THESE fascinating photographs of the Weymouth Home Guard have come to light after a Looking Back reader spotted the local men on a Ministry of Information short film.

John Pidgeon has spent eight years researching the Dorset Home Guard and got in touch following a viewing of the film One Man Two Jobs.

In it, he recognised these men of the 5th Battalion Dorset (Weymouth) Home Guard, who can be seen in their head quarters operating radio and telephone equipment.

Mr Pidgeon is hoping that eagle-eyed Looking Back readers might recognise a relative or a friend in these photos.

He said: "Does anyone recognise their father/uncle/grandfather?

"The home guard from Weymouth were working at the Whitehead torpedo factory during the day and at night they'd be out there looking for parachutists."

The headquarters in which the Home Guard would operate the communications equipment was at Maiden Street Methodist School in Maiden Street, Weymouth.

The One Man Two Jobs film was made by British Movietone News in spring 1944, by which time the role of the Home Guard had changed from the dark days of 1940.

In the film the men of Weymouth home guard are seen receiving an intelligence report, which they communicate by radio to one of their 'rapid response' units.

It was made to encourage the home guard in their new role. With the D-Day landings approaching, the main worries for the government were the build up of invasion troops being revealed.

When the invasion took place, they were also worried about a lightning raid by German special forces to disrupt the supply lines to Normandy.

With the home guard keeping an eye out for lone parachutists, possibly spies, and guarding vital installations, regular troops were released for the invasion.

Dorset Home Guard played a big part in Exercise Smash, the D-Day rehearsal at Studland in April 1944. They played the role of the defenders so well that the exercise was stopped early to avoid demoralising the invasion troops.

Mr Pidgeon added: "The days of the old First World War soldiers in wait for Germans in pillboxes on the coast are gone.

"They have their own transport section '2137 Dorset Motor Transport' and the younger fitter men have been trained in one of the Home Guard battle-craft Schools in counter insurgency.

"If the Germans had tried a glider landing on, say Weymouth’s water supply or the railway tunnel at the Ridgeway, they would have faced a counter-attack from these 'commandoes' armed with automatic weapons.

The home guard was originally formed during the evacuation of Dunkirk when the main threat was a German invasion by air and sea.

Men who were working on the land or in war industries would don a uniform and guard vital installations after they knocked off from the day job.

Their area stretched along the coastal strip from Osmington to Abbotsbury. As well as regular platoons there was a mobile platoon, a heavy artillery section that manned the guns in the Nothe Fort and a light anti aircraft gun section that manned the bofors guns at the GWR railway yard.

In February 1942 Weymouth had 68 officers and 1,510 men. Many home guard veterans recall their home guard days with fondness, but for Weymouth there is a more serious side than that portrayed in Dad's Army. They had two officers and five other ranks killed in the Second World War in training accidents and due to enemy air raids.

In the early days they were equipped with obsolete rifles and shotguns, with only a few rounds each. Weymouth was turned into a defensive strong point with mines and anti-invasion scaffolding on the beach and tank traps and pillboxes surrounding the town.

Weymouth was one of the seven battalions of Dorset home guard. It is led by Brigadier John Underwood DSO and then Lt Col Charles Edward Stewart, an excellent shot, who represented England in the 1912 Olympics. There were five companies; Weymouth Town, Radipole and Upwey, Chickerell, Preston and Portland.

Mr Pidgeon would love to hear from anyone who has any other platoon photographs or information of any Dorset Home Guard units.

He can be contacted by calling 07831 209592 or emailing jcpidgeon@btinternet.com

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