News

JOHN WARWICKER TALKS ABOUT CHURCHILL'S SECRET ARMY

Wednesday 19th May 2004

The University was privileged to have Mr John Warwicker MBE to deliver a public lecture on 11th May. Student Tony Grayston reports on the talk.

"Mr Warwicker spoke with knowledge and erudition on the subject of a little-known organisation instigated by wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill during the dark and menacing days of 1940. Churchill ordered that a “stay behind” guerrilla force be formed in secrecy to inflict maximum damage to Hitler’s forces should they land on these shores. The members became known as ‘Auxilliaries’ - a title to put people off the scent as to their real purpose. The organisation was so secret that relatives of “Churchill’s Secret Army” had no inkling of what family members were up to.

Mr Warwicker provided factual evidence and entertained his audience with anecdotes and accounts of the three years the secret army existed. It was not until 1968 that the existence of the Auxilliaries became known; through a book by David Lampe (no trace of whom can be found). The prominence given to the secret army was made clear when Mr Warwicker explained that Churchill ordered that the resistance force should have all the equipment that “Churchill’s toy shop” at Welwyn could provide, including weaponry which even the regular Army could not obtain.

It is hoped that Mr Warwicker will return to continue the story of this unique British enterprise."

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