Search for the secret ‘scallywag’ bunkers
The hunt is on for a secret network of bunkers ordered by Sir Winston Churchill to house British Auxiliary Units – known as “scallywags” – in the event of a Nazi invasion. Researchers are asking for the public’s help to locate the bunkers – of which there are hundreds across the countryside – which were designed so the secret armed saboteur units could slow the advance of the enemy by destroying key infrastructure and carrying out targeted assassinations.
IN THE summer of 1940 following the retreat from Dunkirk, the British nation braced itself for a German invasion.
With Hitler expected to sweep across the Channel at any moment, Sir Winston Churchill ordered the formation of a secret resistance movement.
Made up of a shadowy band of armed saboteurs known as “scallywags”, and operating out of hundreds of underground bunkers hidden throughout the countryside, the British Auxiliary Units were intended as a last line of defence.
Now, a fascinating project to find and excavate these bunkers has been launched and researchers are asking for the public’s help to locate them before they are lost forever.
Andy Chatterton, from the British Resistance Archive, which is helping to co-ordinate the study, said: “Most people think they know the story of Britain in 1940. That we were a country on our knees waiting for the German invasion, but in actual fact there was a huge amount going on.
“The aim of the auxiliers, as they were known, was to slow the German advance and to do this in an extremely ruthless and frankly not very British way. They were trained to blow up bridges and railways and important buildings. But they would have also been expected to assassinate key figures and not just Nazis. We know that some had orders to kill British officials, such as local police chiefs, who might have given away secrets under torture.
“Far from the hapless Dad’s Army image of the Home Guard, the auxiliers, or scallywags as they were later to be named, were trained to be the deadliest of assassins.
“Because they were required to sign the Official Secrets Act many never spoke about their activities after the war and so what we are doing is trying to fill in some of the gaps.” Prof Peter Doyle, a
military historian at London South Bank University, who is involved in the study, said: “The British Auxiliary Units recruited people who knew the land, poachers, gamekeepers and farmers.
“If the Germans had invaded, they would have hidden out in the underground bunkers which were stocked
with arms and supplies and the plan was that they would steal out and attack at the heart of the Nazi operation.
“They were warned they would only have a life expectancy of 12 days.”
There were estimated to be around 4,500 volunteers, with between six and eight men per unit. Experts therefore estimate that there could be more than 600 bunkers scattered throughout the countryside. The first structures were built in the South East, where it was feared the Nazi invaders would land, but then they stretched across the country to South Wales and all the way up the east as far as the Outer Hebrides.
When the scallywags were stood down in 1944 many bunkers were filled in or demolished, but scores remained intact in undergrowth in fields, woods and forests. Prof Doyle said: “We recently excavated one in Suffolk and found a heating stove and a lamp.”
The team includes Dr Jamie Pringle from Keele University, a senior lecturer in geosciences, whose job it is to help identify and excavate the bunkers.
He said: “What we need is for people to be our eyes and ears in the countryside and let us know if they think they have spotted one of these structures.”