Britain’s Secret Defences by Andrew Chatterton This is a history of the Auxiliary Unit, the Special Defence Branch and Section VII. You’ve not heard of them before? Little wonder. These were organisations so secret that when they were demobilised participants simply received a letter from the Government informing them that their service would not be publicly recognised. Having sworn the Official Secrets Act many of those who had pledged to give their lives to protect Britain went to their graves without telling anyone.
In his book, subtitled ‘Civilian Saboteurs, Spies and Assassins during the Second World War’, Andrew Chatterton pieces together the history of these three organisations and the remarkable people who served in them. Recruited from the Home Front, their members ranged from fit young men in reserved occupations to old ladies and young mothers, priests to publicans – people who could go about their daily lives unnoticed. Their role was at the forefront of Britain’s attempt to defeat Nazi rule should the Germans invade during the Second World War.
Recruited from friends and family networks and that of colleagues too, if you manage to trace one ancestor involved in these organisations there is every chance you may find more. Andrew Chatterton’s book tells of the recruitment, training and remit of the organisations, and the memorabilia that may survive to this day, providing you with that vital clue that your ancestor was involved.
Little in the way of archival evidence survives for these organisations, the key record being oral histories. So if you have family stories that a family member did something a little ‘special’ on the Home Front during World War 2, don’t dismiss it as grandiose thinking. There is the very real possibility that they may have been one of these brave folk – whose planned deeds and covert counter-attack were so daring, that, should the Germans have invaded, their life expectancy was just two weeks.