Auxiliary Units

With the threat of invasion, Britain established a resistance movement that would be prepared in the event of invasion to take on German garrisons occupying the county. The resistance went under the intentionally innocent sounding name of 'Auxiliary Units', with its communicators being known as 'Special Duties Sections'. The Auxiliary Units were established before war in great secrecy, with patrols being made up of local people who knew the countryside around their homes.

In 1941, it is recorded that within Dorset, which was divided-up into six areas, there where almost fifty patrols made up from three hundred members of the unit. They worked from thirty two well concealed hides, built mainly by the Royal Engineers. The standard hide consisted of a large room, fourteen feet long, a small storeroom, a cooking area, ablutions and a well concealed, sliding, escape hatch from the rear of the hide.

Before the invasion these hides were stores for weapons, explosives and equipment and were where the patrols would lie-up until the invading Germans had advanced past them. With the main German combat force advancing north, the Dorset Auxiliary Units were to have deployed from their hides to mount hit and run attacks on the enemy and his lines of communication. The aim was to destroy German headquarters and disrupt the logistic effort and then, if the Germans were victorious, attack garrisons and facilities in occupied Britain, in the same manner as the French Resistance did across the Channel.

The Headquarters of the Dorset Auxiliary Units was at Bingham's Melcombe House, near Melcombe Bingham, before being relocated to Duntish Court, neat Buckland Newton, later in the war. The Auxiliary Units remained operational until the threat of German invasion subsided and in November 1944, a final stand-down order was issued.

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