What do you think?
Rate this book
Dad's Army: The Defence of a Front Line English Village Edited by Arthur Wilson M.A.
'This log is intended for field commanders trying to force a ruthless fighting unit. It therefore deals with war and weapons and how to turn ordinary chaps into tough as steel soldiers. It is unsuitable for civilians.'
These are the words of Captain George Mainwaring who commanded the Walmington-on-Sea platoon of the Home Guard during the Second World War. When Arthur Wilson, M.A., the nephew of Mainwaring's platoon sergeant, was asked to write a book marking the anniversary of the outbreak of war in 1939, he travelled to Walmington in search of inspiration. There he discovered a rich treasure for, in addition to his daily log, Mainwaring had collected a huge dossier of journals, notebooks, letters, clippings and much else about his platoon's wartime activities.
From this abundance, Arthur Wilson M.A. has produced a superb book, interwoven with the human and humorous exploits of Mainwaring himself, Sergeant Wilson, L/Cpl. Jones, Walker, Frazer, Pike and other fascinating characters.
The book is fully illustrated with images redolent of the war years, many showing the platoon defending Walmington. It will, contrary to Mainwaring's stern warning, prove a feast for almost everyone.
These are the words of Captain George Mainwaring who commanded the Walmington-on-Sea platoon of the Home Guard during the Second World War. When Arthur Wilson, M.A., the nephew of Mainwaring's platoon sergeant, was asked to write a book marking the anniversary of the outbreak of war in 1939, he travelled to Walmington in search of inspiration. There he discovered a rich treasure for, in addition to his daily log, Mainwaring had collected a huge dossier of journals, notebooks, letters, clippings and much else about his platoon's wartime activities.
From this abundance, Arthur Wilson M.A. has produced a superb book, interwoven with the human and humorous exploits of Mainwaring himself, Sergeant Wilson, L/Cpl. Jones, Walker, Frazer, Pike and other fascinating characters.
The book is fully illustrated with images redolent of the war years, many showing the platoon defending Walmington. It will, contrary to Mainwaring's stern warning, prove a feast for almost everyone.
128 pages, Hardcover
First published December 1, 1989
1 person is currently reading
10 people want to read
About the author
Paul Ableman
49 books5 followersPaul Ableman was an English playwright and novelist. He wrote an eclectic mix of literary novels, erotic fiction, television novelizations, and non-fiction.
Ableman was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, into a Jewish family, and brought up mainly in New York. He later settled in Hampstead, London. His father was a tailor and his mother was a small-time actress.
Ableman was married twice, first to Tina Carrs-Brown in 1958; then to Sheila Hutton-Fox in 1978 until his death in 2006.
Ableman was born in Leeds, Yorkshire, into a Jewish family, and brought up mainly in New York. He later settled in Hampstead, London. His father was a tailor and his mother was a small-time actress.
Ableman was married twice, first to Tina Carrs-Brown in 1958; then to Sheila Hutton-Fox in 1978 until his death in 2006.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
December 20, 2021
This great book is a must for all 'Dad's Army' fans. It is full of the exploits of Captain Mainwaring's fighting unit as it bumbles about Walmington-on-Sea where it provides a front line defence of this English seaside village.
Arthur Wilson, nephew of Mainwaring's Sergeant Wilson, edits the book and it was on a visit to Walmington that he stumbled across 'one of the most remarkable bibliographical discoveries ever made: a cache of documents and photographs, old newspaper clippings, letters and postcards - a veritable treasure trove of memorabilia.' These were discovered in a section of the old Bank, where Mainwaring and Wilson worked, when it was being redeveloped and the documents turned out to be a collection amassed by a certain George Mainwaring and included Mainwaring's wartime log. It was indeed a veritable Aladdin's cave.
Ever modest (!) Mainwaring's first entry explains how 'It's now a year since I appointed myself - that is, since I was appointed -commanding officer ...' This is followed by a letter from Private Frazer to his brother and it begins 'He's been strutting about and lording it over us for years and he's no more an officer than one of the codfish you used to catch, Angus. He's just a wee, jumped-up little Sassenach twerp and I wouldnae be surprised if he wasnae court-marshalled for impairsonating an officer and shot at dawn.' Frazer then goes on to say that there's not 'a man jack amongst them [the others] that's fit for the job' and then gives his brother the low down on each and every one of them! Most enlightening - and amusing.
There follows plenty of episodes in which the Home Guard were involved and, just as in the TV series, the relationship between Mainwaring and Wilson is fully explored as is Mainwaring's way of handling the rest of the platoon. Jones is always asking for 'Permission to speak, sir', Pike is, more often than not, 'you stupid boy', Walker continues to deal in black market goods - in the best possible way - Godfrey is quietly in the background, or out of the room visiting the gents' room, while Frazer has his own agenda and feels that, come what may, 'We're doomed!'
The ARP warden Hodges continues his feud with Mainwaring, whom he dubs 'Napoleon', and the likeable Welsh photographer Cheeseman adds some humour, particularly when he arrives to photograph the arrival of the Americans.
There are many incidents recorded that featured in the TV series (Jimmy Perry and David Croft must have discovered the log and other documents long before Arthur Wilson did so!) and they are all brought back to life by the amusing text that author Paul Ableman, obviously in the guise of Arthur Wilson MA, has provided.
Probably the best, and most touching, of the lot is Mainwaring's brief encounter with Fiona Gray who comes into his life when he decides to form a ladies branch of the Home Guard. It is not often that he shows off the loving side of his nature but in attempting to court Mrs Gray he displays it all for everyone to see. And they did, for even though he thought it was a well kept secret that he was desperately in love with Mrs Gray, all the platoon knew about it and there are comments from each of them as to how they saw it and how silly Mainwaring was to throw himself at another woman. Even Elizabeth Mainwaring suspected that there was another woman involved but she was too wrapped up in her own problems at home and in her bunker to see any further than that.
And the visit of the Americans is well documented, too, and Mainwaring even displays his black eye, administered by Colonel Schultz when that soldier was attempting to smack Hodges. Mainwaring was far from happy when his colonel ordered him to apologise to Schultz but at least he had the last laugh when doing so because Hodges arrived on the scene once more and this time Schultz's blows found the right target.
It is fun all through and one does begin to think that this is a real Home Guard platoon looking out for the safety of an English village - with all the blundering that went on, thank goodness it wasn't!
Arthur Wilson, nephew of Mainwaring's Sergeant Wilson, edits the book and it was on a visit to Walmington that he stumbled across 'one of the most remarkable bibliographical discoveries ever made: a cache of documents and photographs, old newspaper clippings, letters and postcards - a veritable treasure trove of memorabilia.' These were discovered in a section of the old Bank, where Mainwaring and Wilson worked, when it was being redeveloped and the documents turned out to be a collection amassed by a certain George Mainwaring and included Mainwaring's wartime log. It was indeed a veritable Aladdin's cave.
Ever modest (!) Mainwaring's first entry explains how 'It's now a year since I appointed myself - that is, since I was appointed -commanding officer ...' This is followed by a letter from Private Frazer to his brother and it begins 'He's been strutting about and lording it over us for years and he's no more an officer than one of the codfish you used to catch, Angus. He's just a wee, jumped-up little Sassenach twerp and I wouldnae be surprised if he wasnae court-marshalled for impairsonating an officer and shot at dawn.' Frazer then goes on to say that there's not 'a man jack amongst them [the others] that's fit for the job' and then gives his brother the low down on each and every one of them! Most enlightening - and amusing.
There follows plenty of episodes in which the Home Guard were involved and, just as in the TV series, the relationship between Mainwaring and Wilson is fully explored as is Mainwaring's way of handling the rest of the platoon. Jones is always asking for 'Permission to speak, sir', Pike is, more often than not, 'you stupid boy', Walker continues to deal in black market goods - in the best possible way - Godfrey is quietly in the background, or out of the room visiting the gents' room, while Frazer has his own agenda and feels that, come what may, 'We're doomed!'
The ARP warden Hodges continues his feud with Mainwaring, whom he dubs 'Napoleon', and the likeable Welsh photographer Cheeseman adds some humour, particularly when he arrives to photograph the arrival of the Americans.
There are many incidents recorded that featured in the TV series (Jimmy Perry and David Croft must have discovered the log and other documents long before Arthur Wilson did so!) and they are all brought back to life by the amusing text that author Paul Ableman, obviously in the guise of Arthur Wilson MA, has provided.
Probably the best, and most touching, of the lot is Mainwaring's brief encounter with Fiona Gray who comes into his life when he decides to form a ladies branch of the Home Guard. It is not often that he shows off the loving side of his nature but in attempting to court Mrs Gray he displays it all for everyone to see. And they did, for even though he thought it was a well kept secret that he was desperately in love with Mrs Gray, all the platoon knew about it and there are comments from each of them as to how they saw it and how silly Mainwaring was to throw himself at another woman. Even Elizabeth Mainwaring suspected that there was another woman involved but she was too wrapped up in her own problems at home and in her bunker to see any further than that.
And the visit of the Americans is well documented, too, and Mainwaring even displays his black eye, administered by Colonel Schultz when that soldier was attempting to smack Hodges. Mainwaring was far from happy when his colonel ordered him to apologise to Schultz but at least he had the last laugh when doing so because Hodges arrived on the scene once more and this time Schultz's blows found the right target.
It is fun all through and one does begin to think that this is a real Home Guard platoon looking out for the safety of an English village - with all the blundering that went on, thank goodness it wasn't!
June 1, 2024
What an odd idea for a book. This Dad's Army tie-in is presented as a 'real' history book about the Walmington-on-Sea Home Guard. The historian/editor is supposed to be Wilson's nephew (who never knew the man). Having decided to research events during the war, he stumbles across a log kept by Captain Mainwaring as well as many historical documents (most of which it makes no sense for Mainwaring to have, so the supposition is that he went around stealing drafts of personal letters from everyone's waste paper bins!). The bulk of the book are the excerpts from Mainwaring's log, which are in fact four episodes of Dad's Army rewritten from the point of view of Mainwaring himself. This means that some of the plot elements are missing because Mainwaring didn't know about them and are filled in either by supposition or the extra documents I mentioned above. I don't really know why someone decided to do this but it actually works really well. I absolutely believe that the narrative voice belongs to Mainwaring, which is a mixture of pompous bluster and heartfelt sincerity. The episodes in question are The Battle of Godfrey's Cottage, which would have still been missing when this book was written, so may have played a part in why it was chosen, Getting the Bird, which is an example of one where there are two subplots going on that Mainwaring doesn't know about, Mum's Army, in which Mainwaring falls in love so an obvious contender for a story written by him and finally My British Buddy, which is used as a 'finale' to the book because Mainwaring gets one over on the ARP warden, but since their animosity has hardly been a main theme of this book it seems like an odd choice. It is also not how things play out in the actual episode, so I don't know whether the reader of this book is supposed to know the Dad's Army episodes so well that there is a second layer of humour going on where you know that Mainwaring is lying, or if the accounts are based on earlier scripts or if this is just an alternate universe. Anyway, it was an entertaining read.
March 23, 2022
Funny and we'll written as if told by Arthur Wilson. Extends and enhances the TV series but really one for the enthusiast not the casual reader. Lots of in jokes. Not rip roaring but brings a smile and a giggle!
April 3, 2019
Amusing but only if you loved the TV series like I did.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews