The 39 Somerset Auxiliary Units Patrols can be divided into 12 Groups by lists recorded by Major Malcolm Hancock based at Coleshill House around September 1944. There were some changes in Patrols and personnel over time and the Group structure did not exist earlier in the war, but it provides a useful way to look at the Patrols.
One of the Somerset nominal roll is a simple A-Z address book. The only way to identify which Auxiliers were in what Patrol is by their home address, so where Patrols are close together there may be some question over which Patrol they were part of.
Somerset Patrols have a Memorial Tree planted at Coleshill Estate.
The initial Headquarters used was the Territorial Hall, Taunton. By mid-1941 it had moved to 68 Monmouth Street, Bridgewater. On 22 August 1942 it moved to Sherwood House, Goathurst, Bridgewater, Somerset. It returned to the Taunton area when Auxiliary Units took over The Lodge, Bishops Lydeard on 8th September 1943. It remained there until Somerset became part of Area 4 on 27 September 1944 with the Headquarters at East Street, Ashburton, Devon.
Role | Name | Posted from | Until |
---|---|---|---|
Intelligence Officer | Captain Alan John Pitts Crick | 20 Oct 1940 | 23 Nov 1940 |
Intelligence Officer | Captain Ian Fenwick | 23 Nov 1940 | 15 Sep 1942 |
Intelligence Officer | Captain Lawrence Strangman | 06 Oct 1942 | 25 Aug 1943 |
Intelligence Officer | Captain John Walcot Holberton | 05 Sep 1943 | 01 Apr 1944 |
Intelligence Officer | Captain John Mulgrave Martin (MC) | 01 Apr 1944 | 22 Sep 1944 |
Intelligence Officer | Major Wilfred Welchman Harston | 27 Sep 1944 | 03 Dec 1944 |
The was a North Somerset Scout Section and a South Somerset Scout Section. In April 1943, as part of the reduction in the regular Army component of Auxiliary Units, the Scout Sections were reduced in size. There may have been a Combined Somerset Scout Section after this, though no evidence of its existence has been found to date. In most areas during 1944 the Scout Sections were reduced to just four men to provide training support to the Home Guard Patrols.