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Auxiliary
Unit
Squad Details
Team Colour:
Commander:
Sergeant TBA
Strength:
8
Auxiliary
Units - History
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. Such stay-behind organisations were generalised by the Allies after
WWII. 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 concealed within the Home
Guard. Approximately 5000 units were formed, consisting of Special Duty
Sections, Signals and Operational Patrols. The units were stood down only in
1944. Several of their members subsequently joined the Special Air Service and
saw action in France in late 1944. The units' existence did not generally become
known by the public until the 1990s.
 Special Duty Sections and Signals
The Special Duty Sections were largely recruited from the civilian population,
with around 4,000 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. The reports would be collected by runners
and taken to one of over 200 secret radio transmitters operated by trained
civilian Signals staff.
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.
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.
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 pistol or Sten 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
anticipated being shot if they were captured, and were expected to shoot
themselves first rather than be taken alive.
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.
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