Danish Home Guard

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The Danish Home Guard (Danish: Hjemmeværnet) is a branch of the Danish military, concerned exclusively with the defence of Danish territory. Service is voluntary and unpaid, except that the most basic expenses are covered.

Its top authority is the Home Guard Command, which is, unlike Army Operational Command, Navy Operational Command and Tactical Air Command, managed directly by the Danish Ministry of Defence. Only in times of tension and war will the Danish Defence Command assume command over the Home Guard.

1 Subdivision
2 History
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Subdivision

As of 2004, it consists of 58,640 active members, of which 9,152 are women. It is subdivided into four branches:

The Army Home Guard (Hærhjemmeværnet) is the numerically largest part of the Home Guard, and works closely with the regular army.
The Air Force Home Guard (Flyverhjemmeværnet) deals with securing airports and reporting enemy air activity.
The Naval Home Guard (Marinehjemmeværnet) patrols the Danish territorial waters, and aids in Search and Rescue missions.
The Infrastructure Home Guard (Virksomhedshjemmeværnet) ensures that civilian companies can operate even in times of emergency.

[edit] History

Created after World War II, the Danish Home Guard was inspired by the Danish Resistance Movement during the war. It was always implied (though never explicitly stated) that the primary objective was defence and guerrilla activity against a Soviet invasion.

When founded on June 11, 1945 in the city of Odense, it was decided by the resistance movements and the government that new the Home Guard was to be put under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in order to make sure that the organisation would not be independent in making decisions on actions of war during times of political stability. It would also be funded by the MoD, thereby making sure that the Home Guard would receive the equipment necessary in order to be effective.

However it was also made clear on the meeting in Odense by the 250 representatives of the resistance movements, that the organisation was to be independent from the government, and was not to receive its orders directly from the Ministry of Defence. The reason for this was, that if a situation like that of World War II was ever to occour again, whether in peace or wartime, then the Home Guard would be a guarantee brought by the people, for the people, that the organisation do all in its power to protect the people from crimes against humanity, such as genocide, and ensure that the free and democractic way of living that Danes have enjoyed for well over a century and a half, would be enforced.

The Home Guard would be an entity in itself, and a branch independent from the rest of the armed forces. Since its creation in 1945, the Home Guard has been led by a Major General and a politician who is elected by parliament to represent the interests that the State have in the Home Guard. Together they share the command of this volunteer organisation.

The new Home Guard was well respected among the public as many members were former resistance fighters; people who fought for and had an interest in the individual person, their families, friends and loved ones.

With the creation of the Home Guard the founding members swore to protect the Danish people against all enemies, both foreign and domestic, this referring to the then led Danish government who supported the Nazi party of Germany by handing over Danish citizens to the Gestapo. Despite this, members who had a seat in the government during the occupation, claim in their defence that such actions were performed to protect the rest of the people from further war crimes.

With the fall of the Soviet Union, the Home Guard, with its costly training and equipment, was perceived as a useless expense by many Danish people, and by the beginning of the 1990's people were beginning to consider the Home Guard an obsolete organisation. In response to this, the Danish government entrusted the Home Guard with additional responsibilities in 2004. Not only should the members be trained for defence of Danish territorry in wartimes, but also be able to take on tasks to help civilians during disasters of most kinds, and thereby rebalancing the expenses of, against the values of the homeguard.