Many Home Guard members were First World War veterans defending places they knew intimately. Reports of events in occupied Europe gave the threat to their families a concrete meaning. The imagined defense asks them to hold ground long enough for wives, children, and grandchildren to escape. Their experience and local knowledge would make such delaying actions costly to overcome. Every delay would also give Britain's rebuilt armored and other regular forces more time to intervene. Terrain resembling Normandy's bocage further weakens the prospect of a rapid German advance.
Notable Point · 2:31:41-2:34:39
Why the Home Guard could make an invasion bog down
First World War veterans defending familiar ground could buy time for families to escape and regular British formations to respond.