lement of these Forces were mobilised to guard harbours and installations, watch the coasts and if necessary be available to maintain essential services in the colonies. Similar use was made of colonial subjects in these parts during the second World War. In October 1942, still under dire pressure from the Nazi warmongers, the imperial 'Army Council' assumed direct control of the Caribbean units. These were divided into the North Caribbean Forces and the South Caribbean Forces. The latter group included Barbados, British Guiana, Trinidad and the Windward Islands. Simultaneously, the British Guiana Militia was transformed into the British Guiana Regiment. A Caribbean Regiment was raised from these units to be sent later to Italy and the Middle East. After the war had ended in 1946, this contingency Force was disbanded. In other countries the territorial Forces were absorbed into the re-constituted West Indian Regiment which in January 1959 came under Federal control in what was to be the West Indian Federation. The British Guiana Regiment which included Home Guard companies was also finally disbanded in part in 1947, but three of its seven companies survived in a Volunteer Corps until a new ordinance brought the British Guiana Volunteer Force (BGVF) into being on 14 June 1948. From its inception the BGVF was organised on the lines of a British Territorial Infantry Battalion comprising a Battalion Headquarters and four Rifle Companies. On the formation of the Force in 1948, recruits were drawn largely from ex-servicemen of the South Caribbean Force who served with the British Guiana Battalion during the war. In succeeding years, recruitment was carried out on the basis of selection by a Selection Board.