RELICS of Britain’s World War Two doomsday rebel army are the target of an archaelogical dig in Coleshill.

Long-demolished Coleshill House and its estate were once the headquarters and training ground of the Auxiliary Unit, a nationwide secret army founded on wartime leader Winston Churchill’s personal order.

Members were to live outwardly normal civilian lives until the Nazis invaded, but then slip away and wage campaigns of sabotage and assassination until captured or killed.

The current investigation of the site is part of Coleshill Uncovered, a project begun by the Coleshill Auxiliary Research Team (CART), managed by the Great War Archaeology Group and aided by site owner the National Trust, the University of Bristol and exploration group Subterranea Britannica.

CART founder Tom Sykes said: “Our main goal is to find evidence that allows us to understand more about members of the Auxiliary Unit and their training.

“There have been enough significant finds in the area already for the National Trust to allow this investigation to go ahead.

“We have already done a full underground survey of all the water mains and tunnels beneath the site of the house, as well as the basement.”

This week’s dig will include the sinking of trenches and a search for evidence of individual underground bases of Auxiliary Unit operations in the grounds.

Mr Sykes said: “There is already one we know of that hasn’t been discovered, and I believe there are others, but they are very difficult to find.”

An exploratory survey of the site in January unearthed a smoke mortar that was neutralised by an Army bomb disposal team.

Searchers also discovered ammunition and the remains of home comforts such as boot scrapers, as well as a bayonet hidden in a wall.

On Friday, North Swindon MP Justin Tomlinson, who has long been interested in the project, is due to visit the site. Further information can be found at www.coleshillhouse.com.