Jack Stewart Remembers

Five months after joining the Home Guard, Jack Stewart was approached by Sgt Major Bill Fordyce and invited to join the Auxiliary Unit. He would get to know the facts later but it would save him from being called up to the regular forces quite so early. He agreed, but only found out what he was letting himself in for after he had signed the Official Secrets Act.
In fact, in the event of a Nazi invasion, he was committed to going into hiding behind the enemy lines to carry out sabotage and it was expected his group would last no longer than a fortnight at most.
Once the Nazis had control of Norway, parachute landings along the Moray Firth coast were thought likely. Most local Auxiliary Units were planned for being about seven miles from the coast, if the site was suitable and near enough to strategic points which could slow up the enemy after invasion.
The purpose of the groups was to blow up enemy convoys at night. The members were trained by the Army to use hand grenades (throwing from lying on back position), revolvers and rifles, Molotov cocktails, sticky bombs and how to set booby traps. They examined bridges to find the weakest points and practised using explosives on trees and big stones.
The local groups were based at Culvie, Bridge of Marnoch and Forglen.