In Search of the Real Dad's Army: The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom 1940-1944

by Stephen M. Cullen

A new history of the Home Guard during WWII, dispelling some popular myths.

246 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2016

About the author

Dr Stephen M. Cullen was educated at the universities of Edinburgh and Oxford. He has written widely on inter-war fascism, communism, and British Great War combatants' writing. He has also written on the history of the British Home Guard, including, most recently, In Search of the Real Dad's Army; The Home Guard and the Defence of the United Kingdom, 1940-1944 (Pen & Sword, 2011 & 2016). He has been a guest on several BBC Radio programmes and on TV, talking about military and political history. He is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Warwick, England.

Reviews

[Simon Binning · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book sets out to tell the story of the Local Defence Volunteers, popularly known as the 'Dad's Army', and to dispel the image many have, principally from the TV series of that name. The LDV, from unpromising beginnings, grew to become a large, well trained, well armed force of over one and a half million men and women. How effective they would actually have been we will never know, but they were up for the fight, and many of them did actually see service, in areas such as anti-aircraft and coastal batteries, and a significant number were killed or wounded.
This book is comprehensive, and covers the LDV from the period prior to its inception, to its disbandment, and to its place in our consciousness. There is a lot of detail, and lots of testimony from men and women who served in the force. My problem with the book is its structure; rather than a straight chronological history, it is broken up into sections - personnel, weapons, uniforms, etc - which are themselves chronological. As well as being disruptive to read, this also leads to a lot of unnecessary duplication, with, for example, the same quotes appearing two or three times in different chapters. There is also a rather socio-philosophical section about the British political left and their connections to the LDV, which would be fine in a political history, but which seemed oddly out of place here.
Overall, this is a competent history, and very readable.

[Aethelberga · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have never seen the TV show, but I have always been interested in Britain on the home front during WWII, and I found this to be a very interesting, well researched study of the Home Guard. It's packed with citations, photographs and first hand accounts. Very well done.