# Home guard

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> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_guard
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**Home guard** is a title given to [military organizations](/source/Military_organizations) at various times, with the implication of an emergency or [reserve force](/source/Military_reserve_force) raised for local defense.

The term "home guard" was first officially used in the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War), starting with units formed by German immigrants in Missouri, and may derive from possible historical use of the term *Heimwehr* ("home guard") to describe units officially known as *[Landwehr](/source/Landwehr)* ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of *landwehr*.

## Military units

### Active

Country Name Active Belarus Territorial Defense Troops of Belarus 2002– Bermuda Royal Bermuda Regiment 1965– Canada Canadian Rangers 1942– Cayman Islands Cayman Islands Regiment 2020– Denmark Danish Home Guard 1949– Estonia Estonian Defence League 1918–1940, 1990– Falklands Falkland Islands Defence Force 1892– Germany Heimatschutz of Bundeswehr 1965–2007, 2019– Gibraltar Royal Gibraltar Regiment 1958– India Indian Home Guard 1962– Latvia Latvian National Guard 1991– Lithuania Lithuanian Riflemen's Union 1918–1940, 1989– Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces 1991– Lithuanian Armed Forces Military Commandant's Offices Command 2025– Montserrat Royal Montserrat Defence Force 1898– Norway Norwegian Home Guard 1946– Poland Polish Territorial Defense Force 2017– Russia Russian Territorial Defense Force 2022– Sri Lanka Sri Lankan Home Guard 1986– Sweden Swedish Home Guard 1940– Turks and Caicos Turks and Caicos Islands Regiment 2020– Ukraine Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces 2022– United States State defense forces of State governments and Territory governments 1917–

### Historical & Defunct

- [Aizsargi](/source/Aizsargi) (Latvia, 1919–1940)
- [Home Guard (Unionist)](/source/Home_Guard_(Unionist)), during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War)
- [Civilian Irregular Defense Group program](/source/Civilian_Irregular_Defense_Group_program) (1961-1970) during the [Vietnam War](/source/Vietnam_War)
- [Confederate Home Guard](/source/Confederate_Home_Guard) (1861–1865) during the [American Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War)
- [Croatian Home Guard](/source/Croatian_Home_Guard_(disambiguation)), several historic military formations during 19th and 20th century
- [Czechoslovak Home Guard](/source/Czechoslovak_Home_Guard) (1918–1919)
- [Home Guard (Austria)](/source/Heimwehr) *(Heimwehr)* (1920–1938) [paramilitary](/source/Paramilitary) unit of [Fatherland Front Party](/source/Fatherland_Front_(Austria))
- [Home Guard (New Zealand)](/source/Home_Guard_(New_Zealand)) (1940–1943)
- [Home Guard (United Kingdom)](/source/Home_Guard_(United_Kingdom)) (1940–1944) (1952-1957)
- [Home Service Force](/source/Home_Service_Force), British force for the 1980s-90s.
- [Indian Home Guard](/source/Indian_Home_Guard), units raised from Indian tribes to support the Unionists in the American Civil War
- [Kikuyu Home Guard](/source/Kikuyu_Home_Guard), a government paramilitary force in Kenya (1953–1955)
- [Malayan Home Guard](/source/Malayan_Home_Guard), auxiliary volunteer police forces in Malaya during [Malayan Emergency](/source/Malayan_Emergency)[1]
- [Narodnoe Opolcheniye](/source/Narodnoe_Opolcheniye), Russia
- [Slovene Home Guard](/source/Slovene_Home_Guard) (1943–1945)
- [Veterans Guard of Canada](/source/Veterans_Guard_of_Canada) (1940–1947)
- [Volkssturm](/source/Volkssturm), Nazi Germany (1944-1945)
- [Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia)](/source/Volunteer_Defence_Corps_(Australia)) (1940-1944)
- [Volunteer Fighting Corps](/source/Volunteer_Fighting_Corps), Japanese armed citizen [militia](/source/Militia) (1945)

## Similar units

- [Auxiliary Units](/source/Auxiliary_Units)
- [City guard](/source/City_guard)
- [Civil Guard (disambiguation)](/source/Civil_Guard_(disambiguation))
- [Gendarmerie](/source/Gendarmerie)
- [Home Guard (India)](/source/Home_Guard_(India))
- [Home Army](/source/Home_Army) (*Armia Krajowa*), Poland, World War II
- [Fencibles](/source/Fencibles), British temporary militias
- [Boeitai](/source/Boeitai), a Japanese home guard force of World War II
- [Kondei](/source/Kondei), ancient Japanese militia of the [Nara](/source/Nara_period) and [Heian periods](/source/Heian_period)
- [Local Defence troops (Finland)](/source/Local_Defence_troops_(Finland))
- [Militia](/source/Militia)
- [Ordenanças](/source/Ordenan%C3%A7as), Portuguese home guard from 1570 to 1831
- [Omakaitse](/source/Omakaitse), Estonian Home Guard in World War II
- [United States Coast Guard Reserve](/source/United_States_Coast_Guard_Reserve) "temporary reservists" during World War II
- [United States Guards](/source/United_States_Guards)
- [Wachdienst](/source/Wachdienst), an auxiliary organisation erected by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II

## Other

- [Home Guard (Shannara)](/source/Home_Guard_(Shannara)), in Terry Brooks' novel series
- [Home Guard potato](/source/Home_Guard_potato), a variety of first early potato

## See also

- [Irregular military](/source/Irregular_military)
- [Irregular warfare](/source/Irregular_warfare)
- [Insurgency weapons and tactics](/source/Insurgency_weapons_and_tactics)
- [Internal security](/source/Internal_security)

## References

1. Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya, Director of Operations, Malaya, 1958, Chapter III: Own Forces

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Home guard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_guard) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_guard?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.