Last parade of the Home Guard

3rd December 1944: The volunteer army is no longer needed as the risk of invasion has gone

Two members of the Home Guard with a Vickers machine gun on a village green in Surrey. Originally known as the Local Defence Volunteers, the force was set up in 1940 as a precaution against enemy parachute landings behind the lines in the event of an invasion. By July the Home Guard numbered 500,000

The Home Guard: Photograph contrasting a 1940 Local Defence volunteer with a 1944 Home Guard. Both were members of 32 Surrey Battalion.

At the same time as Germany was pressing men into the Volkssturm, the British decided that the Home Guard was no longer needed. The government finally acknowledged that the risk of Britain being invaded had disappeared. The Home Guard was now 'stood down', although they were not wholly disbanded until after the war ended.

Local Defence Volunteers: 'Old Contemptibles' in the Local Defence Volunteers lined up for inspection. None of the men pictured wear any official uniform except for the LDV armband

Men of 2nd Platoon 'C' Company, 46th Riding, Doncaster, Battalion Home Guard carrying out an exercise in the Northern Command. They are pictured crossing a river by means of a raft.

First formed as the 'Local Defence Volunteers' in 1940, they were an emergency measure to help organise the civilian population's response to the imminent threat of invasion. They were swiftly renamed the 'Home Guard' at Churchill’s insistence. They gradually received better training, equipment, and a recognised role within the military establishment.

Even by 1942, the risk of invasion had become negligible, but the Home Guard continued to be a very active organisation. During the D-Day planning, the possibility of German parachutists mounting disruptive raids was contemplated, and the Home Guard was recognised as a useful first response and means of alerting the regular Army.

A Home Guard exercise in 1941. A Fifth Columnist masquerading as a nurse-maid, shoots a sentry when challenged at the road block

The attack on a roadblock showing hand to hand fighting, and the fifth columnist (in foreground) killed.

Major the Earl of Bradford directing his Company of Home Guards during a 1942 exercise.

The Home Guard: Seated at the dining table with his wife, a Sergeant of the Dorking Home Guard in Surrey, England gives his Tommy gun a final polish before leaving home to go on parade.

The Home Guard never saw action against the enemy in the conventional sense.