Retired top brass accused the far-right group of attempting to "hijack" the good name of the military for its own ends.

And war heroes including ex-SAS commando Andy McNab and Falklands veteran Simon Weston condemned the BNP's use of images of Britain's Armed Forces in its election materials.

The campaign - called Stolen Valour - was organised by anti-racism group Nothing British, which accused the party of trying to use the public's warm feelings towards the military to promote extremist politics.

Mr Weston, who suffered horrific burns when the Sir Galahad was hit by a missile in the Falklands War, recorded a YouTube video attacking the BNP's tactics.

He said: "I find it appalling to think that they can take the dignity and the honour and the respect with which those people treated their service and their uniform, and align it to the horrors and desires of these people."

McNab added: "What it's doing is abusing and taking advantage of what our troops are doing in both Iraq and continuously in Afghanistan."

The launch of the campaign was backed with a letter signed by General Sir Mike Jackson and General Sir Richard Dannatt, both former heads of the Army, Lord Guthrie of Craigiebank, former head of the Armed Forces, and Major-General Patrick Cordingley, who commanded the Desert Rats in the Gulf War.

They said the views of far right groups were "fundamentally at odds" with the values of the British military.

"We call on all those who seek to hijack the good name of Britain's military for their own advantage to cease and desist," they wrote.

The BNP used images of Britain at war, including pictures of Spitfires and Winston Churchill, during campaigning for the recent European Parliament elections, at which it won two seats.

The party's leader, Nick Griffin, has repeatedly worn a poppy badge despite requests from the Royal British Legion to stop doing so.

James Bethell, director of Nothing British, said: "People are fed up with the BNP using the honour of Britain's armed services and the memory of fallen heroes to promote the politics of racism and extremism."

:: The letter signed by the generals reads: "We, the undersigned, are increasingly concerned that the reputation of Britain's armed services is being tarnished by political extremists who are attempting to appropriate it for their own dubious ends.

"We deplore this trend for two reasons.

"First, the values of these extremists - many of whom are essentially racist - are fundamentally at odds with the values of the modern British military such as tolerance and fairness.

"Commonwealth soldiers, who comprise about 10% of the services, represent an invaluable contribution to the success of Britain's military, both in history and the current day. Many have won the highest awards.

"Second, the reputation of our Armed Forces was won over centuries of service in some of the most difficult areas of the world. Political extremists should claim no right to share in this proud heritage.

"We call on all those who seek to hijack the good name of Britain's military for their own advantage to cease and desist."

But Mr Griffin, who was elected as an MEP earlier this year, claimed that his party was popular among the forces rank-and-file.

"I'm the one who talks to the families of young squaddies and large numbers of ex-servicemen and they all say that almost everyone at the coalface, fighting in Afghanistan, vote for the British National Party," he said.

"The generals might not because some of these generals are now in the pockets of the Conservative Party, who used to be able to take Armed Forces votes for granted but now can't."

Mr Griffin dismissed claims that he wanted a white-only military, but admitted that the Victoria Cross-holding black corporal, Johnson Beharry, would not be allowed to join the BNP.

"What this campaign is saying we believe and what we actually do are two completely different things," he said.

"They have fallen hook, line and sinker for a pack of far-left lies about us."

The row came as a document apparently listing thousands of BNP members was posted on the internet today.

They included former senior members of the military, doctors and professors, according to the spreadsheet posted on the WikiLeaks website.

The document gave names, addresses, home and mobile telephone numbers of apparent party members.

A BNP spokesman said the leak was "suspicious" so close to the controversial appearance of Mr Griffin on BBC1's Question Time this Thursday.