of these makeshift vehicles were also operated by Royal Air Force units for aerodrome defense). Lord Beaverbrook , the Minister of Aircraft Production , had sponsored the emergency creation of the "Car Armoured Light Standard" (a commercial car body with a simple armoured hull and light machine gun), known as
6665-666: The Auxiliary Units , an extremely secretive force of more highly trained guerrilla units with the task of hiding behind enemy lines after an invasion, emerging to attack and destroy supply dumps , disabling tanks and trucks, assassinating collaborators , and killing sentries and senior German officers with sniper rifles. They would operate from pre-prepared secret underground bases, excavated at night with no official records, in woods, in caves, or otherwise concealed. These concealed bases, upwards of 600 in number, were able to support units ranging in size from squads to companies. In
6820-623: The Beaverette , for the British armed forces but, to the intense annoyance of the British Army command, he insisted on reserving considerable numbers for Home Guard units guarding key air components factories. LDV units broke into museums, appropriated whatever weapons could be found and equipped themselves with private weapons such as shotguns. Many veterans who had served in the First World War had retained German sidearms as trophies, but ammunition
6975-573: The Commander in Chief Home Forces , General Walter Kirke , believed that the threat of invasion was greatly exaggerated and were sceptical, but others were not, including Winston Churchill , the new First Lord of the Admiralty . Churchill argued that some form of home defence force should be raised from people who were ineligible to serve in the regular forces but wished to serve their country. In
7130-1097: The Crown and was not entirely comparable to combatants in a war between sovereign states. German and Austrian military traditions were, if anything, more absolute in rejecting any recognition of civilian militia combatants as prisoners of war since the German response to the nonuniformed francs-tireurs who had attacked German forces during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. It had long been standard German military practice that civilians who attacked German troops in areas that opposing regular forces had surrendered, withdrawn or chosen not to defend should be considered properly liable to be shot out of hand. Indeed, German military doctrine had always maintained that their military forces were further entitled in such circumstances to take reprisals against unarmed local civilians - taking and executing hostages, and leveling villages: "fight chivalrously against an honest foe; armed irregulars deserve no quarter". The actions of regular German forces during
7285-496: The Home Office and MI5 instituted the 'Invasion List', a list of around 1,000 persons whose 'recent conduct or words indicated that they were likely to assist the enemy' and who would be apprehended by the police in the event of an invasion, hoping thereby to forestall the expectations of many LDV volunteers that they would then be empowered to act as 'Judge, Jury and Executioner' of potential collaborators and fifth columnists. At
7440-614: The Italians , because of their opera and being the enemy; and the Germans , for obvious reasons). Mainwaring often refers to Hitler and the Germans as if he is leading his own personal war, insisting that "In fact I do wish he'd have a go – I'm spoiling for a fight" in " Asleep in the Deep ", regarding his desire in an air raid to get out of a bunker and face the attacking Germans (who are in planes and beyond his reach). Mainwaring's position as captain of
7595-502: The Military Medal , he changes his opinion of Godfrey. Mainwaring says he cannot understand why Godfrey does not wear the medal. Mainwaring is also capable of acting decisively and independently, although not always with the best of results. In " A Man of Action ", Walmington is cut off when a bomb damages the railway and waterworks. Mainwaring imposes martial law and takes power from the mayor. Under his law people need permits to take
7750-476: The Second World War . He is considered a classic British comic character owing to the continuing currency of Dad's Army via regular repeats and Lowe's portrayal. Many of his quotes, such as, "You stupid boy!", are engrained in British popular culture . In a 2001 Channel 4 poll Captain Mainwaring was ranked 21st on their list of the 100 Greatest TV Characters . Mainwaring was born in 1885 to Edmund Mainwaring and
7905-626: The V-1 flying bombs that followed them in the summer of 1944. The Home Guard's first official kill was shot down on Tyneside in 1943. The Home Guard in Northern Ireland also took part in gun battles with the IRA . A major new function emerged for the Home Guard after the German bombing campaign, the Blitz , in 1940 and 1941; resulting in large numbers of unexploded bombs in urban areas. Home Guard units took on
SECTION 50
#17328761026988060-618: The War Office saying that "every man must have a weapon of some sort, be it only a mace or a pike ". The civil servants took Churchill at his word and ordered 250,000 pikes from the Ministry of Aircraft Production , each consisting of a long steel tube with an obsolete bayonet welded to the end. When the first reached the Home Guard, there was uproar, and it is thought that none was actually issued. Captain Godfrey Nicholson , MP, spoke for
8215-482: The 1.5 million members could be provided with their own rifle or pistol. Although large numbers of M1917 Enfield rifles and Browning Automatic Rifles had been purchased for the use of the Home Guard, they had had to be laboriously cleaned of their heavy cosmoline packing grease by the Home Guard units themselves. All the American guns (M1917 Enfield Rifles, BAR, Lewis light machine guns and Browing M1917 machine guns) used
8370-504: The 12-hour clock notation, which counts the hours of the day as 12, 1, ..., 11 with suffixes a.m. and p.m. distinguishing the two diurnal repetitions of this sequence. The 24-hour clock is commonly used there only in some specialist areas (military, aviation, navigation, tourism, meteorology, astronomy, computing, logistics, emergency services, hospitals), where the ambiguities of the 12-hour notation are deemed too inconvenient, cumbersome, or dangerous. Military usage, as agreed between
8525-457: The 12-hour notation by default only if a computer is in a handful of specific language and region settings. The 24-hour system is commonly used in text-based interfaces. POSIX programs such as ls default to displaying timestamps in 24-hour format. In American English , the term military time is a synonym for the 24-hour clock. In the US, the time of day is customarily given almost exclusively using
8680-661: The 24-hour clock. Some of the railways in India had switched before the outbreak of the war. During World War I , the British Royal Navy adopted the 24-hour clock in 1915, and the Allied armed forces followed soon after, with the British Army switching officially in 1918. The Canadian armed forces first started to use the 24-hour clock in late 1917. In 1920, the United States Navy was the first United States organisation to adopt
8835-429: The 24-hour notation unambiguously distinguishes between midnight at the start (00:00) and end (24:00) of any given date, there is no commonly accepted distinction among users of the 12-hour notation. Style guides and military communication regulations in some English-speaking countries discourage the use of 24:00 even in the 24-hour notation, and recommend reporting times near midnight as 23:59 or 00:01 instead. Sometimes
8990-610: The Brandenburgers in Poland served under the command of the Abwehr , German military intelligence. Counterpart tactics were employed in the spring of 1940 in support of the German invasions of Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands, but German success in those invasions was more substantially because of the use of paratroopers to seize and hold key defence points behind the front line and to prevent
9145-611: The British press speculated that the German Gestapo had already prepared two lists of British civilians: " The Black Book " of known anti-fascists and prominent Jews who would be rounded up following an invasion and 'The Red Book' of 'Nazi sympathisers' who would support the German invaders as a fifth column. The police and security services found themselves deluged with a mass of denunciations and accusations against suspected fifth columnists. General Ironside , Commander in Chief, Home Forces,
9300-569: The Cap Fits... " Mainwaring reveals he learned to play the bagpipes on his honeymoon in Scotland because "there was nothing else to do". Mainwaring lives with his wife at 23 Lime Crescent, Walmington-on-Sea. In the episode, " My Brother and I ", Mainwaring admits to Wilson that he had a lonely childhood and was devoted to his schoolwork, whereas his brother, Barry, always had friends. It is revealed in " Absent Friends " that Captain Mainwaring and his wife have
9455-498: The First World War, but former British governments had consistently refused to recognise captured irregular combatants in uniform as prisoners of war. Indeed, most of the Irish Republican volunteers executed by the British administration following the 1916 Easter Rising had been fighting or at least surrendered in full Irish Volunteer or Irish Citizen Army uniforms. However, that was an uprising or rebellion of subjects of
SECTION 60
#17328761026989610-522: The First World War, but the actual total reserve stockpile amounted to 300,000, and they had already been earmarked for the expansion of the army by 122 infantry battalions. Instead, the War Office issued instructions on how to make Molotov cocktails and emergency orders were placed for Ross rifles from Canada. In the absence of proper weapons, local units improvised weapons, especially grenades, mortars and grenade projectors, from whatever came to hand, and
9765-585: The First World War; and in the summer of 1940 there were no more than 1.5 million serviceable frontline military rifles available in total. Contracts had been placed in the UK, Canada and the United States to build new factories for an updated Lee-Enfield model (designated Rifle No. 4), but in 1940 they were still a long way from volume production. The LDV's original role had been envisaged by the army as largely observing and reporting enemy movements, but it swiftly changed to
9920-493: The Home Guard from 1941 onwards (especially to the secret Auxiliary Units ). The British Expeditionary Force had lost almost its entire stock of Bren light machine guns in the Dunkirk evacuation and the regular army initially fell back on prewar and American Lewis guns as a stopgap; but by the end of 1940, around 14,000 of these American Lewis guns (together with some 4,000 American M1917 Browning machine guns ) had been released to
10075-414: The Home Guard is a great source of pride and he dislikes being reminded that he is merely a volunteer, part-time soldier. In particular, in the episode " My British Buddy " he is chagrined when Wilson tells an American colonel that the Home Guard are not real soldiers. Mainwaring's patriotism and eagerness to see combat tend to make him overconfident, and "I don't want to hear any of that sort of talk, Wilson"
10230-536: The Home Guard training in Osterley, and Wintringham and his associates were gradually sidelined. Wintringham resigned in April 1941. Ironically, despite his support of the Home Guard, Wintringham was never allowed to join the organisation himself because of a policy barring membership by communists and fascists . Nevertheless, Home Guard members continued to express dissatisfaction with their armaments until 1943 since not all of
10385-504: The Home Guard when he said in the House of Commons that the provision of pikes, "if not meant as a joke, was an insult". Lord Croft , the Under-Secretary of State for War , could have blamed the fiasco on Churchill but defended the decision by saying that the pike was "a most effective and silent weapon". His name was attached to the affair thereafter. The armaments shortage was solved when
10540-444: The Home Guard's powerful arsenal of shotguns, bombs and grenades would be most effective; and German tanks and vehicles would be constrained by narrow, winding streets. The Home Guard had a number of secret roles. That included sabotage units who would disable factories and petrol installations following the invasion. Members with outdoor survival skills and experience (especially as gamekeepers or poachers ) could be recruited into
10695-432: The Home Guard. 24-hour clock The modern 24-hour clock is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours (and minutes) passed since midnight, from 00(:00) to 23(:59) , with 24(:00) as an option to indicate the end of the day. This system, as opposed to the 12-hour clock , is the most commonly used time notation in
10850-410: The Home Guard. From the perspective of the War Office, this removed weapons using US ammunition from regular army use, and had the further advantage that the three volunteers in the machine gun team would not expect rifles. This model of Lewis gun had been designed to be swivel-mounted in aircraft; before issuing to the Home Guard the fitted spade-handle stock was extended into a crude shoulder stock, and
11005-487: The House of Commons at the end of August 1940 that he had always considered the fifth column threat to be exaggerated, and many of those detained were silently released. From then on, however, the primary official response to fears of fifth column activity was that the names of those for whom there was substantial grounds for suspicion would be added to the 'Invasion List' and that fifth column activity otherwise would be countered by
11160-454: The LDV and calling for volunteers to join the force: "You will not be paid, but you will receive a uniform and will be armed." In the official radio announcement, Eden called on men between the ages of 17 and 65 years in Britain who were not in military service but wished to defend their country against paratroops in the envent of an invasion to enroll in the LDV at their local police station. It
11315-485: The LDV and suggesting that it be renamed as the 'Home Guard'. Despite resistance from Eden and other government officials, who noted that one million "LDV" armbands had already been printed and the cost of printing another million 'Home Guard' armbands would be excessive, Churchill would not be dissuaded. On 22 July, the LDV was officially renamed the Home Guard. Churchill ruled decisively on the issue of whether civilian volunteers should actively resist German forces, even at
11470-677: The Second World War consistently conformed to those principles: captured partisans in the Soviet Union and the Balkans, whether they were fighting in uniform or not, were killed on the spot. German radio broadcasts described the British Home Guard as 'gangs of murderers' and left no doubt that they would not be regarded as lawful combatants. By the end of 1940, the Home Guard was established into 1,200 battalions , 5,000 companies and 25,000 platoons . For its primary defensive role, each section
11625-621: The Security Services, they should be supplied to local Home Guard units in the event of an invasion. Lord Swinton was ordered by Churchill to determine the true extent of the threat and to propose measures to deal with it. Swinton's immediate response was that internment of British nationals with pro-German sympathies should be greatly extended, and Oswald Mosley and other leaders of the British Union of Fascists were interned on 21 May 1940, with some 700 other suspects. However, following
11780-535: The South Coast and Home Counties and those defending key air industry suppliers from air and paratroop attack, and had an invasion happened in September or October, those Home Guard units would have largely been well equipped and armed for a static defence role, the key remaining lack being an effective anti-tank grenade capable of being launched a reasonable distance. After September 1940, the army began to take charge of
11935-491: The TV series Dad's Army was filmed. The statue shows Captain Mainwaring sitting upright on a simple bench in Home Guard uniform, with his swagger stick across his knees. The statue is mounted at the end of a winding brick pathway with a Union Flag patterned arrowhead to reflect the opening credits of the TV series and the sculpture has been designed so that one can sit next to Captain Mainwaring and have one's photo taken. In 1995,
12090-499: The US embassy spying for the Germans, was apprehended by MI5 . Kent had in his possession a locked ledger of 235 names, which was the prewar membership records of the " Right Club ", an anti-war and anti-Semitic association run by the Conservative MP Archibald Maule Ramsay . None of that was made public at the time, but there was widespread public demand that if the names in the 'Red Book' could be obtained by
12245-426: The United Kingdom and other strategically important sites such as airfields, factories and explosives stores, until late 1944, when they were stood down. They were formally disbanded on 31 December 1945, eight months after Germany's surrender. Men aged 17 to 65 years could join, although the age limits were not strictly enforced. One platoon had a fourteen year old and three men in their eighties enrolled in it. Service
12400-408: The United Kingdom declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, debates began in official circles about the possible ways in which the German military might invade Britain. In the first week of the conflict, numerous diplomatic and intelligence reports seemed to indicate that there was the possibility of an imminent German amphibious assault. Many government ministers and senior army officials, including
12555-472: The United Kingdom, France, Spain, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and China where business hours extend beyond midnight, such as broadcast television production and scheduling. The GTFS public transport schedule listings file format has the concept of service days and expects times beyond 24:00 for trips that run after midnight. In most countries, computers by default show the time in 24-hour notation. For example, Microsoft Windows and macOS activate
12710-594: The United States and allied English-speaking military forces, differs in some respects from other twenty-four-hour time systems: The first mechanical public clocks introduced in Italy were mechanical 24-hour clocks which counted the 24 hours of the day from one-half hour after sunset to the evening of the following day. The 24th hour was the last hour of day time. From the 14th to the 17th century, two systems of time measurement competed in Europe: The modern 24-hour system
12865-442: The War Office , public-spirited citizens had handed over registered firearms and shotguns, the police issuing certificates allowing these to be used for LDV duties. By July 1940, over 50,000 civilian shotguns were being used by the LDV and specialised solid-ball 12-bore shot-gun ammunition was developed for units. For public (and enemy) consumption, the government maintained that large stocks of Lee–Enfield rifles remained from
13020-430: The War Office and the press and to many ex-senior officers attempting to use their influence to obtain weapons or permission to begin patrolling. The issue of weapons to LDV units was particularly problematic for the War Office, as it was recognised that the rearming and re-equipping of the regular forces would have to take precedence over the LDV. Following a radio appeal on 23 May by Richard Law , Financial Secretary to
13175-467: The War Office for a small units of volunteer defenders attached to the existing regular searchlight companies; and by General Headquarters Home Forces under General Kirke for more loosely-organised local bands to be raised under the authority of the Lords Lieutenant of each county. Over Sunday 12 May 1940,the War Office and senior military officials rapidly compared plans, concluding in favour of
13330-528: The War Office to regular army headquarters throughout Britain explaining the status of LDV units: volunteers would be divided into sections, platoons, companies and groups - each with an appointed volunteer leader; but none would be paid, and leaders of units would not hold commissions or have the power to command regular forces. Finance and logistics for units would be administered (within Great Britain) by County Territorial Army Associations Implementation of
13485-439: The administrative and logistical foundations for the LDV organisation. Eden's public words were generally interpreted as an explicit promise to provide everyone who volunteered with a personal firearm. In retrospect, it was recognised that recruitment would have been better limited to the numbers required (and capable of being armed), with later volunteers given places on a waiting list. However, once volunteers had been enlisted, it
13640-465: The advance of the enemy even by a few hours to give the regular troops time to regroup. They were also tasked with guarding and defending key transport intersections and factories in rear areas against possible capture by paratroops or fifth columnists . An additional prime purpose was to maintain control of the civilian population in the event of an invasion, to forestall panic and to prevent communication routes from being blocked by refugees; so as to free
13795-511: The armed services, the civilian police or other civil defence volunteer organisations, approximately one in five men were Home Guard volunteers. Their primary role was to act as a secondary defence force in their home locality in case of invasion by the forces of Nazi Germany . The Home Guard were initially ordered to observe, and report back to General Headquarters Home Forces, any airborne or seaborne invading forces in their local area; an order extended subsequently to harassing and obstructing
13950-434: The army's efforts during an invasion, but to ignore the calls for a home defence force to be set up would be politically problematic. An officially-sponsored home defence force would allow the government greater control and also allow for greater security around vulnerable areas such as munitions factories and airfields; but there was some confusion over who would form and control the force, with separate plans being drawn up by
14105-464: The bank manager (having started as a clerk and working his way up to assistant chief clerk, chief clerk and eventually manager), Mainwaring reveals in the same episode that he considers it a mere "tinpot branch" and his career is at a seemingly permanent standstill, as revealed in " A. Wilson (Manager)? ": whenever he applies for promotions he is always turned down due to his unimpressive background. Mainwaring's pomposity and snobbery work against him, as he
14260-619: The bombing group attacked with grenades, submachine guns and shotguns. As many Germans as possible should be killed, and no prisoners would be taken. Battle tactics were derived substantially from the experience of Spanish Republican forces although they also drew on the experience of the British Army (and the IRA) in Ireland. The emphasis was on drawing the Germans into fighting in central urban areas at short ranges, where stone buildings would provide cover; lines of communication between units would be short;
14415-402: The bulk were workplace-based, especially as co-operation from employers was necessary to ensure that volunteers would be available for training and operational patrols. Indeed, many employers envisaged their LDV units primarily as protecting industrial plants from fifth column and paratroop attack. The Home Guard did not initially admit women as volunteers. Some women formed their own groups like
14570-454: The chief trainers, and his lectures became the source for a book on guerrilla warfare . Supplies of small arms to the Home Guard improved radically after July 1940, when the active support of US President Franklin Roosevelt allowed the British government to purchase 500,000 M1917 Enfield Rifles and 25,000 M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles from the reserve stock of the US armed forces, but
14725-412: The creation of 12 divisions similar in composition to that of the International Brigades , which had been formed in Spain during the conflict. The divisions would be raised by voluntary enlistment targeting ex-servicemen and youths. Despite great interest by the War Office in the book's assertion that 'security is possible', Wintringham's call to train 100,000 men immediately was not implemented. When
14880-457: The defending forces from concentrating against the main German ground forces. British public opinion conflated the two tactics and concluded that the rapidity of the German victories in Norway, Belgium and the Netherlands had to be caused by German paratroops linking with a prepared 'fifth column' in each country of Nazi sympathisers and ethnic Germans. Now that Britain might potentially face invasion,
15035-437: The end of the episode " War Dance ", a drunken Mainwaring bonds again with Wilson, as they both have been kicked out of their homes by their respective partners that evening and are forced to sleep in Mainwaring's Home Guard office at the church. The British sitcom Goodnight Sweetheart paid tribute to Dad's Army in episode one of its second series in 1995, "Don't Get Around Much Any More". Here, lead character Gary Sparrow –
15190-437: The enemy were within the defensive perimeter of the town in force and they would then be attacked with concentrated firepower of bombs, grenades, shotguns and automatic weapons (as much as possible from above and from the rear), with the object of forcing them into cover close by. Retreating enemy forces would be counterattacked (again preferably from the rear), the automatic weapons group of each squad providing covering fire while
15345-549: The engineer-in-chief of the Canadian Intercolonial Railway , was an early proponent of using the 24-hour clock as part of a programme to reform timekeeping, which also included establishing time zones and a standard prime meridian . At the International Meridian Conference in 1884, the following resolution was adopted by the conference: That this universal day is to be a mean solar day;
15500-605: The episode " Room at the Bottom " before he received his commission). Mainwaring's patriotism can lead to xenophobia (he is not keen on the French , because they are "emotional" and "smell of garlic"; the Russians , because of their former alliance with Germany and their communism ; the Americans , because of their late entry into the war and the fact that many of them have German names ;
15655-459: The event of an invasion, all Auxiliary Units would disappear into their operational bases and would not maintain contact with local Home Guard commanders, who should indeed be wholly unaware of their existence. Hence, although the Auxiliaries were Home Guard volunteers and wore Home Guard uniforms, they would not participate in the conventional phase of their town's defence but would be activated once
15810-404: The event of an invasion, was to man roadblocks, observe German troop movements, convey information to the regular forces and guard places of strategic or tactical importance. The War Office believed that the LDV would act best in such a passive role because of its lack of training, weapons and proper equipment. Such a role clashed with the expectations of LDV commanders and members who believed that
15965-403: The exact end of the day, hh may take the value 24, with mm and ss taking the value 00. In the case of a leap second , the value of ss may extend to 60. A leading zero is added for numbers under 10, but it is optional for the hours. The leading zero is very commonly used in computer applications, and always used when a specification requires it (for example, ISO 8601 ). Where subsecond resolution
16120-561: The expense of setting themselves outside the protection of the Geneva Conventions . The 'Rules of War' , he pointed out, had been drawn up with the express intention of avoiding defeated combatants fighting on to the last. However, in the fight against Nazism, any outcome, including the complete destruction of a town and the massacre of its population, would be preferable to its acquiescing to Nazi rule. The Home Guard in 1940 were an armed uniformed civilian militia, entirely distinct from
16275-508: The fictional role of Captain Mainwaring and his actor Arthur Lowe are portrayed by comedian John Sessions . Harry Enfield portrayed Captain Mainwaring in the 2022 special The Love Box in Your Living Room . In the children's television series Fireman Sam the character of Station Officer Steele was inspired by Captain Mainwaring. Home Guard (United Kingdom) The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV )
16430-504: The first country among those mentioned to adopt 24-hour time nationally, in 1893. Other European countries followed: France adopted it in 1912 (the French army in 1909), followed by Denmark (1916), and Greece (1917). By 1920, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Switzerland had switched, followed by Turkey (1925), and Germany (1927). By the early 1920s, many countries in Latin America had also adopted
16585-537: The first mass-produced Sten submachine guns entered service early in 1942. The German invasion of Poland in September 1939 had been supported by prepared irregular units raised from ethnic German populations in western Poland. Linking with the Brandenburg Regiment , troops equipped to fight in the uniforms of their opponents or disguised as civilians. As the German armed services refused to countenance regular troops engaging in such clearly irregular tactics,
16740-469: The first time, all Home Guard members could have their own issue firearm. Home Guard training at Osterley Park had disseminated experience from Spanish Republican forces, in using improvised grenades and bombs in urban warfare against tanks. Two particular weapons were recommended for that purpose: the satchel bomb , a fused explosive charge in a canvas bag, and the Molotov cocktail , a glass bottle containing
16895-621: The government had considered training golfers in rifle shooting to eliminate stray parachutists. The calls alarmed government and senior military officials, who worried about the prospect of the population forming private defence forces that the army would not be able to control, and in mid-May, the Home Office issued a press release on the matter. It was the task of the army to deal with enemy parachutists, as any civilians who carried weapons and fired on German troops were likely to be executed if captured. Moreover, any lone parachutist descending from
17050-432: The international standard colon. In some contexts (including some computer protocols and military time), no separator is used and times are written as, for example, "2359". In the 24-hour time notation, the day begins at midnight, 00:00 or 0:00, and the last minute of the day begins at 23:59. Where convenient, the notation 24:00 may also be used to refer to midnight at the end of a given date — that is, 24:00 of one day
17205-422: The internment of suspect aliens to prevent the formation of a fifth column and to allow the population to take up arms to defend themselves against an invasion. Calls for some form of home defence force soon began to be heard from the press and from private individuals. The press baron Lord Kemsley privately proposed to the War Office that rifle clubs form the nucleus of a home defence force, and Josiah Wedgwood ,
17360-438: The legacy of self-reliant improvisation in the face of what was interpreted as official disregard and obstruction was to remain as a characteristic of the Home Guard throughout its existence. Another problem that was encountered as the LDV was organised was the definition of the role the organisation was to play. Initially, in the eyes of the War Office and the army, the LDV was to act as 'an armed police constabulary', which, in
17515-464: The legal status of members of the Armed Forces. In the rush to complete a plan and announce it to the public many administrative and logistical problems had been left unresolved, such as how the volunteers in the new force would be armed, which caused problems as the force evolved. On the evening of 14 May 1940, Secretary of State for War Anthony Eden gave a radio broadcast announcing the formation of
17670-622: The legion appears to have dissolved itself at the same time. The Battle of France began on 10 May 1940, with the Wehrmacht invading Belgium, the Netherlands and France. By 20 May, German forces had reached the English Channel , and on 28 May, the Belgian Army surrendered. The combination of the large-scale combined operations mounted by the Wehrmacht during the invasion of Norway in April and
17825-467: The letters "LDV". There were also river patrols using the private craft of members. Many officers from the First World War armed themselves with Webley Mk VI .455 revolvers (officers had been expected to purchase their sidearms privately and retained them in civilian life). There were also numerous private attempts to produce armoured vehicles by adding steel plates to cars or lorries, often armed with machine guns . These improvised vehicles included
17980-623: The local Home Guard defence had ended to inflict maximum mayhem and disruption over a further necessarily brief but violent period. It is a common fallacy that the Home Guard never fired a shot in anger during the whole of the Second World War. In fact, individual Home Guardsmen helped man anti-aircraft guns as early as the Battle of Britain during the summer of 1940. By 1943, the Home Guard operated its own dedicated batteries of anti-aircraft guns, rockets , coastal defence artillery and engaging German planes with their machine guns. They are credited with shooting down numerous Luftwaffe aircraft and
18135-654: The loss at sea on 2 July 1940 of the SS ; Arandora Star , carrying German and Italian internees to Canada, the impracticalities and potential injustices of internment became more apparent, and the public understanding of the fifth column threat changed from being directed towards enemy nationals towards upper and upper-middle class Englishmen. Within a few weeks, the Security Services admitted that it had been unable to confirm any actual instance of organised fifth column activity or even any actual confirmed fifth columnist. Churchill, "with an impressive display of amnesia" , asserted in
18290-436: The most dangerous position even though in drawing lots he had picked the safest (" Asleep in the Deep "). He also places the safety of his country above his own interests. In " Command Decision ", Mainwaring is prepared to relinquish control so that the platoon could gain rifles, arguing that the defence of the country is more important than his ego. In addition he is prepared to "march in the ranks as Private Mainwaring" when he
18445-629: The organisation would be best suited to an active role of hunting down and killing parachutists, and fifth columnists , as well as attacking and harassing German forces. "In the popular mind it was the twin terrors of Nazi paratrooper and Fifth Columnist traitor which were the Home Guard’s nemesis, its natural enemy. Notwithstanding that the Home Guard actually spent most of its time preparing to defend 'nodal points' against tank attack, operating anti-aircraft artillery or locating unexploded bombs." The clash led to morale problems and even more complaints to
18600-615: The other members of the Home Guard, particularly Wilson, who was a decorated captain in the Royal Artillery ( Mons , Gallipoli , and Passchendaele ) during the First World War. Mainwaring did, however, serve in the Army of Occupation in France, "during the whole of 1919 – somebody had to clear up the mess." He volunteered to enlist in 1914 but was rejected with poor eyesight (During the Second World War, John Le Mesurier , who played Wilson, had been
18755-423: The platoon consisted of three squads of around 8 men, each squad having a three-man automatic weapons group (usually with one either of a BAR or Lewis gun) and a rifle/bomb group armed with M1917 rifles, grenades and sticky-bombs, and a Thompson or Sten sub-machine gun if possible. Men without rifles should all have shotguns, if available. The basic tactical principle was 'aggressive defence'; fire would be held until
18910-570: The platoon that his marriage has been childless. Mainwaring's class pretensions stand in contrast to his Sergeant, who is genuinely upper middle class. Mainwaring is often bitter about Wilson's wealthy upbringing; being raised by a nanny, a father who held a career in " the City ", and having attended public school , believing it made him "wet", while his own grammar school background is a positive attribute (Mainwaring went to Eastbourne Grammar School and Wilson went to Meadow Bridge public school). Mainwaring
19065-532: The press and the War Office from LDV members who were opposed, as they saw it, the government's leaving them defenceless and placing them in a noncombatant role. Complaints about the role of the LDV and continuing problems encountered by the War Office in its attempts to clothe and arm the LDV, led the government to respond to public pressure in August, redefining the role of the LDV to include delaying and obstructing German forces through any means possible. Also in August,
19220-581: The proposals from GHQ Home Forces; and then on 13 May 1940 worked out an improvised scheme for a home defence force, to be called the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). There had been no consulation with other government departments that would be affected, no consultation with the Treasury over spending approval, and no consultation with the legal officers of the Crown over how volunteers might be claimed to have
19375-547: The prospect that much of the English Channel coast would soon be occupied made the prospect of a German invasion of the British Isles alarmingly real. Fears of an invasion grew rapidly, spurred on by reports both in the press and from official government bodies, of a fifth column operating in Britain that would aid an invasion by German airborne forces . The government soon found itself under increasing pressure to extend
19530-588: The regular armed forces. Volunteers originally had no recognised military rank, were not subject to military discipline and could withdraw (or be withdrawn by their employers) at any time. In 1941, nominal ranks were introduced for Home Guard 'officers', and in 1942, limited conscription was implemented intended for circumstances where Home Guard forces were taking over functions from regular forces (chiefly coastal artillery and anti-aircraft batteries), and non-officer volunteers became 'privates'. Volunteers remained legally civilians and failure to attend when ordered to do so
19685-565: The regular army, with a General Staff Officer coordinating with civilian regional commissioners to divide these areas into defined zones with an appointed, volunteer, leader. In London, zones were organised on the basis of police districts. On 17 May, the LDV achieved official legal status when the Privy Council issued the Defence (Local Defence Volunteers) Order in Council , and orders were issued from
19840-458: The regular forces to fight the Germans. During the German bombing campaign of ' The Blitz ' they were given the duty of seeking out and guarding unexploded bombs, in the course of which over 1,000 were killed. From 1942, the Home Guard manned coastal artillery and anti-aircraft gun and rocket batteries, releasing regular soldiers for the invasion of Europe. The Home Guard continued to man observation points and roadblocks, and to guard coastal areas of
19995-569: The regulations proved to be extremely difficult, particularly as the primary focus of the War Office and General Headquarters Home Forces was on Operation Dynamo , the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from Dunkirk between 27 May and 4 June 1940. The apparent lack of focus led to many LDV members becoming impatient, particularly when it was announced that volunteers would receive only armbands printed with "L.D.V." on them until proper uniforms could be manufactured, and there
20150-462: The same time, Churchill, who had assumed the position of Prime Minister in May 1940, became involved in the matter after being alerted to the problems, obtaining a summary of the current LDV position from the War Office on 22 June 1940. After reviewing the summary, Churchill wrote to Eden stating that in his opinion, one of the main causes of disciplinary and morale problems stemmed from the uninspiring title of
20305-524: The self-styled " Legion of Frontiersmen ". Officials were soon informed of the development of the legion, with the Adjutant-General , Sir Robert Gordon-Finlayson , arguing that the government should encourage the development of more unofficial organisations. The fear of invasion in 1939 quickly dissipated as it became evident that the German military was not in a position to launch an invasion of Britain; official enthusiasm for home defence forces waned and
20460-429: The series 2 episode of Goodnight Sweetheart entitled Don't Get Around Much Anymore had a meta reference to the character, whereby the series protagonist, Gary Sparrow, travels back in time to visit a wartime bank and finds that its manager is in fact the "real" Mr Mainwaring (portrayed by Alec Linstead) who, accompanied by his chief clerk Mr Wilson, serves in the Home Guard. In the 2015 Docudrama We're Doomed! ,
20615-410: The skies in the summer of 1940 was far more likely to be a downed RAF airman than a German Fallschirmjäger . Nevertheless, private defence forces soon began to be formed throughout the country, often sponsored by employers seeking to bolster defence of their factories. This placed the government in an awkward position. The private forces, which the army might not be able to control, could well inhibit
20770-482: The son of a successful tailor in Eastbourne , but Lance Corporal Jones reveals that Mainwaring's father was actually a poor draper who sold badly-made workmen's trousers and Barry Mainwaring confirms this. "If I had a title I'd be on the board of directors at the bank!" he shouts at Sergeant Wilson when the latter gains a title in the episode " The Honourable Man ". Despite his arrogance being encouraged by his status as
20925-579: The system; the United States Army , however, did not officially adopt the 24-hour clock until 1 July 1942. The use of the 24-hour clock in the United Kingdom has grown steadily since the beginning of the 20th century, although attempts to make the system official failed more than once. In 1934, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) switched to the 24-hour clock for broadcast announcements and programme listings. The experiment
21080-405: The task of locating unexploded bombs after raids and, if such bombs were found (often after several months or years), would commonly assist in sealing off the danger area and evacuating civilians. Most Home Guard wartime fatalities occurred in the course of that task. Aside from deaths in accidents, the Home Guard lost a total of 1,206 members on duty to unexploded bombs, air and rocket attacks during
21235-532: The use of 00:00 is also avoided. In variance with this, as of 2010, the correspondence manual for the United States Navy and United States Marine Corps formerly specified 0001 to 2400. The manual was updated in June 2015 to use 0000 to 2359. Time-of-day notations beyond 24:00 (such as 24:01 or 25:00 instead of 00:01 or 01:00) are not commonly used and not covered by the relevant standards. However, they have been used occasionally in some special contexts in
21390-501: The very limited initial issue of standard Lee-Enfield rifles was withdrawn as the American arms became available, as were some 25,000 Pattern 14 .303 rifles (the British calibre version of the M1917 Enfield) and 60,000 Canadian Ross rifles . The M1918 Browning Automatic Rifles lacked the bipod stand and carrying handle that the US army had applied in an attempt to convert the weapon into a light machine gun but, when used primarily as
21545-446: The war", and is often disdainful of the upper classes and their pretensions. In " Wake Up Walmington ", Mainwaring raves about how after the war, the country "will be run by professionals", by people who have worked like him, but does not approve of Hodges being Chief ARP Warden because he is a greengrocer. Mainwaring is generally ill at ease in social situations that require him to communicate with people on an equal social level and this
21700-511: The war, there were no reserve ammunition stocks, which reinforced the impression that they were not frontline weapons. For regular shooting practice, the Home Guard mainly borrowed Territorial Army shooting ranges and guns, with limited issue of live .22 and .303 ammunition. From 1942, the Thompson guns (and their ammunition) were increasingly withdrawn to be issued to Commando forces but were replaced by large numbers of Sten submachine guns. For
21855-416: The war. For the first few weeks the LDV were poorly armed since the regular forces had priority for weapons and equipment. Since the government could not admit the severe shortage of basic armaments for the regular troops in 1940, the public remained deeply frustrated at the failure to issue rifles to the LDV. Rifles were a particular problem, as domestic production of new Lee-Enfield rifles had ceased after
22010-467: The world today, and is used by the international standard ISO 8601 . A number of countries, particularly English speaking, use the 12-hour clock, or a mixture of the 24- and 12-hour time systems. In countries where the 12-hour clock is dominant, some professions prefer to use the 24-hour clock. For example, in the practice of medicine , the 24-hour clock is generally used in documentation of care as it prevents any ambiguity as to when events occurred in
22165-476: The year after the armistice was signed. He was later officially designated as the captain by the GHQ, in the episode " Room at the Bottom ", after his brief reduction in rank. Despite his claim to be the son of a master tailor, it is revealed that his father was a poor draper and a heavy drinker, as is his profligate brother, Barry, who is a travelling salesman specialising in novelty toys. He has many redeeming qualities: he
22320-573: Was an unpaid armed citizen militia supporting the 'Home Forces' of the British Army during the Second World War . Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard comprised more than 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible for military service, such as those who were too young or too old to join the regular armed services (regular military service was restricted to those aged 18 to 41) and those in reserved occupations . Excluding those already in
22475-429: Was anticipated that up to 500,000 men might volunteer, a number that conformed generally with the Army's expectation of the total numbers required to fulfill the LDV's expected functions. However, the announcement was met with much enthusiasm: 250,000 volunteers tried to sign up in the first seven days, and by July this had increased to 1.5 million. Social groups such as cricket clubs began forming their own units, but
22630-419: Was considered impossible from a public relations perspective to then dismiss them. Nevertheless, the regular forces saw no priority in providing more arms and equipment to the new force than would have been needed had numbers been properly constrained in the first place. In telegrams to the lord lieutenants of each county it was explained that LDV units would operate in predefined military areas already used by
22785-469: Was convinced that substantial landowners in the British fifth column had already prepared secret landing strips in South East England for the use of German airborne forces. The Imperial General Staff, spurred on by Churchill, pressed for widespread internment of Nazi- sympathisers. The government's worst fears were briefly thought to have been confirmed on 20 May 1940. Tyler Kent , a cipher clerk in
22940-527: Was halted after five months following a lack of enthusiasm from the public, and the BBC continued using the 12-hour clock. In the same year, Pan American World Airways Corporation and Western Airlines in the United States both adopted the 24-hour clock. In modern times, the BBC uses a mixture of both the 12-hour and the 24-hour clock. British Rail , London Transport , and the London Underground switched to
23095-469: Was no assurance as to when weapons would be issued to units. The impatience led to many units conducting their own patrols without official permission, often led by men who had previously served in the armed forces. The presence of many veterans and the appointment of ex-officers to command LDV units, only worsened the situation, with many believing that they did not require training before being issued weapons. That led to numerous complaints being received by
23250-474: Was one major reason that the weapons had been turned down for use by the regular army in the first place. Indeed, it rapidly became accepted that any weapons firing US calibre .30 ammunition would go to the Home Guard. Each gun came with an adequate supply of ammunition: 50 rounds for each Enfield, 750 for each BAR and up to 1,000 rounds for the 'Tommy Guns'. However, Home Guard units were commonly not allowed to fire them in practice shooting as, until America entered
23405-534: Was punishable by civilian authorities. Nevertheless, the British Government consistently maintained that as Home Guard service was strictly to be undertaken only in approved uniform. Uniformed volunteers would be lawful combatants within the Geneva Conventions and so would be " prisoners of war " if captured. That was an argument with a long history since armed civilian irregulars (uniformed and non-uniformed) had been widely employed by smaller combatant nations in
23560-421: Was scarce. Members of the public deposited their sporting rifles at their local police stations, to be used (on loan) by the LDV, and local police forces themselves donated their stocks of military rifles, again on loan, but those expedients provided only around 8,000 rifles (although that number did not include volunteers' use of their own firearms). Ex- communist and Spanish Civil War veteran Tom Wintringham ,
23715-404: Was the daughter of the (fictional) suffragan Bishop of Clegthorpe and her parents look down on Captain Mainwaring for "marrying beneath her"; which may go some way to explaining Mainwaring's extreme class consciousness and slight prudery. Mainwaring talks up his own social background by claiming that his father was a "master tailor" but in " My Brother and I " his brother reveals that he merely owned
23870-482: Was trained and equipped to operate as a single, largely independent 'battle platoon', with an operational establishment of between 25 and 30 men at any one time although, as volunteers would also have full-time jobs, the numbers of volunteers in each section would be around twice that establishment. In the event of an invasion, the Home Guard battle platoons in a town would be under the overall control of an Army military commander and maintain contact with that commander with
24025-589: Was unpaid (although out-of-pocket expenses could be claimed) but gave a chance for older or inexperienced soldiers to support the war effort. The origins of the Second World War Home Guard can be traced to Captain Tom Wintringham , who returned from the Spanish Civil War and wrote a book entitled How to Reform the Army . In the book, as well as many regular army reforms, Wintringham called for
#697302