How Britain trained a secret army of teenagers – codenamed Section VII – to resist the Nazis if they attacked

Preparations are revealed to use a secret civilian army of young British women and teenagers trained to kill the Nazis during World War II.

The army, many of them young girls, was set up by the Nazis to invade Britain and make Molotov cocktails, derail trains, and even train in unarmed warfare and self-defense.

Little is known about the Resistance force as Britain was never invaded and all recruits had to sign the Official Secrets Act upon joining.

But a book to be published this year details the secret preparation of the unit, known as Section VII, which was trained by the Secret Intelligence Service.

Writer and historian Andrew Chatterton learned of the Nationwide Volume VII Unit during his research into how Britain prepared for foreign invasion.

Fig.: Section VII. A homemade knuckleduster made and maintained by one of the members of

As well as writing about the more familiar Auxiliary Units and Special Duties Branch, Chatterton has pieced together important evidence about the highly secretive Volume VII units as the families of those involved came forward with their own stories.

He told MailOnline: ‘If it hadn’t been for thousands of people to sign up, there would have been hundreds.

‘And they were not for the duration of the invasion like the other two groups, but for the post-occupation period.

‘So once the Germans came in, these men would have done everything they could to disrupt the occupation.

Pictured: Irene Lockley of South Milford shares her account of being enlisted in Section VII before her death and tells her daughter that she had to ‘kill and cripple and cause as much damage to the enemy as possible’ in the German incident was trained for. army invades britain

‘So were those girls going out and killing German officers, teenage boys sneaking up on foreign forces and possibly British allies, people going in and blowing up factories so they could be killed by German forces. cannot be used.

‘These young people were just because they weren’t called during the manic attack period, so they were often quite young teenagers.’

Among them was Irene Lockley of South Milford, North Yorkshire, who told her daughter Jenny before she died that she had been trained to ‘kill and cripple and cause as much damage to the enemy as possible’.

She shared how she and other family members were taught how to derail trains, how to make Molotov cocktails, how to garrot and many other combat-related skills.

Teenage boys were also recruited and in one case four youths who had the best shots in their school cadet corps were selected as snipers.

Teenage boys were also recruited and in one case four youths who had the best shots in their school cadet corps were selected as snipers. Image: A school member of the Home Guard trains young boys during World War II in Britain in March 1941

Chatterton, author of the new book Britain’s Secret Defense: Civilian Saboteurs, Spies and Assassins, told MailOnline: ‘All this stuff goes against the notion and narrative that was built after the war that basically our defense against invasion was Dad’s. There was an army. Rocks with pitchforks.

‘Actually there were full layers of civil defense in case of a German invasion.

‘If we had been defeated militarily, we would have created a resistance force in advance which is a remarkable thing.

‘Obviously, the channel gave us a chance to do that but it’s a really great story that is coming to light right now.’

Britain’s Secret Defense: Citizen Saboteurs, Spies and Assassins will be published later this year.

Churchill’s Secret Army: How Britain Prepared for a German Invasion During World War II

As well as Section VII civilian units, of which little is known, Britain prepared and trained several layers of civil defense to resist the invading Germans during World War II.

In his book, Britain’s Secret Defense, Civilian Saboteurs, Spies and Assassins, Andrew Chatterton details the various branches of civil defense trained to sacrifice everything to defend the country.

The Auxiliary Units were a secret resistance network of highly trained volunteers designed to be the last ditch of Britain’s defense during World War II.

According to the British Resistance Archive, they operated in a network of cells from underground bases hidden around the UK.

Auxiliary Unit Patrol in Hampshire – Ordinary Citizens Who Were Highly Trained

Describing the supporting units, Chatterton told MailOnline: ‘When the Germans attacked, these men would have disappeared into secret underground bunkers.

‘They ran the length of the country and the men came out at night and blew up the supply chain for the German army – these men had a life expectancy of two weeks.’

He also writes about the Special Duty Branch, which was established in 1940 as a network of civilian spies led by intelligence officers.

‘These were re-established during the period of the invasion, and they were ordinary citizens – mothers and elderly women and doctors and campaigners – so people who could stand in the street and not attract attention,’ Chatterton said .

A surviving secret underground bunker used by an Auxiliary Unit patrol in Devon

‘He used to spy on the German forces coming from his village and wrote down what he saw. So they were really highly trained in recognizing units, weapons, uniforms and things like that.’

The network was made up of leading men, observers and runners. Each was given a code and a password and information would be passed from person to person without meeting.

Following a German offensive, runners would be sent to the front lines to report to British troops.

It is said that 3,250 men and women were involved, but no comprehensive records exist of special duty networks or personnel.

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