Oct 302019
 

If you’re interested in learning more about Coleshill House, the HQ and training centre for the Auxiliary Units, then we have the perfect booklet for you now available from our online shop !

Auxiliary Unit members from all over the country came to learn about building and living in the underground Operational Bases, explosives, sabotage and all the skills they would need to impact any German invasion. Secret radio’s were assembled in huts around the grounds.

This 22-page colour booklet takes you through the history of the Auxiliary Units at Coleshill House, the various buildings in use (and those you can still visit), contemporary photographs and much more. A perfect guide for a day out at the National Trust’s Coleshill Estate, home of Auxiliary Units.

At £4.95 these would make great Christmas presents. Go to our shop to order yours…

Find out more here: Staybehinds Shop

Oct 182019
 

We are aware of unscrupulous people selling fake Auxiliary Unit Stand-Down badges.

Don’t be fooled. We’ve seen enough real badges to know the difference. Please contact us if you are unsure if a badge is genuine or not.

We sell memorial badges produced by CART in our online shop for £6.95. Visit Staybehinds Shop

Sep 302019
 

Firstly lots of big thanks to everyone who helped make the 75th Anniversary of Aux Units Stand Down at the National Trust’s Coleshill Estate such a resounding success. This year also marks the 10th Anniversary of CART.

The day went extremely well, even the weather didn’t put off the crowds who attended.

Jim Gasgoyne pointing out his mother who was in the SD Branch, The Scallywags & re-enactors
Radio workshop hut pads & Coleshill Estate
Original Operational Base
Special Duties Branch – chicken shed radio hide
The late Bob Millard, Scout Section / SAS, office, weapons & mock-up OB
Chris Pratt (B.R.O.M. / British Resistance Organisation Museum, Parham, Suffolk), the family of Capt. Tallents (1938 Countryman’s author)

Brilliant day – well done all !!

Apr 222018
 

Right you ‘orrible lot, just a reminder that CART has an online shop (expertly run by Nina) where you can purchase some rather interesting items…  These include books, Auxiliary Unit memorial badges, sew-on patches, Countryman’s Calendars / training manuals, baseball caps, DVD’s and more.

Upcoming birthday ?  Think about giving a CART gift.

Jun 132017
 

Peter Potter was an Auxilier with Fingringhoe Patrol in Essex. A new book has been written about his life by his friend and Aux Researcher Hugh Frostick. 

Peter Louis Potter shares his eventful life from “clodhopper to cloud-topper and fire-stopper”. His revealing and sometimes risqué tales range from Essex farming and village life, wartime service on Lancaster bombers, working in a mental asylum, and as a fireman in Colchester.

Never short of an idea for a laugh or an adventure, and often bending the rules, Peter gives a wonderful feel for how he and his family lived and worked at Fobbing on the Essex marshes and the industrialised Thames, and farming near Colchester at Easthorpe, Fingringhoe and Mersea Island.

When war came, Peter ran away from home to volunteer for RAF Bomber Command, leading to many exciting episodes in Churchill’s Secret Army and as a Lancaster rear gunner.

Peter’s skill as a raconteur has been well captured by Hugh Frostick. This highly entertaining account gives a fascinating insight into life and war in the 20th Century.

Peter Potter now lives in Elmstead Market and is a regular attendee at Boxted Airfield Museum, where he was stationed just after the war, as part of RAF liaison to hand over the station from the USAAF.

Peter celebrated his 92nd birthday on 30th May 2017. 

Author: Hugh Gunter Frostick
ISBN: 9780995793804
Published: 16 May 2017
Price: £10 plus £2 postage to UK. Add £10 signed by Peter Potter and Author (limited availability)
Attributes: Paperback, 294 pages with 75 black and white illustrations and 6 maps. Laminated full colour cover. Dimensions approx 217mm x 150mm x 18mm, 470g

ORDER HERE

Feb 022016
 

In Grievous TimesA new fictitious novel inspired by Auxiliary Unit research in Sussex.

M. H. Lowe’s In Grievous Times takes the reader to the heart of English country village life at a turning point in Britain’s history: the era of evacuees and air raids, sudden death from the skies and the expectation for every man and woman to do their patriotic duty. When Clement, a country vicar, is summoned to London by an old friend to be involved in a covert “suicide mission” to thwart the impending German invasion, his world changes forever. Priorities shift and every aspect of his life is called into question as he is forced to make choices that affect a great many lives. And when members of his secret, carefully-chosen team are one by one discovered dead, Clement finds himself at the centre of a far more complex situation than he had realised…

The drama and intrigue of In Grievous Times, played out against a seemingly innocent rustic backdrop with superb characterisation, keep the reader hungry throughout for the next piece of the puzzle. A riveting read, available in hardback or paperback.

Aug 272015
 

Aux BadgeDue to popular demand we have now ordered another limited amount of the modern replica Auxiliary badges we designed.

The originals were issued to many Auxiliers after the war.

The central shield is a replica of the famous badge that was issued to members of the Auxiliary Units after the war. The original WW2 badge can now fetch several hundred pounds – but beware fakes.

ORDER your badge today for under £7.00 inc delivery here

 

Jun 232014
 

A new book called Chirnside 1: Auxiliary Units: Special Duties Branch Out-Station has recently been published by H.P. May, A.S.G. Blackmore, T.R.N. Walford, D. Hunt.photo 1

The blurb reads,

When an eleven year old schoolboy returned home to East Devon from boarding school in 1941, he found soldiers excavating an enormous hole in the garden next to the outside Privy. This was the beginning of an underground construction which became an integral part of a most secret WWII operation.

Named the Special Duties Branch of the Auxiliary Units, civilians were trained and exercised in gathering intelligence about enemy forces in the event of a German invasion of Britain. These civilians were supported by regular military personnel, namely ATS and Royal Signals, who assisted in operating a network of wireless stations through which intelligence details were passed to Army HQ.

This account of the restoration of a Special Duties Branch wireless station, and the outcome of five year’s research into the history of the site, has revealed previously unknown facts about a clandestine war time organisation who’s history largely remains under official secrecy.

The book can be bought in our shop here.

Paperback: 138 pages
Publisher: Dudfield Publications (May 2014)
ISBN-10: 099291390X
ISBN-13: 978-0992913908

Jan 022014
 

Sponsor a page

Help us grow by sponsoring a page for life on our website.

You can sponsor a patrol page yourself or buy a page as a gift for someone else.

Each patrol page has the donor’s name printed on the scroll (as above) and it appears at the bottom of the patrol page. See an example below.

Once you have ordered the item we will email you and you can notify us of the patrol page you wish to sponsor. They are on a first come first served basis and only one sponsor will be added per patrol page. Sponsorship is only offered on patrol report pages.

A thank you letter is posted to you confirming your page.

To buy a page all you need to do is click here

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