VILLAGE RESISTANCE
A Hidden Chapter of British Forces
What most people don’t know is that the British Forces included a secret resistance movement designed to be in action during the actual invasion of Britain. This clandestine group, known as the Auxiliary Units or sometimes referred to as Churchill’s Secret Army, was established in 1940 under the direct orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill
The Perfect Location
Our village, being in the middle of the Wolds, was in the perfect location to become the East Riding Headquarters. The official HQ was established in 1940 at Middleton Hall in the old stable block. Underground bunkers were dug, under the control of Major Ellis.
Secret Operations
Sabotage of the occupying Nazis system was to be planned from the secret underground bunkers holding up to 6 men in a confined space, trained to communicate through an underground radio network. Here are photos taken by Geoff Wisher of the entrance and exit point in the forest floor:
Source Operational Bases | British Resistance Archive (staybehinds.com)
Guerrilla Warfare
Designed to use guerrilla warfare in the event of a successful German occupation, the resistance were given the most up-to-date weapons including commando-style daggers, machine guns, and even explosives such as gelignite and nitro-glycerine ‘sticky bombs’ to destroy tanks. They were given a code name of “auxiliary units,” to conceal their true purpose.
Unofficial Headquarters
The unofficial headquarters was in The Rose and Crown at the bottom of South Street. Please see location hare 2 for more information about the pub.
Source Robert Hardman for The Daily Mail, 26th November 2011
Source Book East Ridings Secret Resistance: Alan, Williamson
Local People Needed to Train as Sabotage Spies
Would you have been brave enough and secretive enough to become a spy?
Members of the resistance were secretly recruited from local civilians including game-keepers who knew the area well. The life expectancy in the field was only 12 hours, with an expectation of suicide rather than surrender. All members had to sign the official secrets act, so their existence remained a secret, even to their families living in the village. We could not find any names, even today.
These were indeed very brave Middletonians or as the locals say, MBBs!
Written by K. Kaye
May 2025
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