Churchill's Underground Army  
A History of the Auxillary Units in World War II
Author(s): John Warwicker
Published by Pen and Sword
Publication Date:  Available in all formats
ISBN: 9781783469345
Pages: 0

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ISBN: 9781783469345 Price: INR 734.99
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‘A carefully researched book on a long-neglected subject which fills a major gap in our Second World War knowledge’ – Norman Longmate, author of If Britain Had Fallen

British Secret Intelligence Service officers and others in the War Office were never convinced that appeasement would prevent a Nazi invasion. Defying high-level opposition, they quietly worked instead on preemptive ‘Last Ditch’ survival plans. These included a secret resistance network known as the GHQ Auxiliary Units. It was the only one in Europe prepared in advance of an enemy assault.

The Auxunits were civilian ‘stay-behinds’. One section worked as Patrols, usually consisting of half-a-dozen men in hidden underground operational bases. They were hurriedly selected immediately after the Dunkirk evacuation then trained and equipped with firearms, explosives and booby-traps. Instructed to ‘stay-behind’ underground as the enemy passed over, they were then to emerge each night to commit mayhem for as long as they could stay alive. Others, men and women, would remain behind above ground, to spy on the enemy and communicate intelligence to the Defense Force by a covert radio network. These Units are still effectively secret and this is the most comprehensive history published to date.
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‘A carefully researched book on a long-neglected subject which fills a major gap in our Second World War knowledge’ – Norman Longmate, author of If Britain Had Fallen

British Secret Intelligence Service officers and others in the War Office were never convinced that appeasement would prevent a Nazi invasion. Defying high-level opposition, they quietly worked instead on preemptive ‘Last Ditch’ survival plans. These included a secret resistance network known as the GHQ Auxiliary Units. It was the only one in Europe prepared in advance of an enemy assault.

The Auxunits were civilian ‘stay-behinds’. One section worked as Patrols, usually consisting of half-a-dozen men in hidden underground operational bases. They were hurriedly selected immediately after the Dunkirk evacuation then trained and equipped with firearms, explosives and booby-traps. Instructed to ‘stay-behind’ underground as the enemy passed over, they were then to emerge each night to commit mayhem for as long as they could stay alive. Others, men and women, would remain behind above ground, to spy on the enemy and communicate intelligence to the Defense Force by a covert radio network. These Units are still effectively secret and this is the most comprehensive history published to date.
Table of contents
  • Title Page
  • Copyright Page
  • Table of Contents
  • Dedication
  • Acknowledgements
  • Foreword
  • Preface
  • Introduction - This England, July 1940
  • Chapter One - Appeasement
  • Chapter Two - Intelligence: A Fallible Craft
  • Chapter Three - Section D
  • Chapter Four - The Home Defence Organisation
  • Chapter Five - Military Intelligence (Research)
  • Chapter Six - ‘A Blaze of Wild Priorities’
  • Chapter Seven - First into the Field
  • Chapter Eight - Second Place
  • Chapter Nine - Evolution, Revolution and Reaction
  • Chapter Ten - The Operational Patrols
  • Chapter Eleven - The Crest of a Wave – And the Trough?
  • Chapter Twelve - Operational Bases
  • Chapter Thirteen - Arms and Ordnance
  • Chapter Fourteen - Thuggery
  • Chapter Fifteen - On Active Service, 1943 – 1945
  • Chapter Sixteen - The Special Duties Section
  • Chapter Seventeen - The Signals Network
  • Chapter Eighteen - An Inside Story
  • Chapter Nineteen - The Final Link
  • Chapter Twenty - Causes for Concern
  • Chapter Twenty-One - A Disastrous Raid on Sark
  • Chapter Twenty-Two - Auxunits and the Rudolf Hess Mystery
  • Appendix One - Auxiliary Units’ Weapons
  • Appendix Two - The Radio Network
  • Bibliography
  • Index
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