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{{Short description|Title given to military organizations}}
[[File:A Zemessardze (Latvian National Guardsman) guards the battalion tactical operations center during the Strong Guard 2016.jpg|thumb|right|A [[Latvian National Guard|Zemessardze]] (Latvian National Guardswoman) guards the battalion tactical operations center during the Strong Guard 2016 (Zobens 2016) distinguished visitor's day.]]
'''Home guard''' is a title given to various [[military organizations]] at various times, with the implication of an emergency or [[military reserve force|reserve force]] raised for local defense.

The term "home guard" was first officially used in the [[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]]'' ("country guard"), or from an attempted translation of ''landwehr''.

==Military units==

===Active===
{| class = "wikitable sortable"
|+
|-
!class="unsortable" | !! Country !! Name !! Active
|-
| || {{flag|Canada}} || [[Canadian Rangers]] || 1942–
|-
|[[File:Danish Home Guard logo.svg|20px|]] || {{flag|Denmark}} || [[Danish Home Guard]] || 1949–
|-
|[[File:Kaitseliit emblem.svg|20px|]] || {{flag|Estonia}} || [[Estonian Defence League]] || 1918–1940, 1990–
|-
| [[File:Emblem of the Heimatschutz.png|20px|]]
| {{flag|Germany}}
|[[Heimatschutz]] of [[Bundeswehr]]
|1965–2007, 2019–
|-
|[[File:Delhi home guard symbol.png|20px|]] || {{flag|India}} ||[[Home Guard (India)|Indian Home Guard]]||1962–
|-
|[[File:Latvian National Guard emblem.svg|20px|]] || {{flag|Latvia}} || [[Latvian National Guard]] || 1991–
|-
|[[File:Insignia of Šaulių sąjunga.svg|28x28px]]|| rowspan="3" | {{flag|Lithuania}} ||[[Lithuanian Riflemen's Union]]|| 1918–1940, 1989–
|-
|[[File:Insignia of National Defense Volunteer Forces (Lithuanian Land Forces) Brass version.png|22x22px]]
|[[Lithuanian National Defence Volunteer Forces]]
|1991–
|-
|[[File:Lithuanian Armed Forces Commandant's Offices Command Insignia.png|22x22px]]
|[[Military Commandant's Offices Command (Lithuania)|Lithuanian Armed Forces Military Commandant's Offices Command]]
|2025–
|-
|[[File:Coat of arms of the Norwegian Home Guard.svg|20px|]] || {{flag|Norway}} || [[Norwegian Home Guard]] || 1946–
|-
|[[File:POL_Wojska_Obrony_Terytorialnej.svg|20px]] || {{flag|Poland}} || [[Territorial Defence Force (Poland)|Polish Territorial Defense Force]] || 2017–
|-
||| {{flag|Sri Lanka}} ||[[Sri Lankan Home Guard]]|| 1986–
|-
|[[File:Hemvarnet vapen bra.svg|20px|]] || {{flag|Sweden}} || [[Home Guard (Sweden)|Swedish Home Guard]] || 1940–
|-
|[[File:Territorial Defence Forces branch SSI.svg|20px]]|| {{flag|Ukraine}} || [[Territorial Defense Forces (Ukraine)|Territorial Defense Forces]] || 2022–
|-
|[[File:SDFBranchInsigniaColor.jpg|20px]]|| {{flag|United States}} || [[State defense force]]s of [[State governments of the United States|State governments]] and [[Territories of the United States|Territory governments]] || 1917–
|-
|}

=== Historical & Defunct ===
*[[Aizsargi]] (Latvia, 1919–1940)
*[[Home Guard (Unionist)]], during the [[American Civil War]]
*[[Civilian Irregular Defense Group program]] (1961-1970) during the [[Vietnam War]]
*[[Confederate Home Guard]] (1861–1865) during the [[American Civil War]]
*[[Croatian Home Guard (disambiguation)|Croatian Home Guard]], several historic military formations during 19th and 20th century
*[[Czechoslovak Home Guard]] (1918–1919)
*[[Heimwehr|Home Guard (Austria)]] ''(Heimwehr)'' (1920–1938) [[paramilitary]] unit of [[Fatherland Front (Austria)|Fatherland Front Party]]
*[[Home Guard (New Zealand)]] (1940–1943)
*[[Home Guard (United Kingdom)]] (1940–1944)
*[[Home Service Force]], British force for the 1980s-90s.
*[[Indian Home Guard]], units raised from Indian tribes to support the Unionists in the American Civil War
*[[Kikuyu Home Guard]], a government paramilitary force in Kenya (1953–1955)
*[[Malayan Home Guard]], auxiliary volunteer police forces in Malaya during [[Malayan Emergency]]<ref>Conduct of Anti-Terrorist Operations in Malaya, Director of Operations, Malaya, 1958, Chapter III: Own Forces</ref>
*[[Narodnoe Opolcheniye]], Russia
*[[Slovene Home Guard]] (1943–1945)
*[[Veterans Guard of Canada]] (1940–1947)
*[[Volkssturm]], Nazi Germany (1944-1945)
*[[Volunteer Defence Corps (Australia)]] (1940-1944)
*[[Volunteer Fighting Corps]], Japanese armed citizen [[militia]] (1945)

==Similar units==
*[[Auxiliary Units]]
*[[City guard]]
*[[Civil Guard (disambiguation)]]
*[[Gendarmerie]]
*[[Home Guard (India)]]
*[[Home Army]] (''Armia Krajowa''), Poland, World War II
*[[Fencibles]], British temporary militias
*[[Boeitai]], a Japanese home guard force of World War II 
*[[Kondei]], ancient Japanese militia of the [[Nara period|Nara]] and [[Heian period]]s
*[[Local Defence troops (Finland)]]
*[[Militia]]
*[[Ordenanças]], Portuguese home guard from 1570 to 1831
*[[Omakaitse]], Estonian Home Guard in World War II
*[[United States Coast Guard Reserve]] "temporary reservists" during World War II
*[[United States Guards]]
*[[Wachdienst]], an auxiliary organisation erected by the Third Reich in Germany during the last months of World War II

==Other==
*[[Home Guard (Shannara)]], in Terry Brooks' novel series
*[[Home Guard potato]], a variety of first early potato

==See also==
*[[Irregular military]]
*[[Irregular warfare]]
*[[Insurgency weapons and tactics]]
*[[Internal security]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{SIA}}

[[Category:Military organization]]
[[Category:Former disambiguation pages converted to set index articles]]<!-- admin tracking category, please keep even if this is no longer a set index article --->