The Home Guard was formed during May 1940, when the dark clouds of war rolled over Britain and the nation stood alone, threatened with a Nazi invasion. Within six weeks of a radio appeal for a new civilian army to guard the Home Front, a staggering 1.5 million men had enrolled for service, covering every city, town and village in the country. Despite initial deficiencies in the provision of training and equipment, the Home Guard later developed into a cohesive force and one of impressive diversity.

David Carroll draws on the personal accounts of those men and eventually women who served, to reveal what it was really like to spend long nights on duty watching for disguised enemy parachutists to drop on to the fields of Britain, conducting road blocks to identify everyone passing into the village; or as part of the anti-aircraft Home Guard, who saw action in real conflict, dispatching the enemy as they flew overhead. He conveys the fighting spirit of the men while examining the Home Guard's contribution to the war effort and the divided opinion that surrounded its existence. Dad's Army is a comprehensive account of the Home Guard in its many activities and guises in the Second World War - from the early disorganised days of May 1940 until 'Stand Down' at the close of 1944, by which time they had become a force to be reckoned with.