The Last Ditch

by David Lampe

Novelists, playwrights, and theorists have often toyed with the question, what would have happened if the Germans had occupied Britain in 1940? Based on years of persistent detective work, Last Ditch investigates the German plans and the countermeasures undertaken through the specially formed British Resistance Organization.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, Military History, Military Fiction, War

250 pages, Hardcover

First published May 1, 2013

Reviews

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fairly detailed introduction to Britain's largely unknown Auxiliary Units. The core of the British Resistance Movement that was organised in response to German plans for the invasion and occupation of Britain in WWII. David Lampe reveals how the recruitment and training of this secret home army proceeded, and how individual units, unknown to each other, were made invisible to the wider population. And how those involved, for all intents and purposes were ordinary members of the Home Guard. A deception that held firm among their colleagues, families and friends. These men were trained assassins and saboteurs. Often used to penetrate security at military bases in their localities. A skill so perfected they were never once detected. Lampe also reveals the separate secret developments of radio operations, and intelligence units. This was the first major resistance movement in Europe. Those who took part should be properly recognized for their contribution. For what at the time, constituted a very real threat.

[Kriegslok · Rating 4 out of 5]

The number of books about the Auxiliary Units has increased a little in recent years and most are sitting in my awaiting attention pile. This though is pretty much the original authoriative work on the secret official WWII resistance organisation set up in case of a successful German invasion of the British mainland. The Auxiliary Units were tasked with harassing and sabotaging the invaders from their carefully set up secret bases spread across the country. The book tells of creation of the units, their training, growth, establishment and eventual standing down never having been called on but there ready in case. Despite the scarcity of information and the continued refusal of many unit members at the time to discusss their work Lampe produced a fine work. As well as looking at the establishment and training of the units Lampe looks at the Nazi plans for occupation and how these may have stood up to Auxiliary harassment. It is complete with a detailed appendix of Auxiliary leaders and the Gestapo arrest list. Now onto "Churchill's Underground Army. A History of the AuxiliaryUnits in World War II" by John Warwicker.

I think I first came across the Auxilary Units when researching the Gladio network which was a sort of bastard off-spring of the Units and well documented in Daniele Gansers' excellent "NATOs Secret Armies"

[Mark Butterworth · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very well researched account of the little known "Auxiliary Operations Units" - the hand picked men of the Home Guard who were highly trained in sabotage and guerrilla tactics in order to combat the expected invasion of Britain. While historical works rarely age well with regard to newly discovered sources and different lines of research, Lampe's book benefits from having been written at a time wherein the content had only recently been lifted from the Official Secrets Act, yet many of those involved (often, veterans of the First World War) were still alive to corroborate the evidence.

All in all an excellent read, and should be a mainstay of any Second World War enthusiasts' library.

[Céline FrenchAlps · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book in French. It was left on a table among many other books by some students leaving the school. The title caught my attention : "Fantômes sous les armes" that could be translated by "Ghosts under weapons" nothing alike the original title. I quickly read what the book was about and decided to take it home, where I read it in a couple of hours. I don't read History much, I usually find it boring, but this one kept my attention from the beginning till the end for two main reasons :
- First, it was about Great Britain, (a country that I love so much) and how the Auxiliary Units prepared for the nazi invasion. Something I had never heard of before. The Germain side is also expressed : I was surprised to learn about the guide book that was written for the Germans to help them dealing with the British. Both points of view described, very interesting.
-second, in the French middle schools and high schools, they are so focused on the German side along with French, Italian, Spanish and Russian sides of the Second World War, that we actually never learn about what happened during this time in Great Britain. I had never heard of Hitler's plan to invade GB. I also read that Norway was invaded, never heard of that either. The only thing that we know about GB is that, yes they had many cities destroyed by plane attacks but they had a good radio technology so they knew the nazis were going to attack some time before they actually arrived and had the time to make people safe.
Dunkerque battle was also mentionned in the book. British soldiers were sent there. It's in France, and I had never heard of it either...
It's sad to realize that I went to school, got University diplomas, and am now a teacher (of French foreign language), and have a very poor knowledge about what happened to the "neighbours" : the countries close to France.
I'm glad this book was left on that table that day so I could find it.

[John Kersley · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Last Ditch

And incredibly interesting account of the preparations made in Britain, due to the possibility of German occupation during World War II. It also illustrates the extent to which Germany had made plans should they have occupied Britain.
The most interesting read on a subject which I had not previously been aware.

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book written about the serect Auxiliary units set up during the war.

It goes into great detail about how the auxiliary units would have behaved and fought during the initial few weeks of a german invasion.

If the auxiliary units is something you want to know about, start here.

[Ipswichblade · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok book but nothing really new to discover

[Eddy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting piece of little known history. The writing wanders around in space and time and there isn't much of a narrative flow, but lots of fascinating details.

[Tom Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting, however gets very technical and quite hard to read after a while.

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a very quick read, and divides it's topics between a discussion of German organization for the control of the seized British territory, and a discussion of the resistance and intelligence networks organized to resist a German invasion. There are moments which seem fanciful. In particular, the description of the entrances to various "hides" seem improbable to me, and most had been destroyed before the war ended so there was no physical evidence other than descriptions from those claiming to have been part of the organization. It's still interesting, and even if some things are fanciful, the rest is still quite interesting.

[Cliff Ratner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long on dates/location, short on story or incidents

Could have had more information about the people who made up the resistance, instead of mainly dealing with which officers ran which sections.

[Stephen Shapiro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite a tendency to hyperbole with the some of the anecdotes (apparently all the members of the Auxiliary Units were ten feet tall, invisible, and able to leap sentries in a single bound), this is an interesting history of the British Second World War stay-behind network.

[Cart Yorkshire · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent researched book, done at a time when the war was fresh in all veterans memories and when all of them were alive to give him accurate written testimony.