Falkirk search for Churchill’s secret army

Just another pile of old bricks - or something more interesting? Jamie Biddulph is on the trail of Falkirk's secret wartime bunkers.

They belonged to the blandly-named Auxiliary Units, an elite resistance force, and their initial Scottish headquarters were set up somewhere in this area by a Captain Eustace Maxwell, later moving to Fife.

Hot on their trail is Falkirk man Jamie Biddulph, who besides his career as a movie combat expert (most recently in Outlaw King) runs an independent movie company, Rogue Film Lab.

His aim is to commemorate these unknown soldiers in a drama-documentary.

Falkirk movie combat expert and film-maker Jamie Biddulph

He’s also hoping that some local resident of the wartime generation may have some  vital clue to pass on.

Jamie says two local sites are hot contenders for potential bunkers, either in Larbert or Grangemouth.

The anonymous men who would have used them were trained to kill without hesitation. They often went on to serve with SOE, or with the SAS and in Burma, the Chindits.

But in 1940, following the evacuation from Dunkirk, they prepared to fight on the home front.

They were literally an underground army, charged with disappearing into secret bunkers in the event of an invasion.

If the Nazis had landed and occupied Britain they would have launched sabotage and assassination missions.

Jamie said: “If the invasion had actually happened these men would have left home in the middle of the night, probably never to be seen by their loved ones again.”

He has discussed the local aspect of the secret army with Falkirk historian and archaeologist Geoff Bailey, and concludes the two most likely local sites for their activ- ities are in Larbert and Beancross.

“Once activated they would have stayed in their hidden bunkers for two weeks while the Germans walked right over them,” said Jamie.

“They would then reappear behind enemy lines to destroy as much as they could.

“These brave partisans would have a life expectancy of just two weeks.

“After visiting the most likely local sites there is a lot of evidence which favours Beancross as an Observation Base.”

In England, where their UK headquarters was Coleshill House in Essex, the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team has told their story in detail.

Some bunkers have been found in Scotland – for example in Selkirk – but others, including the mystery Falkirk area site, are as secret now as during the days when Britain stood alone.