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Boys all over Britain began seeing saw the Home Guard drilling in open areas, often with their older brothers,
fathers, uncles, and perhaps even grandfathers. And as boys are want to do, they began drilling themselves in
imitation. Playing war became a major activity for British boys. And the War was no longer a far off activity.
Many boys could watch in unfold in the skies over southern England. This was mostly play at war, but we see some
more organized groups in uniforms. We do not yet know much about them. As far as we know there was no junior Home
Guard officially organized. This may have been, however, junior auxiliaries formed on a local basis by Regular Army
regiments. At least we see some obviously organized groups like the boys here (figure 1). Regular army units would
have had access to uniforms and equipment. Britain also had a well organized cadet corps, but it was not associated
with the Home Guard. This was an officer training program organized through the secondary schools and universities.
The local units formed by regiments may have used the term cadets, but were not part of the established cadet
organization. The boys here are called a cadet battalion (figure 1). As far as we know, there was no organized
national cadet battalion program and they were not part of the established school cadet program. We do not know
how many cadet battalions like this were formed. Perhaps readers will know more. Many boys participated in the
school cadet program during the War, the older boys actually entered the services.
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