After the Military disaster that was Dunkirk, Britain faced Germany alone. With most of its heavy equipment left on the beaches of Dunkirk, Britain asked the question not ‘if’ an invasion will come but ‘when’.

 

On 14 May 1940, the Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden made a radio broadcast calling for men between the ages of 17 and 65 to enrol in a new force, the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV). By July, nearly 1.5 million men had enrolled, and the name of this people’s army was changed to the Home Guard.

 

The Home Guard’s primary roles were the spotting of enemy paratroopers, the defence, by whatever means available, of its home patch, and to act as the eyes of the regular Army. Only after 1940, with better arms (mostly from the US) and

training did its members gradually take over from the Army the role of defending the country. Meanwhile, Germany planned for an invasion to take place in September 1940, ‘Operation Sealion’.

 

Stop lines were put in place to defend vulnerable parts of the country, including the coastline, a key element of these defences was known as ‘The Pillbox’. Concrete defence posts resembling the small cardboard boxes used by chemists to dispense pills at that time. The Directorate of Fortifications and Works (FW3) was set up at the War Office under the direction of Major-general G. B. O. Taylor. Its purpose was to provide a number of basic but effective pillbox designs that could be constructed by soldiers and local labour at appropriate defensive locations. FW3 issued six basic designs for rifle and light machine gun. 

 

To spread word in the event of an invasion, the Home Guard set up a code to warn their compatriots. The word “Cromwell” indicated that a paratrooper invasion was imminent, and “Oliver” meant that the invasion had commenced. Church bells were to be used as a call-to-arms for the rest of the defence force. Home guard members were expected to man the scattered pillboxes and fight to the last man, delaying any invasion force while the regular army regrouped. 

Although ‘Operation Sealion’ never took place- 1,206 men of the Home Guard were killed on duty or died of wounds, with the pillbox acting as a key reminder of their hard work and sacrifice to keep their island safe.