Auchinleck, in command of 5 Corps and then Southern Command, was keen to instil in the troops under his command the idea that they were on active service and in the front line, defending, as they were, a long and vulnerable section of the South Coast of England [20, 27, 30]. Auchinleck summed up his own ideas on defence as the ‘offensive defensive’, which meant both that he wanted to fight a mobile war, but did not have enough transport to ensure mobility, and that he believed that the Germans would be considerably more difficult to defeat if they were allowed to establish a beach head and land heavy equipment [21, 22, 30].

Auchinleck was concerned at the disparities between the regular and Territorial troops under his command. These were seen throughout the army with some TA officers complaining that they were patronised by regulars to a much greater extent than that seen during the First World War. Auchinleck was not convinced that the standard of training of British regular troops was much better than that of the TA, but he did wonder why, if it was believed to be the case, the regulars were not broken up and dispersed amongst TA formations to provide a solid cadre [21, 23, 24]. By mid-August 1940 Auchinleck was developing interesting ideas about how officer–man relations could best be fostered in the new citizen army [26].

Auchinleck clearly felt that LDV and Home Guard units would be useful in defence, particularly in scouting and reconnaissance duties and in guarding lines of communication [22, 29]. However, he was concerned that if anti-tank emplacements were built incorrectly, they would serve to prevent the rapid movement of British reinforcements to launch a counter-attack [22]. Auchinleck was clearly drawn into some acrimonious correspondence regarding the appointment of senior officers in the Home Guard. This was seen most clearly in the appointment of Lieutenant Colonel C. E. Turner as a Zone Commander in the Gloucestershire Home Guard [28]. Defending his decision over this appointment, Auchinleck was to explain, ‘I selected him after full consultation with, and with the concurrence of, the Duke of Beaufort, who is Lord Lieutenant of the County and the Area Commander, in whose good sense and sound judgement I have full confidence.