Churchill’s Secret Headquarters Uncovered For The First Time – What Will Be Revealed?

Jan. 20, 2011 - PRLog -- Coleshill House and its grounds, now owned by the National Trust, were the English headquarters of Churchill’s secret Auxiliary Units, a highly trained guerrilla volunteer force set up to hamper a successful invasion by the German army.

This weekend approximately 30 volunteers will be surveying what little remains of this top secret WW2 site in the hope that they may uncover a new underground operational base and other small finds. The estate is closed to the public and this weekend is by special arrangement with the National Trust.

The project is being organised by Tom Sykes of CART and John Winterburn, a local landscape archeologist who has recently returned from a large archeological project in Jordon.

Other groups including The Ridgeway Military and Aviation Research Group, Subterranea Britannica, Great War Archaeology Group and members of the University of Bristol will also be assisting over the weekend.

Tom Sykes, Cart’s founder member says ‘We’re extremely excited about this weekend and hope it will be the first of many. There is a large area of woodland to cover and we have some real experts on hand to help us. We feel it is crucial that the site is surveyed completely and this forms part of our on-going commitment to researching these brave men and women’

The findings from this weekend will be published on CART’s informative website www.coleshillhouse.com in the near future.


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About Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART)

The Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART) is a non-profit making organisation set up in June 2009 by Tom Sykes. The aim of CART is to research, document and preserve the important history of the Auxiliary Units.
Since June 2009 its website (www.coleshillhouse.com) has seen over 19,000 unique visitors and has attracted TV, Radio and national press attention and the group has many expert members. Most of these are authors on the subject or have a direct relation to the Auxiliary Unit.

For further information about the Auxiliary Units and how you can help CART please go to the website, call 0872 045 9940 or email hq@coleshillhouse.com.

Additional Info on the Aux Units

70 years ago, during the darkest days of Britain’s lone fight against Nazi Germany, the threat of invasion was a very real one. With the army in utter confusion after Dunkirk, the recently introduced LDV (later renamed the Homeguard) was a key part of Britain’s defences. This Dad’s Army has been portrayed since the war as an unorganised group of elderly veterans, which stood little chance of making any impact on highly trained, experienced German soldiers.

However, amongst some of those that wore the uniform of the Home Guard was a ‘secret army’ each of whom were trained killers and demolition experts. The troops called Auxiliers were trained as ‘stay-behind’ units in the event of an invasion. Going to ground as the church bells sounded, the units would enter their underground bases and only come to the surface after the initial invading troops had passed over them. Usually at night, the Auxiliers would then disrupt the enemy supplies and reserve troops, helping to cut off those in the front line that were facing whatever defence the regular British army could put up.

These civilian volunteers were made up of all layers of society most of whom had an intimate knowledge of the local countryside; gamekeepers and poachers suddenly found themselves on the same side along with vicars, doctors and schoolteachers. They were all willing to leave their families, and give their lives - the average life expectancy of an Auxilier was predicted to have been two weeks after going into action - in order to defend their country. However, because of the secrecy of their mission not one of them got any official recognition and no public thanks. Many veterans never even let their closest family members know what they had been trained to do, so seriously did they take their signature on the Official Secrets Act.

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CART is non profit making and has no financial support from any company.

Since CART's birth in June 2009 the website has seen over 17,000 unique visitors and has attracted TV, Radio and national press attention and the group has many expert members.