GHQ Auxiliary Units
MYTH AND REALITY

Since the publication of David Lampe's The Last Ditch in 1968, a huge mythology has built up around the Auxiliary Units.  This has been fuelled by a desire of veterans to distance themselves from the comic impression of the Home Guard as portrayed in the TV series Dad's Army, the temptation of researchers to accept oral evidence without corroboration and the romantic attraction of 'secret armies'.  This is discussed in detail in Fighting Nazi Occupation and To the Last Man but this website contains a number of essay on the subject. 

An on-line article explaining the development of the mythology, whose marketing still   persists in identifying  the Auxiliary Units as  Britain's 'last ditch' line of defence and as a 'Resistance' organisation. The terminology has acquired an emotional, even nationalistic,  attachment that is difficult to shift.This is not to detract from the bravery of those that took part but highlights the difficulties of reliance on a 'ground-up' interpretation of history.  The study also demonstrates how history can be distorted to meet cultural imperatives. 

This  article was originally published in 2016 on Academia.Edu and can now also be accessed as a PDF

HERE.

The myth of the Auxiliary Units as 'civilian saboteurs'.  Click HERE

For discussion on the chronology of Auxiliary Units weaponry click HERE

For  more on the myth of the Thompson sub-machine gun in Auxiliary Units service click HERE