2-611-799 - Keystone Archives/Heritage Images

British Home Guard exercise, World War II, c1940-c1944. Soldiers advancing up a 'French Street'. The Home Guard was a volunteer force made up of men who were ineligible for service in the regular army. Originally organised in 1940 as the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV), its purpose was to assist in the defence of Britain in the event of a German invasion. The Home Guard was stood down in December 1944 and formally disbanded a year later.