Malcolm Atkin Military Research
The Dorking Propaganda Photos 1940
One of the most famous series of Home Guard photographs was taken in December 1940 by War Office photographer Captain Len Puttnam. He had covered the retreat through France in 1940 (being twice evacuated from Dunkirk) and then photographed the Home Guard and the re-building of the army. His high quality images were probably taken with a Goertz Ango medium format plate camera (standard early war issue).
Many of Puttnam's images were documentary in style, recording actual events, but others were more artificially staged government commissions. The latter included the famous series of photographs of the Home Guard at Brockham, near Dorking on 1 December 1940. With a quintessentially English backdrop of village green and flower-bedecked front porch, the latest weapons held for demonstration and training purposes by the nearby Home Guard Training School (but not necessarily issued for general service) were modelled here, mainly by attending officer students, to create an image of a well-equipped force with the clear intended message ‘Don’t mess with us’! This moved the image on from the legend of the 'broomstick army', which had now served its purpose of encouraging early support from the USA.
Puttnam photographed a variety of scenarios on the day as the weapons were passed from man to man, and some are more successful than others. The two officers standing by cottage door are the most awkward and the isolated Vickers machine gun position is clearly artificial. The stars of the day were the homely Sergeant and his wife with the Thompson and their air of quiet determination around their humble kitchen table. This provided a more inclusive note than the other photos that were dominated by officers. In reality, the Thompson SMG had not yet been issued to the Home Guard (or Auxiliary Units) and the Bren gun was never a widespread issue.
because of their high quality, the images are widely used and are oft-repeated across the internet, but are frequently taken out of context to illustrate Home Guard weaponry. Their true character as highly-staged images becomes apparent when they are viewed as a group.
Photos: IWM.
The character of the photoshoot is most clearly seen in images that show a small group of mainly Home Guard officers on the picturesque village green, being given an introduction to the Vickers Machine Gun, Thompson, BAR and Bren gun - giving the impression of a Home Guard bristling with automatic weapons.
This artificial construct makes it clear that we are not looking at images of a working Home Guard unit, but rather attendees of the nearby Dorking Home Guard Training School. The school had been provided with demonstration examples of weapons that it was hoped would soon be issued to the Home Guard and this was an opportunity to show them off, not least to impress the enemy with their supposed firepower.
Home Guard officers act out the role of a Vickers machine gun team, although the siting of the gun in the open, in middle of a village green, is hardly convincing. But the image shows off the heavy firepower of the Home Guard against a backdrop of the traditional village green complete with the village pump, surmounted by a cross - 'God and Country' personified!
Two officers pose very awkwardly with the Thompson and Bren gun at the rose-surrounded cottage door. The reality is that the Thompson did not begin to be issued to the Home Guard until March 1941 (and the Auxiliary Units even later).
In June 1940 Britain had just 12,000 Bren guns and the Home Guard standardised on the US BAR (in the same .300 calibre as the P17 rifle). Some Bren guns were at least temporarily acquired by the Ministry of Aircraft Production to equip the Beaverette armoured cars of its Home Guard factory units. A small number were later issued to the Home Guard in 1942 for training purposes - but there were still only 112 in its hands in November 1942.
Training in their use was important because sometimes the Home Guard shared A/A positions and guard posts with the army, where a Bren gun was the allocated weapon. Similarly, they took over duties on some armoured trains where Bren guns had been installed.
Posing with the Bren gun and Thompson on the village green - the symbol of a traditional England, defended in depth and daring the enemy to invade.
The best known, and most natural, of the Dorking series are those of the sergeant and his wife in their simple cottage kitchen. The message of the quiet determination of ordinary people is clear. The sergeant cleans 'his' Thompson at the kitchen table, complete with pot of tea, sucking his pipe while his wife loyally knits beside him. It would be hard to devise a more quintessentially English scene.
Sitting in his favourite armchair with pipe and newspaper, but with 'his' Thompson casually (and not very safely) laid on the sideboard behind him, ready for any invasion. This is the type of scene of everyday life, but with preparations for war ever-present in the background, that Eric Kennington would later make famous in John Brophy's 1945 The Home Guard: a character study.
A favourite pose of wartime photographers - defending 'Hearth and Home'. The man readies for war while the woman looks after the home.
The light automatic weapon that the Home Guard did have from July 1940 - the Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR).
The .300 calibre Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) had a history going back to the First World War, but only became a standard issue to US forces in 1938 as a light machine gun. Technically a cross between a rifle and a light machine gun with a 20-round magazine, in effect it was seen as an approximate equivalent of the British Bren gun. 25,000 BARs were included in the June 1940 contract between the USA and Britain and it became the standard light machine gun of the Home Guard. 2,000 BAR had been issued by 23 July 1940 and 7,400 by 26 July. Each was supplied with 750 rounds of ammunition.