Malcolm Atkin Military Research
MALCOLM ATKIN
MILITARY RESEARCH
INTRODUCTION
Malcolm Atkin BA, FSA, FRHistS, MCIFA
Projects on WW2 military history with a common theme of unravelling well-established mythology and establishing the context for plans to resist a Nazi invasion of Britain by clandestine means. The work arose out of an initial study of the GHQ Auxiliary Units and developed into a broader study of the Home Guard and the inter-relationship of early war British Intelligence organisations, which eventually led to the creation of SOE.
In 2015 the work produced the first detailed account of the SIS Resistance organisation - Section VII - and transformed understanding of the much misunderstood Auxiliary Units. As a result, the popular misnomer 'British Resistance Organisation' for the Auxiliary Units. has now been largely abandoned. The research led to the first detailed account of the pioneering Section D of SIS and its counterpart in the War Office, MI(R) as well as a new study of the Home Guard that escaped the comedic mythology of the TV series Dad's Army. This research has culminated in the publication of Britain's Guerrilla Army in 2024.
The work goes beneath the veneer of romanticism and un-sourced 'sound-bite' history that plagues such topics. It challenges received wisdom and casual assumptions, often accompanied by a high emotional investment, that have distorted the subject. Long-disproved myths are still being confidently circulated on-line and in print, risking being forever entrenched in popular memory. Indeed the mythology of the Home Guard and Auxiliary Units has now become a topic for study in itself!
CASE STUDIES
A fact of 21st century life is that many people, rather than read detailed books on a particular subject, assume they can instantly find the most up-to-date information on a topic via the internet - without realising the latter is littered with poortly-sourced and out-of-date texts, endlessly re-circulated and repeated in chatrooms. Similarly, there is a tendency to try to attach simplistic labels to organisations and try to shoe-horn them into a traditionalist interpretation of the past.
The present website supports published texts by offering up-to-date information and critical analysis on the concept and structure of British plans for guerrilla warfare and resistance in WW2 Britain. It includes case studies that expand on published research and strips away some of the mythology that has accumulated. This includes the much-misunderstood history of Auxiliary Units weaponry and Special Duties Branch. It revisits the contentious issue of whether the Home Guard and Auxiliary Units, whilst part of a 'citizen army', can be considered truly 'civilian'. In a topic that has been subject to nationalistic hyperbole, case studies are also provided on the European context.
Pages also consider the impact of photographs constructed for propaganda purposes, including the oft-used Home Guard photo-shoot at Dorking in December 1940, which are now widely mis-interpreted as being a genuine historical record. Hopefully this will encourage further reading on such topics.
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Follow the links at the top of page for further details. See also Facebook https://www.facebook.com/atkinmilitary for further snippets of information.
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PUBLISHED 7 APRIL 2025.
CINDERELLA RIFLES: THE .22 RIFLES OF THE HOME GUARD AND AUXILIARY UNITS
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The first detailed study of the use of the .22 rifle by Home Guard and Auxiliary Units. In May 1940 the .22 rifle served as an extemporised weapon but was soon relegated to its traditional training role, while become an important social focus for the Home Guard. From 1942 there was an anomalous issue of silenced .22 rifles to the Auxiliary Units, ostensibly to be used as short-range sniper rifles but primarily to boost morale. The history of the .22 rifle in Home Guard and Auxiliary Units service illustrates the tensions between the perspective and aspirations of the volunteers and the priorities of the War Office as well as the difficulties in separating fact from accumulated mythology.
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Published in hardback, paperback and ebook by MAMR Books (2025).
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As a taster on the subject see HERE
THE PUBLICATIONS
BRITAIN'S GUERRILLA ARMY
PLANS FOR A SECRET WAR 1939-45
The most comprehensive and detailed account published to date of Britain's complex plans, both official and unofficial to fight a secret war in the event of Nazi invasion - and how this differed from what Britain was prepared to promote abroad. At the core of this was the battle between the concepts of civilian and military engagement in a total war. This builds on the 2015 Fighting Nazi Occupation and subsequent research to unravel the entwined efforts of the Secret Intelligence Service and War Office to prepare for a Nazi invasion. The crucial role of SIS is revealed throughout, while an analysis of the role of the now-famous Auxiliary Units challenges modern preconceptions, highlighting the risks of a reliance on oral history, often recorded decades after the event.
Published by Pen & Sword (2024)
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SECTION D FOR DESTRUCTION:
FORERUNNER OF SOE AND SOE
Section D, formed in April 1938, secretly went to war in March 1939 and, operating across over twenty countries, providing the inspiration for the Auxiliary Units and SOE. The subject of frequent complaints by contemporaries who disliked this new form of warfare, its officers were described as men 'without morals or scruples'. Political in-fighting and jealousies at the time has led to a considerable under-appreciation of their role and achievements. Also included is new documentary evidence on the relationship of the Home Defence Scheme of Section D to the Auxiliary Units.
The first edition of this book (published in 2017) was the first major publication of the work of Section D. This updated edition was published in November 2023 by Pen & Sword. It contains expanded texts on the Technical Section and the relationship of Section D to the Auxiliary Units.
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NO SCRUPLES, FEW MORALS:
THE ANARCHISTS OF BRITISH INTELLIGENCE
A short article in Aspects of History, Issue 20, providing a short introduction to the breadth and innovation of the work of Section D from 1938-1940.
Available from www.aspectsofhistory.com
PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS
TO THE LAST MAN:
THE HOME GUARD IN WAR AND POPULAR CULTURE
The Home Guard was a key, if suicidal, element of the defences of Britain in 1940-1 and thereafter took on increasing responsibilities for air and coastal defence. During the war, the image of the Home Guard was carefully managed but was already creating its own myths. In the post-war period, the myth began to overtake reality and has had both a fundamental impact on the nature of research into the Home Guard and its specialist Auxiliary Units. This publication continues the re-examination of the roles of the Home Guard and Auxiliary Units, and dissects their image in popular culture. It also reassesses the scheme for the private donation of arms from the USA. and the role of women in the Home Guard. Also included is a study of the near-forgotten 1950s Home Guard.
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Published by Pen & Sword, (2019).
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FIGHTING NAZI OCCUPATION:
PLANNING FOR BRITISH RESISTANCE 1939 -1945
The original ground-breaking study of the complex network of organisations that evolved to combat any Nazi invasion of Britain and to provide the basis of a long term resistance movement. This is set within the context of a battle between the Secret Intelligence Service and the War Office for the control of irregular warfare. The book contained the most detailed analysis published to date, based on original documentary sources and fully-referenced, of the GHQ Auxiliary Units and their Special Duties Branch, forensically cutting through the mythology that this was the 'British Resistance Organisation'. The book also contained the first in-depth publication of the shadowy SIS resistance organisation (known only as Section VII or 'DB's organisation'), with hitherto unpublished documentary evidence. The significance of the Home Guard industrial sabotage units and the innovative guerrilla school at Osterley Park is also considered.
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Published by Pen & Sword, (2015). Now updated in 2024 as Britain's Guerrilla Army.
MYTH AND REALITY:
THE SECOND WORLD WAR AUXILIARY UNITS
The romance of the Auxiliary Units and their secret 'hides' or 'operational bases' is seductive. One of the modern myths of WW2 history is that the operational patrols of the GHQ Auxiliary Units were the 'British Resistance Organisation' and a romantic 'Last Ditch' of the nation's defence. In reality, it was a hastily-constructed scheme to provide a military, uniformed, commando force based around the Home Guard, and which accidentally acquired, from Section D of SIS, an infant intelligence-gathering wing (which was converted into body that monitored the British population). Myth and Reality, first published on-line in 2016, was the first summary of the process by which the mythology arose, and still persists as a modern marketing tool and media sound-bite.
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First published online in 2016
PIONEERS OF IRREGULAR WARFARE:
SECRETS OF
THE MILITARY INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH DEPARTMENT
IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
A history of the innovative work in irregular warfare undertaken by Joe Holland and the secret Military Intelligence (Research) department (MI(R)) of the War Office. This was not a body that was primarily concerned with conducting operations, but Holland established a key doctrine that led to the creation of the commandos and SAS, and even predicted the use of helicopters for the next generation of Special Forces. A central feature of the book is the relationship of Jo Holland to one of his deputies, Colin Gubbins (a future head of the Auxiliary Units and SOE), and how the ambition of the latter impacted on the relationship of MI(R) to SIS. The reputation of Gubbins as a pioneer of irregular warfare is dissected, with conclusions that may be surprising.
Published by Pen & Sword, 2021.
ON-LINE TEXTS
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The published books are supported by a number of on-line texts, hosted on https://independent.academia.edu/MalcolmAtkin as pdf files. Two of the most popular downloads are Myth and Reality: the Second World War Auxiliary Units (now also available HERE) and Appendix 2 of Section D for Destruction, which provided the first comprehensive list of the officers and agents of Section D. A new edition was uploaded in October 2023.
WAR PHOTOGRAPHY
I have a long-standing interest in the development of 20th century war photography and its cameras. The images taken by the brave and determined men and women, who went to war with a camera, have had a major impact in shaping our understanding of conflict but they must be interpreted with care. Some images reflect the honesty of a captured moment in time but others were carefully constructed for propaganda purposes at a time when all published photographs were subject to censorship.
Other images have been reinterpreted in the post-war period to match current preconceptions of the era. For an introduction to the topic, with a focus on the work of the Second World War AFPU, see HERE.
Supporting resources are published on Academia.edu.
See also Facebook page for updates.
