Home guard is a title given to various
military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or
reserve force raised for local defense.
The term "home guard" was first officially used in the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historical use of the term ''Heimwehr'' ("home guard") to describe units officially known as ''
Landwehr'' ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of ''landwehr''.
Military units
Active
Historical & Defunct
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Aizsargi (Latvia, 1919–1940)
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Home Guard (Unionist), during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
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Civilian Irregular Defense Group program (1961-1970) during the
Vietnam War
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Confederate Home Guard (1861–1865) during the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
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Croatian Home Guard, several historic military formations during 19th and 20th century
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Czechoslovak Home Guard (1918–1919)
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Home Guard (Austria) ''(Heimwehr)'' (1920–1938)
paramilitary
A paramilitary is a military that is not a part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the use of the term "paramilitary" as far back as 1934.
Overview
Though a paramilitary is, by definiti ...
unit of
Fatherland Front Party
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Home Guard (New Zealand) (1940–1943)
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Home Guard (United Kingdom) (1940–1944)
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Home Service Force, British force for the 1980s-90s.
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Indian Home Guard, units raised from Indian tribes to support the Unionists in the American Civil War
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Kikuyu Home Guard, a government paramilitary force in Kenya (1953–1955)
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Malayan Home Guard, auxiliary volunteer police forces in Malaya during
Malayan Emergency[Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya, Director of Operations, Malaya, 1958, Chapter III: Own Forces]
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Narodnoe Opolcheniye, Russia
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Slovene Home Guard (1943–1945)
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Veterans Guard of Canada (1940–1947)
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Volkssturm, Nazi Germany (1944-1945)
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Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia) (1940-1944)
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Volunteer Fighting Corps, Japanese armed citizen
militia (1945)
Similar units
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Auxiliary Units
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City guard
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Civil Guard (disambiguation)
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Gendarmerie
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Home Guard (India)
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Home Army
The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...
(''Armia Krajowa''), Poland, World War II
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Fencibles, British temporary militias
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Boeitai, a Japanese home guard force of World War II
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Kondei, ancient Japanese militia of the
Nara and
Heian periods
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Local Defence troops (Finland)
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Militia
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Ordenanças, Portuguese home guard from 1570 to 1831
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Omakaitse, Estonian Home Guard in World War II
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United States Coast Guard Reserve "temporary reservists" during World War II
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United States Guards
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Wachdienst, an auxiliary organisation erected by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II
Other
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Home Guard (Shannara), in Terry Brooks' novel series
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Home Guard potato, a variety of first early potato
See also
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Irregular military
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Irregular warfare
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Insurgency weapons and tactics
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Internal security
References
{{SIA
Military organization
Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles