Home Guard On Manoeuvres And Parade, Enfield

Amateur footage of the home guard on patrol and at ease in the fields outside London, where anti-tank weapons are tested in front of suburban houses.

William Chapman, a driver in the Enfield Home Guard, shot this film showing the home guard in camp and training in London suburbs. It has an endearing mix of tea-drinking and gun-firing – with the odd larger explosion thrown in for good measure – showing the comradeship and professionalism of London’s older soldiers as they did their bit in the early stages of the Second World War, when invasion appeared imminent.