The Life of a Homeguard- Original Writing

The Life of a Homeguard- Original Writing

At weekends we often had training sessions including firing practice.

They were in a field alongside a road down a steep hill to the south

of a church. They were fairly rough and ready but adequate for our

needs and the targets were up the hill towards the church and backed

by woods above them. They were mounted above and to the back of a

trench about eight feet deep and six feet wide. A sheet of corrugated

iron formed a roof over the trench on the side farthest from the

targets. There was room for two targets side by side. A public

footpath passed through the woods at the back of the field so it was

necessary to post guards at each end of the path whenever firing took

place. It was a duty most of the Platoon hated. No one ever came along

the path so you spent a couple of hours bored with your own company

and denied the opportunity to take part in the firing. The rifle

firing was very popular and competitive. Most of the Platoon were

excellent shots having used guns from an early age to shoot rabbits

and squirrels and an illegal pheasant or two.

There were various adventures with live ammunition over the years

which gave cause for concern. Live hand grenade firing was conducted

in quarries and the grenades were thrown from behind a sandbagged

emplacement about five feet high at the edge of the top of the quarry.

The emplacement had four walls at right angles to the front wall each

about five feet long and as high as the front wall giving three bays

all open at the back. For safety reasons only one person was allowed

in the emplacement at a time with the instructor and the rest of the

Platoon being stationed some distance away. Throwing the grenade was

done from the centre bay and each trainee was told that in the event

of him dropping the grenade in the bay having removed the safety pin