Auxiliary Units

[2] With the advantage of having witnessed the rapid fall of several Continental European nations, the United Kingdom was the only country during the war that was able to create a guerrilla force in anticipation of an invasion.

Most recently, he had returned from the Norwegian campaign, where he headed the Independent Companies, the predecessors of the British Commandos, before succeeding to the acting command of a Guards brigade.

Time was of the essence ... at the shortest we had six weeks before a full-scale invasion could be launched; if we were lucky, we might have until October, after which climatic conditions would give us a respite ...[9]Gubbins used several officers who had served with the Independent Companies in Norway and others whom he had known there.

They were distributed around the coast rather than being countrywide, with priority being given to the counties most at risk from enemy invasion, the two most vulnerable being Kent and Sussex in South East England.

Around 3,500 men were trained on weekend courses at Coleshill House, near Highworth, Wiltshire, in the arts of guerrilla warfare including assassination, unarmed combat, demolition and sabotage.

They were provided with elaborately-concealed underground Operational Bases (AUOB / OB),[6][11] usually built by the Royal Engineers in a local woodland, with a camouflaged entrance and emergency escape tunnel.

Patrols were provided with a selection of the latest weapons, including a silenced pistol or Sten gun and Fairbairn–Sykes "commando" knives, quantities of plastic explosive, incendiary devices, and food to last for two weeks.

Aircraft, fuel dumps, railway lines, and depots were high on the list of targets, as would be the assassination of senior German officers and any local collaborators.

[citation needed] Patrols secretly reconnoitred local country houses, which might be used by German officers, and prepared lists of suspected fifth columnists as early targets for killing.

Separate from the Auxiliary Units' Operational Patrols was the Special Duty Branch,[13] which was originally recruited by SIS and carefully vetted and selected from the local civilian population.

It acted as "eyes and ears" and would report back to military intelligence any information that it heard from 'careless talk' or from watching troop movements and supply routes.

Instead, SIS (MI6) created a separate resistance organisation (Section VII) with powerful wireless sets that was intended to act on a longer-term basis.

Nonetheless, some units were deployed to the Isle of Wight prior to the D day landings in 1944 to help protect the Pluto fuel pipeline from being attacked by German commandos.

The Auxiliary Units feature in the BBC TV series Wartime Farm although there is some confusion between the roles of the Operational Patrols and the Special Duties Branch.