Home guard is a title given to various military organizations at various times, with the implication of an emergency or

reserve force A military reserve force is a military organization whose members have military and civilian occupations. They are not normally kept under arms, and their main role is to be available when their military requires additional manpower. Reserve ...

raised for local defense. The term "home guard" was first officially used in the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historic use of the term ''Heimwehr'' ("home guard") to describe units officially known as ''

Landwehr ''Landwehr'', or ''Landeswehr'', is a German language term used in referring to certain national armies, or militias found in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Europe. In different context it refers to large-scale, low-strength fortificatio ...

'' ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of ''landwehr''.

Military units

Active

Historical

Aizsargi Aizsargi (literally: "Defenders", "Guards") was a volunteer paramilitary organization or militia ( lv, Aizsargu organizācija, "Guards Organization", AO) in Latvia during the interbellum period (1918–1939). The Aizsargi was created on March 3 ...

(Latvia, 1919–1940) *

Home Guard (Unionist) In the American Civil War the Home Guard or Home Guards were local militia raised from Union loyalists. Missouri In Missouri after the start of the Civil War there were several competing organizations attempting to either take the state out of the ...

, during the

Confederate Home Guard The Home Guard of the several states of the Confederacy during the American Civil War included all able-bodied white males between the ages of 18 and 50 who were exempt from Confederate service, excepting only the governor and other officials. ...

(1861–1865) during the

* Croatian Home Guard, several historic military formations during 19th and 20th century *

Czechoslovak Home Guard Czechoslovak may refer to: *A demonym or adjective pertaining to Czechoslovakia (1918–93) **First Czechoslovak Republic (1918–38) ** Second Czechoslovak Republic (1938–39) **Third Czechoslovak Republic (1948–60) **Fourth Czechoslovak Repu ...

(1918–1919) * Home Guard (Austria) ''(Heimwehr)'' (1920–1938) paramilitary unit of Fatherland Front Party *

Home Guard (New Zealand) The Home Guard was a wartime armed service during World War II that was established with the primary objective of defending New Zealand from the threat posed by the Empire of Japan.Archives New Zealand: http://archives.govt.nz/research/guides/wa ...

(1940–1943) *

Home Guard (United Kingdom) The Home Guard (initially Local Defence Volunteers or LDV) was an armed citizen militia supporting the British Army during the Second World War. Operational from 1940 to 1944, the Home Guard had 1.5 million local volunteers otherwise ineligible f ...

(1940–1944) *

Home Service Force The Home Service Force was a Home Guard type force established in the United Kingdom in 1982. Each HSF unit was placed with either a Regular Army or Territorial Army regiment or battalion for administrative purposes and given that formation’s ...

, British force for the 1980s-90s. *

Indian Home Guard The Indian Home Guard was a series of volunteer infantry regiments recruited from the Five Civilized Tribes of the Indian Territory to support the Union during the American Civil War. There was also a series of Confederate units of Indian Territ ...

, units raised from Indian tribes to support the Unionists in the American Civil War *

Kikuyu Home Guard The Kikuyu Home Guard (also Home Guard or Kikuyu Guard) was a government paramilitary force in Kenya from early 1953 until January 1955. It was formed in response to insurgent attacks during the Mau Mau Uprising. History The Kikuyu Home Guard ...

, a government paramilitary force in Kenya (1953–1955) *

Lithuanian Riflemen's Union The Lithuanian Riflemen's Union (LRU, lt, Lietuvos šaulių sąjunga), also referred to as Šauliai ( lt, šaulys for ''rifleman''), is a paramilitary non-profit organisation supported by the State. The activities are in three main areas: milita ...

(1919–, unofficial since 1991) * Malayan Home Guard, auxiliary volunteer police forces in Malaya during Malayan EmergencyConduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya, Director of Operations, Malaya, 1958, Chapter III: Own Forces * Narodnoe Opolcheniye *

Slovene Home Guard The Slovene Home Guard ( sl, Slovensko domobranstvo, SD; german: Slowenische Landeswehr) was a Slovene anti- Partisan military organization that was active during the 1943–1945 German occupation of the formerly Italian-occupied Province of Ljub ...

(1943–1945) *

Volkssturm The (; "people's storm") was a levée en masse national militia established by Nazi Germany during the last months of World War II. It was not set up by the German Army, the ground component of the combined German ''Wehrmacht'' armed forces, ...

Nazi Germany (1944-1945) *

Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia) The Volunteer Defence Corps (VDC) was an Australian part-time volunteer military force of World War II modelled on the British Home Guard. The VDC was established in July 1940 by the Returned and Services League of Australia (RSL) and was initiall ...

(1940-1944)

Similar Units

* Civil Guard (disambiguation) *

Home Army The Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK; ) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) est ...

(''Armia Krajowa''), Poland, World War II *

Fencibles The Fencibles (from the word ''defencible'') were British regiments raised in the United Kingdom, Isle of Man and in the colonies for defence against the threat of invasion during the Seven Years' War, the American War of Independence, the Frenc ...

, British temporary militias * Boeitai, a Japanese home guard force of World War II * Local Defence troops (Finland) *

Militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

Ordenanças The ''ordenanças'' ( en, ordinances), sometimes misspelled ''ordenanzas'' in English, were a militia-type organization that existed in Portugal and in some parts of the Portuguese Empire (especially in Brazil), between the 16th and the 19th centur ...

, Portuguese home guard from 1570 to 1831 *

Omakaitse The Omakaitse ('home guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the Occupation of Estonia by the German Empire the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country a ...

, Estonian Home Guard in World War II *

State defense force In the United States, state defense forces are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state. ...

s, home guards of individual U.S. states *

United States Guards The United States Guards were a formation of the National Army (USA), National Army created to guard strategic installations and areas in order to free infantry regiments for war service in the First World War. American Civil War During the Civil ...

Wachdienst The ''Wachdienst'' (English: watch service) was a rural home guard organisation raised by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II, in 1945. The service was created to assist local authorities in rural areas, among other th ...

, an auxiliary organisation erected by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II

Other

* Home Guard (Shannara), in Terry Brooks' novel series * Home Guard potato, a variety of first early potato

References

{{SIA Military organization Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles