Bala2

is the rest of whatever it came off under there too?.....................:nut:

We doubt it - probably used as a training target and blown to bits - but you never know.....

:saluting::???:thumbsup:

wonder what an aux unit was doing with a tank?

Coleshill House was the secret GHQ of Aux Units. Recruited personnel from all over the country travelled firstly to Highworth post office where they reported to the Post Mistress who phoned the House and eventually a truck was sent to pick them up.

They spent two or three hectic days being trained in all manner of unconventional warfare and sabotage. It included stealthily approaching tanks and placing explosive charges – hence the reason for a few old tanks.

The exhausted men then had to return home to carry on with their 'day jobs'.

Read more about Aux Units at www.coleshillhouse.com

Looking for photographs and information on the early version of HOME FORCES - when did version 2 get sanctioned?

- can anyone help please

It may be part of the front deck of a Vickers medium Mk1 or 2 or derivative.

Thank you for your suggestion. I followed it and looked at photos and you could well be right

Can anyone identify this piece of panel and say what vehicle it is from? - appears to be 1/4" armoured plate.

it is a very interesting place. They have another open day this year. The title "Churchill's secret Headquarters" is a little misleading as it was just a training centre for the Home Guard Auxillary Units.

Not as misleading as all that - Churchill sanctioned the forming of a top secret Resistance Organisation with it's GHQ at Coleshill House. It was unique in as much as never before had civilian resistance cells been set up before an enemy occupied a country. They would not have been protected by the Geneva Convention if captured. It was NOT part of the Homeguard until 1943 when the threat of invasion had receded and only then for administration purposes.

The resistance patrols (cells) consisted of specially selected civilians, gamekeepers, poachers, woodsman, farmers, recruited for their knowledge of the local area. They were trained by regular army officers in all forms of guerrilla warfare. Auxiliary Units was supplied with all forms of weapons and explosives and given priority over conventional forces.

There was also a Special Duties Branch which gathered intelligence and forwarded the information through a network of secret radio cells up the chain of command.