The Ulster Defence Volunteers (UDV) and later the Ulster Home Guard were a force recruited by the Government of Northern Ireland to perform the role of the Home Guard in Northern Ireland during World War II. The UDV was recruited following the formation of the Home Guard in Britain around May 1940.
Due to concerns about the possibility of inadvertently training Irish republicans, the UDV was formed from members of the Ulster Special Constabulary (USC) (also known as the 'B' Specials during the period) rather than volunteers from all sections of the community as in the rest of the United Kingdom
Read more about Ulster Defence Volunteers: Genesis of The Force, Formation, Sectarianism, Duties
Famous quotes containing the words defence and/or volunteers:
“To choose a hardship for ourselves is our only defence against that hardship. This is what is meant by accepting suffering.... Those who, by their very nature, can suffer completely, utterly, have an advantage. That is how we can disarm the power of suffering, make it our own creation, our own choice; submit to it. A justification for suicide.”
—Cesare Pavese (1908–1950)
“Friendship is but another name for an alliance with the follies and the misfortunes of others. Our own share of miseries is sufficient: why enter then as volunteers into those of another?”
—Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826)