By mid-1940, German forces had invaded France, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, and were planning Operation Sea Lion – the invasion of Britain. First, they had to win the Battle of Britain. As we all know, they lost. But what would have happened if they had won?

The British government did everything possible to prepare for the eventuality. Defence was the raison d’etre of the Home Guard (originally known as the Local Defence Volunteer Corps). Air raid precautions wardens, the Red Cross, the Women’s Voluntary Service and various other organisations played important supporting roles. So did the National Fire Service and the police. Everyone was expected to play their part. Perhaps 1,500,000 people were involved in civil defence. The government printed 15 million copies of a leaflet entitled If the Invader Comes, giving the general population detailed instructions on what to do – and, according to some critics, treated them like blithering idiots! Pill boxes along the Kennett and Avon Canal were a more practical response: they can still be seen today, and were designed to provide the country with its final line of defence. In 1941, Local Defence Committees – subsequently known as Invasion Committees – were established in most parishes.

Each committee took responsibility for the defence of its own area, bearing in mind that it could be cut off in the event of invasion. The Ministry issued detailed instructions on how they were to operate, but committees were encouraged to use their own initiatives and to be flexible with the rules, depending on circumstances. The instructions covered topics such as food and water supplies, the billeting of refugees, labour, fire precautions, casualty services, emergency transport, and even the burial of the dead. One of their most important roles was to ensure that everyone knew what to do when the Germans arrived. That included the elderly and infirm, and young children – who were all to stay put and avoid clogging up the roads.

The committees consisted of the ‘great and the good’ of each parish, and were likely to involve the local rector and leading farmers. All the better if members had military experience! The chairman of the committee in Stourton (Wiltshire), for example, was the rector, Rev T.E.H. Taylor, who had a distinguished military career during the First World War. The first task of the committees was to survey local resources. Some conducted censuses of their entire population. In Oxfordshire, for example, a printed form was used, suggesting that most committees in that county conducted a census. It recorded names, ages, occupations and the names of employers. There is also a column for indicating the capabilities of the persons named.

Each committee was expected to create a War Book, listing their personnel and resources, and listing actions to be taken in the event of invasion. These were regarded as top secret, and ordered to be destroyed if necessary in order to prevent capture by the enemy. The information to be included in war books was laid down by the Ministry. Strategic information such as the availability of phones, cars, vans, first aid skills, food and water was to be entered. They were compiled in duplicate, with a copy for the county defence committee. War books were also sometimes used to keep committee minutes.

Hilperton is a village on the edge of Trowbridge in Wiltshire. Its War Book was kept in a green ring binder, and consists of 32 typed pages (with some ink annotations). It begins with a page headed ‘Home Guard’, noting that the village was ‘likely to be used by the enemy as a patrol ground for subsequent attack on Trowbridge’, and instructing the populace to ‘observe the “stay put” and “closed lip” policy’. Two pages list the members of the Invasion Committee, giving their names, addresses, their role on the committee and their telephone numbers. Subsequent pages cover all the eventualities that might arise if invasion occurred, and include the names of many, if not most, villagers. Some served as messengers, others as volunteer fire guards, yet others as labourers, cooks, first aiders, and in various other roles.

Food was obviously important. The Voluntary Food Officer, Mr. Mathews, had charge of an emergency stock of food held at Mr. Fare’s bakery, as well as details of stocks in shops. If gas and electricity were cut off, cooking could be done at a number of houses with coal-burning stoves, but field ovens were not considered necessary.

The water supply was regarded as crucial; the owners of 21 wells were identified, although it was noted that the village well was ‘not in working order’. If there was damage to the public water supply, all water for consumption was to be boiled, and ‘no WCs to be flushed with water’. Instead, householders were instructed to dig trenches in the garden in which ‘all soil and urine should be buried’. Those unable to do so could call on the labour squad for help, although this was but one of their many duties. The squad included factory hands, coalmen, gardeners, a milkman, and various other occupations. Fifteen names were listed; they all had spades and other tools, and it was noted that tools, trucks and ladders were also available in two builders’ yards. Another page identified five other owners of ladders.

Several pages were devoted to the emergency services. The Hilperton section of the National Fire Service had its leader, his deputy, and 11 personnel – all named. A detailed list of ‘equipment and apparatus’ was provided, and four ponds were identified which could be used if the mains water supply failed. There was also a separate ‘Fire Guard’, consisting of the chief fire guard, F.A. Dowding, his deputy, Mr Houghton, four named captains, and about 100 (unnamed) fire guards. There were 64 stirrup pumps in the village.

Six police officers were listed, with their addresses. Their duties as regards traffic, refugees and the ‘stand firm’ policy were noted. More attention was devoted to casualty services and the rest centre. A first aid point was to be established in the parish room, in the grounds of the rectory. The music room of Hilperton House was to serve as an emergency hospital (it is now, appropriately, used regularly on Remembrance Sunday). Seven members of the ‘First Aid Party’ were named, and their equipment listed. There was an ‘ambulance stretcher’, an ‘improvised stretcher’, five beds, and nine blankets, together with ‘bandages, dressings, &c’. Ambulances were available in Trowbridge. Four doctors were named, with their telephone numbers, but no addresses. The Rector, Rev West, was named as registrar of deaths. Mr Halls’ slaughterhouse on Whaddon Lane was to be used as a mortuary, and ‘common graves’ could be dug in Mr Pike’s field adjoining the church cemetery.

The ‘rest centres’ were for those bombed out of their houses. For this purpose, the Anglican and Wesleyan schools were to be requisitioned, with food being provided at the former, and sleeping quarters at the latter. If extra toilet accommodation was required, it could be erected in Mr Cradock’s field. Mrs Wright was named as ‘unit commandant’, and Mrs Matthews served as her deputy. She was the Womens’ Institute representative on the Invasion Committee, and could call on their help when needed. The Girl Guides were to act as messengers. Six receptionists, nine cooks, four servers, 11 ‘night marshals’, and 29 people able to undertake ‘general work’ were named. There is also a separate page headed ‘housewives service’, with the names of several ‘group housewives’, although what precisely their duties were is not stated.

Arrangements were put in place for billeting refugees (presumably including locals who were bombed out). Mr Baker was named as the officer in charge of billeting; he had three helpers. It was estimated that 120 people could be billeted (including eighty in the rest centres). It was, however, noted that Southfield, in Devizes Road, was ‘standing empty’. It was under army control.

The penultimate pages of the book listed the names of those ‘not doing voluntary work’. A total of 145 names of adults are listed. Many were the parents of small children, or invalids. One was a night worker. Although the Hilperton Invasion Committee did not preserve a full census, it is likely that the great majority of local residents (including four who were living in a caravan – perhaps they were gypsies) were listed in their War Book.

Few censuses are known to have survived. As recently as 2006, it was thought that also applied to war books. In fact, at that date, most had simply not been catalogued, and perhaps not even deposited in record offices. Increasing numbers are now being located and catalogued. There are, for example, 93 war books (including the Hilperton volume) in Wiltshire and Swindon History Centre (reference F2/851). Some can be found in unexpected places: the Painswick (Gloucestershire) War Book, for example, is in the Imperial War Museum. It is likely that many more will turn up. Look out for them!