Lockdown listening:

 Special Duties Branch (SDB)  No Responses »
Feb 242021
 

Immerse yourself and gain a little more appreciation for the men and women involved in Auxiliary Units. We’ve added 3 audio interviews and a video to our website and hope to add more soon:

Rex Chaston was an Auxilier in the Saxmundham Patrol. Listen to Rex explaining his time in Auxiliary Units HERE: www.staybehinds.com/patrol/saxmundham-patrol

Yolande Bromley (later Alston) was a Special Duties Branch radio operator. Listen to her story at www.staybehinds.com/yolande-audrey-yvette-bromley

Yolande Bromley

Watch the engrossing interview with Auxilier Herman Kindred from the Stratford St. Andrew Patrol HERE: www.staybehinds.com/patrol/stratford-st-andrew-patrol

Group Commander Harry Wharton spills the beans on his wartime role HERE: www.staybehinds.com/henry-wharton

Operational Patrol – Bunker Memorial Plaque unveiling – Ferndown, Dorset

 Aux Patrol News, Events, General, OB's  No Responses »
Feb 122020
 

Sunday 1st March at 10 am

Meeting point:

Fitzpain Road, West Parley, Ferndown, Dorset. Between numbers 60 and 62.

Welcome speech, talk from CART, unveiling of memorial plaque and refreshments.

Please pass this on to anyone else who you may know who would like to attend.

The rediscovered Ferndown O.B. was excavated last year by CART. With support from the local council, part of the bunker will be permanently viewable.

CART is saddened to announce the passing of Auxilier Jack Richardson of Child Okeford Patrol

 General, Obituaries  No Responses »
Nov 142019
 

Jack was enrolled into Aux Units in 1942 at 16 years of age. Later he became a Bevin Boy in the South Wales coal mines.

CART was delighted to receive a visit from Jack when we attended the Broadmayne WW2 event in 2016. (Broadmayne was marshalling area D5 in south Dorset prior to D-Day).

The Child Okeford Operational Patrol was based in north Dorset near the military town of Blandford Forum. www.staybehinds.com/patrol/child-okeford-patrol

His service will be at Poole Crematorium on Monday 25th November at 2pm. Rest in peace Jack.

2019 – It’s going to be a busy year !

 General  No Responses »
Mar 102019
 

2019 marks 75 years since the official Stand Down of the Auxiliary Units, and the 10th anniversary of CART research

Here are some of the events we are hoping to attend (subject to confirmation):

April 13th & 14th: Castletown at War, D-Day Museum, Portland, Dorset

April 14th: Coleshill O.B. Open Day, Coleshill House, Oxfordshire

May 25th & 26th: Nothe Fort, Weymouth 1940’s Weekend, Dorset

May 12th: Coleshill O.B. Open Day, Coleshill House, Oxfordshire

June 8th & 9th: Southwick, D-Day Revival (also 75 years), Hampshire

June 9th: Coleshill O.B. Open Day, Coleshill House, Oxfordshire

June 22nd & 23rd: The Axe Vale Show, Axminster, Devon

June 30th: Hazelbury Mill, Military Vehicle event, Somerset

July 6th & 7th: Chickerell Steam & Vintage Show, Weymouth, Dorset

July 14th: Coleshill O.B. Open Day, Coleshill House, Oxfordshire

Aug 18th: The Mid Somerset Show, Somerset

Sept 8th: Coleshill O.B. Open Day, Coleshill House, Oxfordshire

September: Coleshill WW2 weekend, Coleshill, Oxfordshire… WATCH THIS SPACE – this is going to be a BIG event: Coleshill House is where the Aux Units underwent their specialist training 1940 – 1944

The whole of the Granary will be filled by CART, British Resistance Organisation Museum, and The Bob Millard (Aux Patrol member) Collection, marking 75 years since the Auxiliary Units were officially stood down… more information to follow…

Happy New Year !

 General  No Responses »
Jan 012019
 

New Year Greetings from all at CART, we wish you a Healthy & Happy 2019.

This year we plan to bring you a new website experience which will include a huge amount of patrol updates through an easier and more accessible interface. 

Research continues as we rediscover lost bunkers, record and photograph them (with proper permissions) and reveal the stories of their patrol members.

We are finding out more about the early radio operators of the Special Duties side of the organisation, and lights are also being thrown on Auxiliary Unit links with SOE and the SAS.

We are currently drawing up a short-list of the events we hope to attend during 2019. Watch out for updates, and come along and say hi.

Thank you for your continued support.

30th November 1874 . . .

 General  No Responses »
Nov 292018
 

. . . Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill was born.

In the early summer of 1940 Churchill would instigate the formation of the secret ‘Auxiliary Units’ due to the threat of a German invasion. ‘Irregular warfare’ was already being researched and what existed was amalgamated into a civilian network of Operational Patrols (guerillas & saboteurs) and a Special Duties Branch consisting of spies, messengers & wireless radio-operators should invasion and occupation have taken place.

Born into a well-connected family in Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, Churchill would go on to have a contentious political and military career. He escaped from a Boer War POW camp, lectured around the world, was an artist and published historian. As an MP he held many important ministerial positions. He served in WW1 before going back to politics.

On 10th May 1940, the same day that Hitler invaded the Low Countries, Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.

Images Wikipedia

Churchill’s secret ‘Auxiliary Units’ were stood-down in 1944.