DON’T panic! Dad’s Army was actually a well-drilled fighting force, records show.
World War Two’s Home Guard were portrayed as bungling part-timers in the classic sitcom.
Dad’s Army ran for nine series on the BBC from 1968 to 1977
But in fact they were a combination of World War One and Boer War vets, underage teenagers and fit men in jobs which exempted them from joining up.
Papers belonging to Major James Webster, commanding officer of two Ipswich Home Guard battalions, reveal his men underwent weapons training.
They also carried out roadblock drills and took part in numerous exercises on how to halt an expected German invasion.
The documents were found in granddaughter Helen’s attic in Truro, Cornwall, after a roof leak and donated to the Great War Huts museum near Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.
Its co-founder, historian Taff Gillingham, 59, said: “By 1943, they weren’t much different from the professionals.
“A lot were fit young fellows.
“But of course, public perception — which came from Dad’s Army — was the Home Guard was made up of amateurs and Boy Scouts.”
Helen said of the papers: “My father valued those documents.
“And I’m delighted someone else is valuing them.”
Dad’s Army, featuring Arthur Lowe as Captain Mainwaring, ran for nine series on the BBC from 1968 to 1977.
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