Home Guard Auxilliaries
 

Found recently in an antique shop for a good price, as far as I am aware these are not being faked...??....so I believe it to be genuine......202 is Northern England region but can anyone tell me the significance of the number 103...??

I think you are supposed to read it as 201, 202 and 203 for the 3 regions.

Rob

Thanks Rob, yes 202 (in this case) left to right but it is the number 103 from top to bottom I was unsure of.

Phil

Hi Rob, actually now I look again I see what you are getting at, the numbers are read in three directions of course, thanks for that.

Phil

Badge
 

These badges are being faked although the one you have does look an authentic one.

Phil, lovely badge, looks good compared to known examples on the web, as i understood it the Region numbers were battalion numbers, with some units wearing these numbers (as Home Guard) on their battledress. Regards Mark

Thanks, I had no idea there were fakes of these, I have not seen any (fake or otherwise) for sale anywhere, thanks for commenting.

Phil

Thanks Mark, I have been looking for one for years and found this in a cabinet full of unidentified 'enamel' badges in a shop.

A nice badge that looks fine to me.

A small correction if I may. The badge is a postwar "commemorative" item issued to members of Auxiliary Units. Home Guard Auxiliaries was the name given in 1944 to the women who served as volunteers supporting the Home Guard.

The relationship of the men of Auxiliary Units with the Home Guard was complicated as from 1942 they were removed from the records of the Territorial Army Associations which administered the Home Guard and taken over by the army's General Headquarters and administered as the three GHQ Administrative battalions whose numbers appear on the badge.

Jon

Auxiliary Units members
 

I have read that on the expansion of the SAS in 1944 some members of the Auxiliary Units joined the SAS, as to whether this has ever been recorded I have no knowledge.

My Mother was a Home Guard Auxiliary who was the local Captains secretary in civilian life and did all the paperwork for the HG.

Rob

These are post war old comrades badges never made or worn war time and nothing will ever convince me otherwise - despite the protestations of a well known ` Published ` Yorkshire
dealer ....... oh lets no go there .

Home Guard Auxilliaries
 

A number of members of the 'Auxnits' joined both 1 and 2 SAS in 1944 as a result of a recruiting campaign in the UK by the SAS when they returned to the UK in early 1944. Almost the entire Dorset patrol became members of the SAS.

Cheers

Arnhem

Arnhem, is there a list of members of the Dorset patrol kicking about somewhere that you know of?...

Never seen a fake, but the museum do sell a copy, but it is clearly different.

According to Fire from the Forest by Roger Ford "of the 12 men of the East Dorset Scouting Section, six joined 1 SAS". This followed selection by Paddy Mayne at a 'board' held at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London.
Tim