Screen Archive South East is a public sector moving image archive serving the South East of England. The archive's collections of magic lantern slides, films, videos and associated materials capture the many varied aspects of life, work and creativity from the early days of screen history to the present day and serve as a rich and invaluable historical resource.
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West Sussex Home Guard 1
There's a wrong way and a right way to deal with Nazi spies and fifth-columnists - as you'll see in this this hilarious colour film starring the Home Guard and various Nazi rotters.
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Overview
This training film, made for the West Sussex Home Guard, shows the wrong and the right way of dealing with Nazi spies. Two Home Guard men, still wearing LDV armbands, are approached by a shifty-looking man, who pulls a gun on them. In the second version, the Home Guard are better prepared and arrest the spy. Next a car approaches a checkpoint and again a concealed spy shoots at the sentries. In the second version the driver is ordered out of the car and the spy is found and arrested.
During the Battle of France in May 1940, Secretary of State for War, Anthony Eden, announced in a radio broadcast, the formation of a Local Defence Volunteer force. He called for civilian men between 17 and 65 who wished to defend their country to enrol at their local police station. Eden's appeal was so successful that by July about 1.5 million men had signed up. Churchill felt that the name of the force contributed to low morale and discipline issues and ordered that it be officially changed, on the 22nd July, to Home Guard. By then 1 million LDV armbands had already been produced and these can be seen worn by the Home Guard members appearing in this film.
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