The Media Archive for Central England is the public screen archive for the East and West Midlands. An independent charity and company based at the University of Lincoln, MACE acquires, catalogues, preserves and makes widely available moving image materials that inform our understanding of the diverse cultures and histories of communities between the Lincolnshire coast and the Welsh border.
This film is part of Free
Solihull in Wartime
Preparation and readiness is the order of the day as the different branches of the home front services in Solihull do their bit in the fight for the future of the nation.
From the collection of:
Overview
This amateur film includes a demonstration of how to rescue casualties from an underground shelter (hampered by a mock gas attack) and a large scale competitive exercise in Kenilworth complete with burning buildings (which demonstrates that the stirrup pump was of little use in a full scale blaze). Finally, the Home Guard is put through its paces - the now legendary force that would have been the final line of defence against the Nazi war machine.
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