SCHOOL OF THOUGHT
THEY were trained as assassins and ordered to sabotage any invasion of Britain during the Second World War.
These guerrilla teams were to be based in underground bunkers in rural and coastal locations, where they could emerge in the dead of night with weapons.
Their nickname? The scallywags.
The UK Government has never officially acknowledged the existence of the British auxiliary units that were recruited in 1940.
But now academics from Keele University are involved in a project to map these previously secret bunkers and create virtual tours for the public.
It’s a chapter in our wartime history which deserves to finally be told.
But who were these scallywags, and could their mission have ever beaten back the Nazis and Axis forces?
Let’s track back to summer 1940. Following the evacuation from Dunkirk, there were real fears it was only a matter of time before an invasion on British soil.
Prime Minister Winston Churchill ordered the creation of the clandestine units.
They were designed to slow down the enemy and buy vital time to protect London and the industrial heartlands.
The fighters were trained to blow up bridges, railways and large country houses, which would have been the likely ‘billets’ of high-ranking German officers.
They would have also been prepared to carry out assassinations.
Each team typically had six to eight members and they were assigned an ‘OB’ – operational base.
It’s estimated that hundreds of these bunkers were built, stretching from England’s south coast right up to the Outer Hebrides in Scotland.
The units were finally disbanded in 1944 and the Royal Engineers were ordered to destroy most of the bunkers.
Keele University geosciences senior lecturer Jamie Pringle and forensic researcher Kris Wisniewski have been analysing some of the sites that still exist.
Kris, who used to work for Staffordshire University and is now based at Keele, said: “On the surface, some of these bunkers look like buried and buckled sheets of corrugated metal. And I bet most would assume it’s just been left there.
“Little do they know that it was actually part of something much bigger.”
Using near-surface geophysical surveys, they have investigated the structure and layout of some of the bunkers in Suffolk.
They have also ventured inside to study the hideouts in more detail.
The academics uncovered escape hatches, intact main chambers, and artefacts that included heating stoves, lighting and cooking equipment.
For the units, there would have only been enough food stored underground to last 30 days.
But the mission was considered so deadly that each scallywag was warned they had a life expectancy of just 12 days.
That’s, of course, if the invasion had ever taken place. They were certainly armed to the teeth, ready to fight back.
Commando knives, pistols, gelignite and plastic explosives were part of the arsenal of weapons.
And to help keep their spirits up, they were given rum rations to drink in the bunkers.
The civilians were picked because they knew their patches well and were, in many cases, already familiar with firearms.
They included farmers, gamekeepers, poachers and landowners.
The Keele researchers revealed some of their exciting findings about the scallywag bunkers last year.
Now they have secured £30,000 from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to work with the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART) on the latest project.
It will involve mapping out the bunkers in Britain and training volunteers to use the technology to create virtual visits for the general public.
Some of the remaining bunkers are still lying unidentified, and others have fallen into a state of disrepair.
They were in danger of being lost to the ravages of time.
But Jamie said: “We can digitally preserve these hidden structures, still present in the UK countryside, for the nation.”
It will be mission accomplished for the researchers.