Why Britain's Home Guard was more dangerous than its caricature

Many Home Guard members had recent combat experience from 1918 and believed the earlier war had ended before the Army fully exploited its advantage. Gamekeepers and other practiced civilian shooters had continued using firearms through the interwar years. Local knowledge and marksmanship meant reconnaissance teams could identify and target officers and senior noncommissioned officers. The result was a more credible and potentially disruptive invasion obstacle than the familiar comic caricature suggests.