'Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?' Not Colonel Rodney Foster, a platoon commander of the Kent Home Guard. "Dad's Army", the iconic comedy series is as well-known today as it was forty years ago. But the reality of life in the Home Guard was often very different. Here, for the first time, is the full inside story of the Home Guard, the ragtag volunteer army that defended the coast of Britain from German invasion during the Second World War. Colonel Rodney Foster, who retired to Hythe in the south of England after a military career in British India, joined the Home Guard in 1940 and kept a diary every day - a highly illegal act at the time - and in it meticulously chronicled his service in the real Dad's Army. Living directly beneath the Battle of Britain on the Kent coast, Foster commanded a company of men in the face of constant aerial bombardment and the ever-present threat of death from above - the Home Guard were the first barrier to Hitler's crack parachutists. Writing from the village hall, abandoned barns, churches and makeshift officers' messes, he records with a unique wit and wisdom the everyday details of family life during the war: the domestic routine dogged by air raid warnings, the antics of soldiers stationed nearby taking every chance to improve their lot, the quiet strength of a small community faced with great adversity.
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Review
It's magical (Dan Snow, During The One Show )
If you lament the demise of the stiff upper lip, this is the book for you (Dominic Sandbrook Evening Standard )
Amazing, a delight to read, a book worth special attention. Worthy of being in Dad's Army . . . An insight into life as it really was in those dark days of World War Two (Army Rumour Service )
An unexpectedly revealing picture of the reality behind a television fiction (Sunday Times )
Ever since Dad's Army become popular as a TV series, books have been published and described as revealing 'The Real Dad's Army'. The extraordinary thing about this book is that, finally, it is the real thing (Jimmy Perry, Co-Creator Of Dad's Army )
This book is a wonderful slice of social history, a unique record by a brave observer of not only a momentous time, but also a vanished way of life: a tradition of self-sacrifice and pulling together that now seems, sadly, part of the distant past (John Harding, Book Of The Week Daily Mail )
If you lament the demise of the stiff upper lip, this is the book for you (Dominic Sandbrook Evening Standard )
Amazing, a delight to read, a book worth special attention. Worthy of being in Dad's Army . . . An insight into life as it really was in those dark days of World War Two (Army Rumour Service )
An unexpectedly revealing picture of the reality behind a television fiction (Sunday Times )
Ever since Dad's Army become popular as a TV series, books have been published and described as revealing 'The Real Dad's Army'. The extraordinary thing about this book is that, finally, it is the real thing (Jimmy Perry, Co-Creator Of Dad's Army )
This book is a wonderful slice of social history, a unique record by a brave observer of not only a momentous time, but also a vanished way of life: a tradition of self-sacrifice and pulling together that now seems, sadly, part of the distant past (John Harding, Book Of The Week Daily Mail )
About the Author
Shaun Sewell is an avid antique dealer and social historian who brought the world of Thomas Cairns Livingstone to life when his diaries were published in 2008 and 2010. His next find was the diaries of Lt. Col. Rodney Foster who paints a rare picture of life in WWII through the eyes of the Home Guard platoon and company leader on the Kentish coastline. Shaun bought the diaries through an online auction in 2008 and was captivated by the dramatic accounts of this real life Dad's Army's Captain Mainwaring. Shaun lives and works in Northumberland.
Rodney Foster was born in India in 1882 and spent his career in the Indian Army. In his retirement he went with his wife and daughter to live in Saltwood, near Hythe on the Kent coastline. Here in 1940 he enrolled in the Home Guard. He died in 1962.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
By penfold
Format:Hardcover
If you like military history you will like this book,an ant's eye view of the battle of britain and the experience of living through world war 2 on the kent coast through the eyes of col. rodney foster. Lots of interesting information on air raid times,troop movements,public opinion,and such like.most military history books say about the same on the different wars or theatres,this book isn't written by an author it's written by a diarist writing down the day to day happenings around him, it gives you a very good sense of being there and what life was like for people living under the threat of being bombed or invaded at any moment.amazing to read the thoughts of someone who died fifty years ago on events that happened seventy years ago and who was born a hundred and thirty years ago.a nice old boy with a very british stiff upper lip,recommended.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By G. M. Sinstadt
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Hardcover
One of many remarkable facets of these diaries is how like, and yet how unlike, the television sitcom was to reality. The diarist, a retired Indian army officer living in the heart of Hell Fire Corner throughout the second World War, was an early member of the Home Guard in Kent. He did not suffer fools and encountered a number. Eventually, exasperated, he resigned and became a driver in the Volunteer Car Pool.
Colonel Foster is an exemplary diarist. His entires are brief, lucid and to the point; they have room for the wider view of the war as it unfolded but also for the trivia of everyday life. A picture emerges of daily exposure to danger, the stress of regular air raid warnings, the bombs and explosions, the death of acquaintances; but also of domestic life when the housemaid is suspected of being a spy, when the writer stands next to a rear-admiral in a half-hour queue to buy fish, when a journey can only be completed by borrowing a gallon of petrol, while on another drive to an emergency hospital, "I did the 28 miles in 1¼ hours."
Unwittingly, perhaps, the Colonel provides a telling self-portrait. Clearly he was a man of principle, devoted to his wife and daughter, a willing helper of deserving causes, a prickly team member, and a prejudiced patriot - among those who come in for recurrent criticism are Winston Churchill and most of his cabinet, Field Marshall Montgomery, General Eisenhower and most Americans. British servicemen who consistently damage his fence are not excused.
We can only be grateful that these diaries, having disappeared after the author's death, resurfaced in a car boot sale. Anyone wishing to understand what life was like for civilians in the front line will find a clear and accurate account.... Read more ›
Colonel Foster is an exemplary diarist. His entires are brief, lucid and to the point; they have room for the wider view of the war as it unfolded but also for the trivia of everyday life. A picture emerges of daily exposure to danger, the stress of regular air raid warnings, the bombs and explosions, the death of acquaintances; but also of domestic life when the housemaid is suspected of being a spy, when the writer stands next to a rear-admiral in a half-hour queue to buy fish, when a journey can only be completed by borrowing a gallon of petrol, while on another drive to an emergency hospital, "I did the 28 miles in 1¼ hours."
Unwittingly, perhaps, the Colonel provides a telling self-portrait. Clearly he was a man of principle, devoted to his wife and daughter, a willing helper of deserving causes, a prickly team member, and a prejudiced patriot - among those who come in for recurrent criticism are Winston Churchill and most of his cabinet, Field Marshall Montgomery, General Eisenhower and most Americans. British servicemen who consistently damage his fence are not excused.
We can only be grateful that these diaries, having disappeared after the author's death, resurfaced in a car boot sale. Anyone wishing to understand what life was like for civilians in the front line will find a clear and accurate account.... Read more ›
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
By PennyL
Format:Hardcover
A real insight to the war years in an area of southern england. The diaries, beautifully written, humourous, informative give a real sense of what life was like for the everyday individual getting on with their 'existence' under constant threat as best they could. My family lived on the east coast during the war years and my father injured in a bombing incident at Ashford Railway station so amazing to turn up all these new facts and recollections. A book to be picked up and put down, not a must read from cover to cover in 'one session'!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By Peasant
TOP 100 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover
Many editions of this book seem to have been published - the one I have is Penguin. Having read it, I am surprised. It is the sort of thing one expects to see under the impress of a local history society. When others have raved over it, why am I so mean as to give it only 3 stars?
The book has a certain charm, I admit. Colonel Rodney Foster IS very much out of the same mould as Captain Mannering; a rather stuffy middle class chap obsessed with how others treat him, in his case in the local RSPCA rather than the bank (He doesn't seem to have a "day job"). But what we can best learn from these pages is the strange way that the everyday kept chugging along while mighty events were being played out. As far as war on the home front is concerned, Foster really was on the front line. He could see, from his house perched high above the Channel at Saltwood, events along the coast, out at sea and even on the French coast. After a "big gun" - the kind that could fire shells across the Channel - was set up nearby, his family takes to travelling out to a house in the countryside to sleep each night, as German raids on the gun endangered their house nearby. Air raid warnings are constant, yet, in the early years at least, the sirens only start to go off after the raid has started (or even when it has finished, sometimes). The threat of invasion is at times immediate, hourly; if it came, Foster would have seen the fleet advancing across the Channel from his windows. The Battle of Britain goes on over Foster's head; planes, parachutes and bombs rain from the sky indiscriminately.
Despite all this, Foster's sangfroid is most often disturbed by the weather. I quote from 5th November 1940, one of the longer entries. "At 11.30 am three Huns dived on the town from over Pedlinge and dropped bombs.... Read more ›
The book has a certain charm, I admit. Colonel Rodney Foster IS very much out of the same mould as Captain Mannering; a rather stuffy middle class chap obsessed with how others treat him, in his case in the local RSPCA rather than the bank (He doesn't seem to have a "day job"). But what we can best learn from these pages is the strange way that the everyday kept chugging along while mighty events were being played out. As far as war on the home front is concerned, Foster really was on the front line. He could see, from his house perched high above the Channel at Saltwood, events along the coast, out at sea and even on the French coast. After a "big gun" - the kind that could fire shells across the Channel - was set up nearby, his family takes to travelling out to a house in the countryside to sleep each night, as German raids on the gun endangered their house nearby. Air raid warnings are constant, yet, in the early years at least, the sirens only start to go off after the raid has started (or even when it has finished, sometimes). The threat of invasion is at times immediate, hourly; if it came, Foster would have seen the fleet advancing across the Channel from his windows. The Battle of Britain goes on over Foster's head; planes, parachutes and bombs rain from the sky indiscriminately.
Despite all this, Foster's sangfroid is most often disturbed by the weather. I quote from 5th November 1940, one of the longer entries. "At 11.30 am three Huns dived on the town from over Pedlinge and dropped bombs.... Read more ›
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This is a splendid read based on a diary that one presumes was never intended for publication. The diaryist, a retired officer from the Indian Army and one of the Old School is a man of honour, decency, integrity, diligence and dedication. Whilst his views of his some superiors might be seen as disaffection, his personal views never adversely influence his patriotism, his sense of duty nor his determination to beat the squalor that is Facism, an idealogy that is the very antithesis of his being.
This is a remarkable record of the Second World War, which melds the routine of daily life with the death and destruction of the war, mostly within viewing distance from his lounge. One aspect that he clearly articulates, is the incredible acoustic background to living on the front line that was Hythe. The noise of exploding bombs, torpedoes and mines, together with the constant crash of gunfire and the whine of piston engines driving planes and vehicles to war (never mind the constant and irritating damage to his garden fence by careless army drivers!) is indelibly printed upon the pages. This is not a cover to cover read but it is certainly a very fine one.
Whilst the title suggests a focus upon the Home Guard the story is much wider than that, encompassing everything from air-raids, vehicle accidents and plane crashes, to the Girl Guides, shopping queues, drunken soldiers and allotments. The passing vignettes on the tragedies of the people he knows hides immense loss for so many.
How sad that Rodney Foster cannot inform and inspire us in person. He has though, left us the next best thing. His perspectives are so practical yet moving; the very routine makes it fascinating. A Lost Generation now rediscovered!
This is a remarkable record of the Second World War, which melds the routine of daily life with the death and destruction of the war, mostly within viewing distance from his lounge. One aspect that he clearly articulates, is the incredible acoustic background to living on the front line that was Hythe. The noise of exploding bombs, torpedoes and mines, together with the constant crash of gunfire and the whine of piston engines driving planes and vehicles to war (never mind the constant and irritating damage to his garden fence by careless army drivers!) is indelibly printed upon the pages. This is not a cover to cover read but it is certainly a very fine one.
Whilst the title suggests a focus upon the Home Guard the story is much wider than that, encompassing everything from air-raids, vehicle accidents and plane crashes, to the Girl Guides, shopping queues, drunken soldiers and allotments. The passing vignettes on the tragedies of the people he knows hides immense loss for so many.
How sad that Rodney Foster cannot inform and inspire us in person. He has though, left us the next best thing. His perspectives are so practical yet moving; the very routine makes it fascinating. A Lost Generation now rediscovered!
Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful diary!
From the first page I was involved with this book; so well written and I did not realise how being living on south coast was such a worrying time with the thought of invasion. Read more
Published 22 days ago by Josephine Blann
4.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating
An interesting read about the thoughts of a retired officer and his life in the local defence volunteers.
I enjoyed reading of his experiences and frustrations.
I enjoyed reading of his experiences and frustrations.
Published 1 month ago by Marcus Mitchell
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic!
What a wonderful book! Detailing local life in World War II in Hythe, Folkestone and the surrounding towns in south east Kent this also makes for a great local history book, as... Read more
Published 1 month ago by altpink
3.0 out of 5 stars
Attention
This book is based on the Home Guard in Kent, I bought it for my Father who was in the Home Guard at 16yrs old and it jogged his memory of his days in the HG before he was called... Read more
Published 3 months ago by K C
5.0 out of 5 stars
Captivating
As i live just around the corner from the house in which Rodney lived, this book was a fascinating read.
Published 4 months ago by Amanda-jayne Stratton
3.0 out of 5 stars
Interesting accounts of the Home Guard during WW11
Interesting accounts of the Home Guard during WW11 but not a book that holds the readers attention. Written by a diarist in a rather perfunctory way and therefore suffers from a... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Lili
3.0 out of 5 stars
The real dad's army the war diaries of colonel rodney foster
Interesting read of people who lived directly in the line of fire. But Rodney Foster, well, he doesnt seem to like anyone, he must be just about the only person of that time and... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Mrs. S. R. Harris
5.0 out of 5 stars
Dad's Army - people I remembered
I absolutely loved this book because it was about the area where I grewup and I knew so many of the characters, in fact some were my relatives. Read more
Published 6 months ago by David Baker
3.0 out of 5 stars
The Real Dad's Army
The book is a well compiled diary of someone who lived the times and place of frontline 'Kent/UK'... The cover illustration rather belies the actual character. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Non Fiction-Bookworm
5.0 out of 5 stars
A good read for those interested in world war two history.
I bought this for my 93 year old Dad who served in the RAF during the war. He is reading this book and says it is a very good source of information of what went on at the home... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Lindsey
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