How well could Dad's Army have done?

While its true Britain was not 'defenceless' in 1940, it was far from being 'well defended' or an 'organised defence'. Thus having the men an material being prepared, didn't mean that these men were trained in the use of the modern arms, nor had they been properly organised with local HQs, code systems, military terminology or been quite informed of the roles they were to play in a potential invasion.


Thus British defence 1940 was a paper tiger; a bit of a joke. However non of that means that it wouldn't have put up a good account for itself because primarally, Britons would have been fighting for their homes and livelihoods. Quite literally their lives in some cases. Thus even where the regulars and irregulars are not, you still would hae had civilians taking it upon themselves to halt the attack(s).




However I also want to give you guys a bit of history;

The Channel Islands were the only part of the British Islands to be occupied in WWII, and no matter what is said the Germans considered it a trial run for invading Britain, and the British government abandoned the islands even after we had raised the funds to purchase war material for defence. I believe collectively the Channel Islands raised about £280,000 in thens money.

This is far far more than was ever raised for local defences of a similar size in the UK and therefore it is questionable that the UK militias and home guards would have been any more equip then the Channel Islands were...which they weren't.

Indeed in 1939 the States of Jersey and Guernsey approached the UK government for new coastal guns, bofors AA guns and machinguns to cover the various approaches onto the islands and to equip the forts. These requests were (largely) denied on the grounds that the armed forces required these weapons.

A state of affairs that would have persisted in early to mid 1940, affecting any home guards provisions to equip themselves with any serious weaponry. This state of affairs only changed much later once the war cabinet had got around to organising the UK home guards and set aside funds and equipment for them about early '41.


The islands, being infinitely more defensible than any stretch of English coastline, given the strong and high tidal range, existing fortifications of from Napoleonic and Great War era, having had money raised for their defence, no chance of a surprise attack against them and a local friendly population knowing the terrain were all in all abandoned.

Thus it only took a German luffawaffe officers initive having not been shot at by any AA guns to land on the Guernsey airstrip and demand the islands surrender; the other islands following soon after.

The irony in all of this being that the British War Office had explicitly told the islands to expect para-trooper attacks, not enemy aircraft. Hence while initially during the fall of France the runways had been blocked against German aircraft landing, they had now been unblocked for use by aircraft, while other locations like golf courses now had been strewn with debris and netting.

Since this advice went out to all parts of the UK, at that time any part of the UK with an airstrip would have likely been vulnerable to a German aircraft landing.


From the German point of view, they believed the islands being a natural strongpoint, and being part of Britain would have been heavily defended. This thought was strengthened during Luftflotte 2 reconnoitre flights when the Germans arrived in Brittany noting lines of lorries in the harbours, and "extensive fortifications, both around the harbours, and in the woodlands" although these recon flights could not estimate the number of defenders.
The matter being their were no defenders on the islands.

German agents visiting the islands before the war had completely missed the local militias totalling about 700 men across the islands as well.

Either way the Germans believed the islands to be defended, even though no offensive action had come from the islands. They also believed that all three islands would have to be taken simultaneous. Hence they guessed they may need six battalions of men to take the islands (and doing so would have taken up much of all the vessels along this stretch of the French coast), with heavy air support. Plus the attack would have to take place over a number of days due to lack of equipment and vessels.


The point of all this being;

1. The Channel Islands having nearly everything in their advantage to defend themselves weren't able to do so*.
2. The War Office was giving out incorrect advice.
3. The Germans were totally inept at estimating ground strength and defences.
4. The Germans didn't have the equipment to even conduct a tactical naval landing operation at this time.

Thus to summarise; home guard defences were given the lowest priority at this time, poorly organised and informed. Yet equally the Germans would have found it almost impossible to launch a naval invasion against any form of resistance at this time. Hence one could extrapolate, 'Dad's Army' was a joke as far as doctrine, training and equipment was to go, but even without all that the Germans were totally unprepared for any form of invaison attempts at this time, meaning even a light milita force could have held the Wehrmacht up considerably.


*There is good reasons why the UK government didn't want to defend the islands from a strategic perspective, but if we are looking at this as a case of available resources it goes to show that the UK government was not prepared to equip local millita at this time.
 
Last edited:
Thus British defence 1940 was a paper tiger; a bit of a joke.

The joke quite sufficient to make German invasion, with its hilarious plan (more a concept really) be bloody failure.

http://www.militaryhistoryonline.com/wwii/articles/sealionvsoverlord.aspx said:
The final proposal (the word plan carries too strong a connotation) called for the Navy to:

• Block the west end of the channel with U Boats
• Block the east end of the channel with mines and E Boats
• Sortie the main surface fleet into the North Atlantic to draw off the British Home Fleet

After crossing the channel in open barges the army would land and immediately capture a port in order to land Panzers. Second only to air supremacy the early introduction of armor was critical to victory against a numerically superior foe.

Only one training exercise was conducted. The results are quite revealing. Off Boulogne, in good weather and good visibility, with no navigation hazards or enemy defenses to contend with, of fifty vessels committed less than half managed to land their troops at H Hour. One tug lost its tow. One barge overturned when too many soldiers crowded on one side. Several barges broached in the surf and landed broad side to, unable to lower their ramps. The results of the fifty-barge exercise did not bode well for a 1277 barge assault on England.

Those soldiers, who have been bobbing the Channel for the past 30 hours (sic!), were expected to land, prepare their weapons and only then engage the enemy.
 
The joke quite sufficient to make German invasion, with its hilarious plan (more a concept really) be bloody failure.

It shows Shaby that you cannot read a full post. Perhaps you should do that before commenting ;);

Myself in the post just before said:
Thus to summarise; home guard defences were given the lowest priority at this time, poorly organised and informed. Yet equally the Germans would have found it almost impossible to launch a naval invasion against any form of resistance at this time. Hence one could extrapolate, 'Dad's Army' was a joke as far as doctrine, training and equipment was to go, but even without all that the Germans were totally unprepared for any form of invaison attempts at this time, meaning even a light milita force could have held the Wehrmacht up considerably.
 
You would have to be crazy to garrison the channel islands against an attack coming from French Territory.

The Islands are much closer to France then they are to the UK, there would be massive problems with trying to resupply the islands by sea due to air attack.
 
The islands, being infinitely more defensible than any stretch of English coastline, given the strong and high tidal range, existing fortifications of from Napoleonic and Great War era, having had money raised for their defence, no chance of a surprise attack against them and a local friendly population knowing the terrain were all in all abandoned.

There's more to defence than fortifications, men and terrain. The Channel Islands were indefensible after the occupation of the French coast. A high cost could have been exacted, but ultimately it would have been a pointless waste of men and material better used somewhere that had strategic significance.
 

sharlin

Banned
I agree with King, sure you could spend a lot of money and troops making the islands as defensable as possible but why the hell would you? Strategically they serve no purpose other than "Damn filthy boche swines have taken one of our holiday resorts!" It was better to write them off as pointless to defend and spend the money elsewhere, where it mattered.
 
Thus British defence 1940 was a paper tiger; a bit of a joke.
I'd dispute that, sure it was manned by old men, but seriously, take a look at what they came up with and tell me even a good army wouldn't have had a bit of trouble. Flame Fougasses for example would have been quite lethal to even tanks.
 
The Home Guard's effectiveness depends on what point in 1940 the ASB decides that the USM is launched. However there is the interesting possibility that the Home Guard will be the world's first self-arming military force. How I hear you ask? Well the Luftwaffe will helpfully scatter weapons containers over much of southern England when trying to land paratroopers.

Only got a shotgun, well now you can swap it for a nice shiny new MP38. Home Guard Pike not cutting it, well try a nearly new MG-34. :p

I once read a description of the German airdrop in Crete. Many of the Germans landed in an area covered with tall grass and bushes that was swarming with Cretan militia, most of whom had only knives. The narrator described the Cretans as stalking the Germans through the bushes. Every few minutes there would be a sudden flurry in the grass where a Cretan had caught a German - after which the Cretan had the German's weapons.
 
Top