The Mobile Defence Corps was a British Army unit intended to assist in

civil defence Civil defense or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from human-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency management: prevention, mitigation, preparation, response, ...

operations in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It was established in 1955 from British Army and Royal Air Force personnel, with an intended strength of 48 battalions, later reduced to 36 battalions (with a total establishment of 29,500 men). Officers and non-commissioned officers were volunteers, with many coming from the army's

Anti-Aircraft Command Anti-Aircraft Command (AA Command, or "Ack-Ack Command") was a British Army command of the Second World War that controlled the Territorial Army anti-aircraft artillery and searchlight formations and units defending the United Kingdom. Origin ...

, which had disbanded in 1955. The other ranks were generally conscripts from the

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

scheme. The RAF involvement in the unit ceased in 1957. The unit reached a strength of around 14,000 men before being disbanded in 1959 in anticipation of the ending of National Service.

Establishment

The Mobile Defence Corps (MDC) was intended to support civilian organisations, such as the

Civil Defence Corps The Civil Defence Corps (CDC) was a civilian volunteer organisation established in Great Britain in 1949 to mobilise and take local control of the affected area in the aftermath of a major national emergency, principally envisaged as being a Col ...

, and military units providing assistance to the civil authorities in a civil defence situation. The unit was to function as a link between the CDC and the regular military and provide a large body of men trained in firefighting and rescue techniques who could be used in post-nuclear attack rescue work. The MDC was a development of the Mobile Civil Defence Column, a force established by the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

in the early 1950s as an experiment in moving large bodies of civil defence personnel to cities in case of nuclear attack. The need for these preparations had grown since the development of more powerful

thermonuclear weapon A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H-bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

s. The Mobile Defence Corps (MDC) was established as a unit of the British Army by royal warrant on 1 April 1955.

Organisation

The MDC was formed of a number of

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of up to one thousand soldiers. A battalion is commanded by a lieutenant colonel and subdivided into several Company (military unit), companies, each typically commanded by a Major (rank), ...

s, assigned to the rescue or firefighting roles; each battalion also had a medical section. The personnel were classed as British Army and Royal Air Force reservists, liable to attend a one-month long initial training followed by an ongoing commitment of 15 days per year of refresher training. The organisation was under the command of Directorate of the Mobile Defence Corps. When mobilised the battalions would be assigned to the local army command and deployed in consultation with regional civil defence authorities. Trainers were a mixture of regular personnel from the army and RAF and civilian experts. Officers and non-commissioned officers were volunteers, whereas the other ranks were generally conscripts undertaking

. Enough volunteers were found to form cadres of 25 battalions; most had been personnel in the army's

, which was disbanded in March 1955. The original intention was for the MDC to reach a strength of 48 600-man battalions within 4 years of establishment. To meet this it was intended that the MDC training depots would process 10,000 men per year. The intended establishment was reduced to 36 750-man battalions by 1956, with an expected annual intake of 7,500 national servicemen. By 1957 the involvement of the RAF had ceased and all personnel came from the army. By the end of 1958 33 battalions had been formed. The number of personnel was 14,000 (85% of whom were conscripts) out of a maximum establishment strength of 29,500 men.

Disbandment

National Service in the UK was wound down from 1957, with the last men being conscripted in 1960. The British government considered that it would not attract enough volunteers to continue the MDC in the post-conscription era and its disbandment was ordered by the Secretary of State for War,

Christopher Soames Arthur Christopher John Soames, Baron Soames, (12 October 1920 – 16 September 1987) was a British Conservative politician who served as a European Commissioner and the last Governor of Southern Rhodesia. He was previously Member of Parli ...

. The decision was announced in December 1958 and came into effect on 28 February 1959. By the time of its disbandment the government had abandoned plans to move large numbers of civil defence personnel around the country in the aftermath of a nuclear attack. It was decided instead to provide civil defence training to artillery and infantry units of the volunteer Territorial Army (TA) reserve force, with one in four of their annual camps being devoted to civil defence exercises. Upon disbandment of the MDC the volunteer members were directed to apply to the TA or civilian civil defence organisations if they wished to continue to serve in some capacity; some 44 MDC officers applied for transfer to the TA. The former MDC members remained liable for recall after its disbandment and in times of war would have been allocated to the TA. Investigative journalist Duncan Campbell has described the disbandment of the MDC as the first step in the dismantling of the British civil defence establishment (the Civil Defence Corps was stood down in 1968).

References

{{reflist Military units and formations established in 1955 Military units and formations disestablished in 1959 Military units and formations of the British Army Civil defence organisations based in the United Kingdom Cold War history of the United Kingdom Military units and formations of the Cold War