I mentioned this in another thread and Von Poop suggested it should have one of its own. This unit is almost forgotten today - unsurprising, given that it "lived" for only a fortnight or so and never had the chance to fulfill the task it was set. The North Staffs British Legion website has a summary history, including pictures of the very rare enamel badges produced for the force: British Legion Volunteer Police Force -X Royal British Legion in North Staffordshire - History Below, I've set out a brief introduction, together with copies of articles which appeared in The Times as the story unfolded. Enjoy! On September 6th, Maj-Gen Sir Frederick Maurice (President) and the Chairman of the British Legion wrote to Chamberlain, offering the Legion's services "in the event of a national emergency arising, which God forbid". This offer met with a cool but affirmative response from the PM. He probably didn't realise just how soon he'd need them. On September 26th, Maj-Gen Maurice flew to Berlin "with the consent of the Prime Minister" to propose to Hitler that if an agreement could be reached between Germany and Czechoslovakia the British Legion offered its services as "an impartial and neutral body in the areas concerned." He conveyed the answer personally to Chamberlain the next day, who duly announced it in Parliament. The Czechs acceded to this on September 29th, as part of the original proposal for a plebiscite in the border areas. Volunteers were not slow to come forward and by September 30th, 10000 - yes! ten thousand! - were said to have been selected by local British Legion branches. Some were chosen for language abilities "others because of their character and tact." They were not to wear uniforms, just Legion badges in their buttonholes and perhaps armbands in Legion colours. However, this was perhaps an over-ambitious statement and on October 3rd it was announced that the force would consist of about 1200 men: They were to assemble at Olympia on October 6th: And, as you'll see from this article, the authorities seem to have thought of almost everything, with uniforms, police greatcoats and caps and kitbags being provided. The Bishop of Truro was chaplain to the mission and several officers of Brigadier rank were among the volunteers. Within two days they seem to have been champing at the bit: nice to see that the Queen gave 'em 50 smokes each! More to follow ...
By October 10th, the bandwagon was really rolling, with the King sending greetings - I wonder how many of those copies of his message survive: By now, there were already doubts that the men would be needed, but nevertheless three members of the force flew to Prague on October 10th in order to prepare billets and catering and the men were embarked at Tilbury on October 12th: Meanwhile, Vauxhall Motors had provided 25 vehicles in double-quick time: But the plebiscite never happened, so the men on board ship found they were no longer meeded and it seems that life wasn't exactly a bowl of cherries on the SS Naldera: Fetherston-Godley seems to have been a bit miffed about that report! That letter was written on the day the force was disbanded. The men were allowed to keep some of the uniform they had been issued - but not the greatcoats! There's also an interesting postscript to the story: Or - to put it another way: "Up yours Adolf!" And finally:
Cheers Vitesse, appreciate your efforts. If I'm honest, it's nuggets of odd history like this that keep up my interest in the forum itself. Quite bizarre, and Faint echoes of the volunteers taking armoured cars to counter Bolsheviks 20 years before. Veterans and a spirit of adventure. Despite Herr Hitler's thanks, one wonders if these blokes and their spirit might instead have sparked the war a year early...
A great post to compliment the original. Both links I provided to a Veteran friend last night and he has just replied that it was a most interesting read. He was aware of the Volunteer Force but has not read so much in depth as your thread. Many thanks for the very informative threads. Regards Tom
This is fascinating but maybe it was a good thing they werent deployed. How they would have been treated if the Wehrmacht rolled in is anyone's guess.
I'm actually intrigued by the idea of how they provided all those blue serge suits in one go! Presumably either Price's and/or Montague Burton's warehouse was just emptied and the contents transferred to Olympia. It was obviously beneath The Times to mention a High Street tailor - although J Lyons were presumably respectable enough for their readers (or maybe Joe was clever enough to buy the journalist a pint or six!). In retrospect it all seems incredibly naive - 1200 men armed with nothing more than a walking stick and a whistle attempting to keep order in a country where violence and murder had been increasingly commonplace in the previous weeks.
Loved the newspaper cuttings! My local Legion branch standard bearers father-in-law was one of these volunteers. They have a lovely large photo of all the members from the branch he was in down in London taken just before they were all stood down. It looks like its taken in a naval or dock area. Anyway, for the record, all the men are wearing their medals and two of them are VC's. I will try and see if I can copy the photo for interests sake. Regards Matt
