The Auxiliary Units (or Auxunits) were specially trained highly secret units created with the aim of resisting the expected invasion of the British Isles by Nazi Germany during World War II. Britain was the only country during the war to create such a resistance movement in advance of an invasion. Operation Sealion (Unternehmen Seelöwe in German) was a World War II German plan to invade Britain. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km (over 11 miles) into the air. ... A resistance movement is a group dedicated to fighting an invader in an occupied country. ...

The units (occasionally known as the British Resistance Organisation) were initiated by Winston Churchill, who appointed Major Colin Gubbins (an expert in guerrilla warfare who would later head up the Special Operations Executive), to found them, attached to GHQ Home Forces. They were hidden on the Home Guard. The Right Honourable Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, FRS (30 November 1874–24 January 1965) was a British statesman, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. ... Major General Sir Colin Gubbins (1896-1976) was the prime mover of the SOE (Special Operations Executive) in the Second World War. ... Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from guerra meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. ... The Special Operations Executive (SOE), often called the Baker Street Irregulars after Sherlock Holmess fictional group of spies, was a World War II organisation initiated by Winston Churchill in July of 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. ... The British Home Guard started off as the brain child of the Commander in chief Walter Mervyn St George Kirke. ...

Approximately 5000 units were formed, consisting of Special Duty Sections, Signals and Operational Patrols. Auxiliary Unit members were vetted by a senior local police chief (who, according to sealed orders given to the Operational Patrols to be opened only in case of invasion, were allegedly to be assassinated to prevent the membership of the Auxiliary Units being revealed).

The units were stood down only in 1944. Their existence did not generally become known by the public until the 1990s. 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Events and trends The 1990s are generally classified as having moved slightly away from the more conservative 1980s, but keeping the same mind-set. ...

Special Duty Sections and Signals

The Special Duty Sections were largely recruited from the civilian population, with around 4000 members. They had been trained to identify vehicles, high ranking officers and military units, and were to gather intelligence and leave reports in dead letter drops. From these they would be collected by runners and taken to one of over 200 secret radio transmitters operated by trained civilian Signals staff. A dead letter is used when a man, most likely a soldier, is not sure of his survival with important documents or information. ...

Operational Patrols

Operational Patrols consisted of between 4 and 8 men, often farmers or landowners and usually recruited from the most able members of the Home Guard, who also needed an excellent local knowledge and the ability to live off the land. As cover, the men were allocated to "Home Guard" battalions 201 (Scotland), 202 (northern England), or 203 (southern England) and provided with Home Guard uniforms, though they were not actually Home Guard units. The Home Guard, originally named the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV), was instituted by the British government during World War II to defend the UK in the event of an invasion by Germany. ... Scotland (Alba in Scottish Gaelic) is a country in northwest Europe, occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain. ... Royal motto: Dieu et mon droit (French: God and my right) Englands location within the UK Official language English de facto Capital London de facto Largest city London Area  - Total Ranked 1st UK 130,395 km² Population  - Total (2001)  - Density Ranked 1st UK 49,138,831 377/km² Religion...

Around 3500 such men were trained on weekend courses at Coleshill House near Highworth, Wiltshire, in the arts of guerrilla warfare including assassination, unarmed combat, demolition and sabotage. Recruits for Coleshill reported to the Highworth post office, from where the postmistress Mabel Stranks arranged for their collection. Wiltshire (abbreviated Wilts) is a large southern English county. ... Guerrilla (also called a partisan) is a term borrowed from Spanish (from guerra meaning war) used to describe small combat groups. ... This article is about Sabotage sabotage can also refer to: an early Black Sabbath album (Sabotage), the Alfred Hitchcock films (Sabotage or Saboteur), a Beastie Boys song, or a type of shock site. ...

Each Patrol was a self contained cell, expected to be self sufficient and operationally autonomous in the case of invasion, generally operating within a 15 mile radius. They were provided with a concealed underground Operational Base, usually built by the Royal Engineers in a local woodland, with a camouflaged entrance and emergency escape tunnel; it is thought that 400 to 500 such OBs were constructed. Some Patrols had an additional concealed Observation Post. Patrols were also provided with a selection of the latest weapons including a silenced sniper's rifle and Fairbairn-Sykes "commando" knives, quantities of plastic explosive, incendiary devices, and food to last for two weeks. It was not expected that they would survive for longer. Members expected to be shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot themselves first. The Corps of Royal Engineers (RE), commonly known as the Sappers, is one of the corps of the British Army. ... William Ewart Fairbairn (1885-1960) was a soldier, police officer, and exponent of hand-to-hand combat methods for the Shanghai police between the World Wars, and allied special forces in World War II. He served with the Royal Marine Light Infantry starting in 1901. ... Plastic explosive (or plastique) is a specialised form of explosive material. ...

The mission of the units was to attack invading forces from behind their own lines while conventional forces fell back to the last-ditch GHQ Line. Aircraft, fuel dumps, railway lines, and depots were high on the list of targets, as were senior German officers. Patrols secretly reconnoitred local country houses, which might be used by German officers, in preparation. A pillbox on the GHQ Line The GHQ Line was a defence line built in the United Kingdom during World War II to contain an expected German invasion. ...

See also

• Special Operations Executive
• British military history of World War II
• British military history
• special forces

Further reading: The Special Operations Executive (SOE), often called the Baker Street Irregulars after Sherlock Holmess fictional group of spies, was a World War II organisation initiated by Winston Churchill in July of 1940 as a mechanism for conducting warfare by means other than direct military engagement. ... The United Kingdom, along with France, declared war on Nazi Germany in 1939 as part of the United Kingdoms pledge to defend Poland to the invasion of Poland. ... British military history is a long and varied topic, extending from the prehistoric and ancient historic period, through the Roman invasions of Julius Cæsar and Claudius and subsequent Roman occupation; warfare in the Mediaeval period, including the invasions of the Saxons and the Vikings in the Dark Ages, the... Special forces or special operations forces is a term used to describe relatively small military units raised and trained for reconnaissance, unconventional warfare and special operations. ...

• A. Ward. Resisting the Nazi Invader (Constable, 1997)
• Stewart Angell. The Secret Sussex Resistance. (Middleton Press) ISBN 1873793820

External links

• Auxunit News: Record of the Auxiliary Units 1940 - 1944
• http://www.warlinks.com/pages/auxiliary.html
• Photos of UK World War 2 Invasion Defences - includes Aux Unit hideouts
• http://www.subbrit.org.uk/sb-sites/sites/h/hurstpierpoint_au_hideout/index.shtml
• http://www.millsgrenades.co.uk/box.htm
• http://www.btinternet.com/~david.waller/Oxendenbook.htm