Home guard is a title given to various

military organizations Military organization ( AE) or military organisation ( BE) is the structuring of the armed forces of a state so as to offer such military capability as a national defense policy may require. Formal military organization tends to use hierarch ...

at various times, with the implication of an emergency or

reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members (reservists) have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional ma ...

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 ''Landwehr'' (), or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national army, armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fo ...

'' ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of ''landwehr''.

Military units

Active

Historical & Defunct

Aizsargi Aizsargi (; officially – , or LAO) was a volunteer paramilitary organization, militia with some characteristics of a military reserve force in Latvia during the interbellum period (1918–1939). The Aizsargi was created on March 30, 1919, b ...

(Latvia, 1919–1940) * Home Guard (Unionist), during the

Civilian Irregular Defense Group program The Civilian Irregular Defense Group (CIDG, pronounced , ; ) was a military program developed by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) during the Vietnam War, which was intended to develop South Vietnamese irregular military units (militia) from ...

(1961-1970) during the

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (1 November 1955 – 30 April 1975) was an armed conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia fought between North Vietnam (Democratic Republic of Vietnam) and South Vietnam (Republic of Vietnam) and their allies. North Vietnam w ...

Confederate Home Guard The Home Guard of the several states of the Confederacy during the American Civil War included all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 50 who were exempt from Confederate service, excepting only the governor and other officials. ...

(1861–1865) during the

* Croatian Home Guard, several historic military formations during 19th and 20th century * Czechoslovak Home Guard (1918–1919) * 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 * Home Guard (New Zealand) (1940–1943) *

Home Guard (United Kingdom) The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an unpaid armed citizen militia supporting the 'Home Forces' of the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home guard, Home Guard comprised mo ...

(1940–1944) *

Home Service Force The Home Service Force (HSF) was a Home Guard type force established in the United Kingdom in 1982. Each HSF unit was placed with either a Regular Army or Territorial Army regiment or battalion for administrative purposes and given that formation ...

, British force for the 1980s-90s. *

Indian Home Guard The Indian Home Guard was a series of volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War. There was also a series of Confederate units of Indian Terr ...

, units raised from Indian tribes to support the Unionists in the American Civil War * Kikuyu Home Guard, a government paramilitary force in Kenya (1953–1955) * Malayan Home Guard, auxiliary volunteer police forces in Malaya during

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya, Director of Operations, Malaya, 1958, Chapter III: Own Forces *

Narodnoe Opolcheniye The People's Militia (, ) was the irregular troops formed from the population in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. They fought behind front lines and alongside the regular army during several wars throughout its history. The People ...

, Russia *

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard (, SD; ) was a Slovenes#World War II and aftermath, Slovene anti-Slovene Partisans, Partisan militia that was founded and supported by the Germans and fought alongside them against the Partisans. It operated during part of ...

(1943–1945) * Veterans Guard of Canada (1940–1947) *

Volkssturm The (, ) was a ''levée en masse'' national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was set up by the Nazi Party on the orders of Adolf Hitler and established on 25 September 1944. It was staffed by conscri ...

, Nazi Germany (1944-1945) *

Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia) The Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) was an Australian part-time volunteer military force of World War II modelled on the British Home Guard (United Kingdom), Home Guard. History The VDC was established in July 1940 by the Returned and Services Leag ...

(1940-1944) *

Volunteer Fighting Corps were armed civil defense units planned in 1945 in the Empire of Japan as a last desperate measure to defend the Japanese home islands against the projected Allied invasion during Operation Downfall (''Ketsugo Sakusen'') in the final stages of ...

, Japanese armed citizen

militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

(1945)

Similar units

Auxiliary Units The Auxiliary Units, Home Guard Shock Squads or GHQ Auxiliary Units were specially trained, highly secret quasi military units created by the British government during the Second World War with the aim of using irregular warfare in response to ...

City guard A city guard, city watch, town guard, or town watch were local militia companies formed to enforce municipal laws. Usually subordinate to the local municipal government, many cities had their own guard formations which doubled as police and mili ...

* Civil Guard (disambiguation) *

Gendarmerie A gendarmerie () is a paramilitary or military force with law enforcement duties among the civilian population. The term ''gendarme'' () is derived from the medieval French expression ', which translates to " men-at-arms" (). In France and so ...

Home Guard (India) image:Home Guard (India), ladies wing march-past.jpg, 200px, Home Guard ladies wing march-past in the 1960s The Home Guard of India is a volunteer force tasked to be an auxiliary to the Police forces of the states and union territories of India, ...

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 *

Fencibles The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Fren ...

, British temporary militias * Boeitai, a Japanese home guard force of World War II * Kondei, ancient Japanese militia of the

Nara The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an independent agency of the United States government within the executive branch, charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It is also task ...

and

Heian period The is the last division of classical Japanese history, running from 794 to 1185. It followed the Nara period, beginning when the 50th emperor, Emperor Kammu, moved the capital of Japan to Heian-kyō (modern Kyoto). means in Japanese. It is a ...

s * Local Defence troops (Finland) *

Militia A militia ( ) is a military or paramilitary force that comprises civilian members, as opposed to a professional standing army of regular, full-time military personnel. Militias may be raised in times of need to support regular troops or se ...

Ordenanças The ''ordenanças'' () were a type of militia unit which existed in the Portuguese Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries. By the 17th century, the ''ordenanças'' had become the ''de facto'' home guard and military reserve force of the Kingdom ...

, Portuguese home guard from 1570 to 1831 *

Omakaitse The Omakaitse ('home guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the occupation of Estonia by the German Empire, the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country ...

, Estonian Home Guard in World War II *

United States Coast Guard Reserve The United States Coast Guard Reserve is the reserve component of the United States Coast Guard. It is organized, trained, administered, and supplied under the direction of the Commandant of the Coast Guard through the Assistant Commandant for ...

"temporary reservists" during World War II *

United States Guards The United States Guards were a formation of the National Army created to guard strategic installations and areas in order to free infantry regiments for war service in the First World War. American Civil War During the Civil War Colonel H.P. Mon ...

* Wachdienst, an auxiliary organisation erected by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II

Other

* Home Guard (Shannara), in Terry Brooks' novel series *

Home Guard potato Home Guard is a potato variety grown mainly in Ireland. Of an oval shape it is an early variety with moderate to low yields, typically harvested and available in shops by mid-May. The flesh is white or cream coloured, but shows a tendency to disco ...

, a variety of first early potato

References