| 1939 |
|
|
| February |
|
Free Air Raid shelters promised for London’s poor. |
| March |
|
Britain and France pledge to protect Poland from attack |
| April |
|
Bill for limited conscription |
| May |
|
TUC agrees to support conscription plans. |
| June |
|
RAF said to be producing 750 planes per month. |
| August |
|
Royal Navy mobilised, reserves called up. |
|
31st |
Evacuation of children begins |
| September |
3rd |
1st air raid warning near Croydon |
|
22nd |
Petrol Rationing |
|
26th |
Churchill claims Britain winning boat war |
|
29th |
National Census, re: rationing/mobilisation |
| October |
|
10th – WLA recruitment suspended as ½ million enrolled |
| December |
2nd |
Conscription extended to all men 19-41 |
| 1940 |
|
|
| January |
8th |
Butter/sugar/bacon rationed |
| February |
12th |
Paper rationing |
| March |
3rd |
Announced £100m invested in National Savings since start of war. |
|
11th |
Meat rationing |
| April |
3rd |
Lord Woolton = Minister of Food |
|
30th |
1st civilian deaths in Clacton due to Nazi plane crashing |
| May |
8th |
Chamberlain resigns |
|
10th |
Churchill becomes Prime Minister |
|
13th |
Churchill offers ‘blood, sweat & tears’ |
|
22nd |
Emergency Powers Act |
|
27th |
Butter ration reduced/ sign posts reduced |
| June |
4th |
Churchill ‘We shall fight’ speech |
|
5th |
Strike action banned |
|
17th |
Churchill ‘Finest Hour’ speech |
| July |
11th |
Beaverbrook Aluminium appeal. WVS to handle collection |
|
20th |
Buying/Selling new cars banned |
|
23rd |
LDV renamed ‘Home Guard’ |
|
23rd |
Emergency Budget – High taxes on luxury goods |
| August |
12th |
1st German shell lands on Dover |
|
20th |
Churchill ‘Never was so much owed’ speech |
|
24th |
London’s 1st bombing raid |
|
26th |
Portsmouth bombed |
|
28th |
Liverpool bombed |
|
|
From this point London heavily bombed, avg. 6,000 dead per month |
| September |
6th |
Forces on ‘yellow alert’ – invasion = 3 days |
|
10th |
Buckingham Palace damaged by bomb |
|
21st |
Underground allowed as bomb shelter |
| October |
9th |
St Paul’s Cathedral bombed |
|
21st |
200th air raid on Liverpool |
| November |
9th |
Neville Chamberlain dies |
|
15th |
Coventry bombed |
|
30th |
Southampton bombed |
| December |
3rd |
Extra rations tea/sugar for Christmas |
|
30th |
London – v. heavy raids. Many landmarks hit. |
|
31st |
Firewatching compulsory |
| 1941 |
|
|
| January |
1st |
1st BBC ‘Brains Trust’ |
|
16th |
Bristol raided |
| February |
9th |
Churchill ‘Give us the tools’ speech. |
| March |
17th |
Jam & Marmalade rationed |
| April |
19th |
Essential work order for women to register their case |
|
20th |
Heaviest air raids since December on London. |
|
21st-24th |
Plymouth heavily bombed |
| May |
11th |
Worst bombing on London |
|
13th |
House of Commons hit |
| June |
22nd |
Churchill – speech promises to aid USSR |
|
29th |
Cabinet Reshuffle |
| July |
27th |
Bombing raid on London – 1st raid for 10 weeks (900 killed – previous months = 6,000+) |
| October |
18th |
Picture Post – circulation of 1 million. |
| December |
4th |
Unmarried women 20-30 called up. |
| 1942 |
|
|
| February |
9th |
Soap rationing |
|
26th |
Govt. outlines post-war employment/housing plans |
| March |
4th |
Minister for post-war reconstruction appointed |
|
5th |
Conscription for men extended to men ages 40, women 20-30 |
|
11th |
Black marketeers – up to 14 years prison. |
|
11th |
National Wheatmeal loaf replaces white bread – advertisements = ineffective |
| April |
2nd |
1st women conscientious objectors face trial |
| June |
1st |
Fripperies banned on clothing |
|
3rd |
Govt. takes over coal mines |
|
6th |
Undetected bomb explodes @ Elephant & Castle |
| July |
26th |
Sweets & chocolate rationed. |
| August |
10th |
Colchester raided |
|
31st |
Utility Furniture introduced |
| September |
8th |
Churchill guardedly promises Stalin the ’2nd Front’ |
| December |
1st |
Beveridge Report |
|
15th |
Regulation 33B (VD) approved by HOC. |
|
16th |
German ‘hit and run’ raids on 20 Southern towns. |
| 1943 |
|
|
| January |
23rd |
Unemployment lowest in history, under 100,000. |
| February |
21st |
Red Army Day |
| March |
3rd |
Benthal Green tube disaster – 173 died of suffocation. |
|
7th |
‘Wings for Victory’ launched |
| April |
25th |
Ban on ringing of Church Bells raised (No alternative invasion signal provided) |
|
30th |
Hore-Belisha – speech at Blenheim – more died as road casualties in 1942 than in armed forces since war commenced. |
| June |
13th |
Germans drop 1st ‘butterfly’ anti-personnel bombs. |
|
30th |
Churchill receives ‘Freedom of the City of London’ and states that surrender must be unconditional. |
| July |
16th |
R.A. Butler promised Education would be reformed. |
|
29th |
Recruitment for women’s services halted as more needed for aircraft production. |
| September |
24th |
Bevin – manpower crisis looming – need many more industry |
|
30th |
Unofficial strikes causing problems |
| October |
29th |
Thames Dockers on strike |
| November |
20th |
Mosley released from prison on health grounds = protests |
| December |
2nd |
‘Bevin Boys’ call-up to the mines begins |
| 1944 |
|
|
| January |
18th |
First ‘Bevin Boys’ start in the pits |
|
21st |
‘Mini Blitz’ strikes Southern England. 1st raid in months |
| February |
1st |
Clothing restrictions lifted |
|
9th |
King & Queen eat 1/- miners lunch: ‘It is a long time since we had a better meal’ |
|
17th |
Govt. announces NHS plans |
|
24th |
Miners – 4 yr pay deal |
| April |
27th |
All foreign travel banned |
|
29th |
Practice for Operation Overlord – 638 US soldiers die. |
|
30th |
Intensified bombing campaign on communications in France |
| May |
6th |
Last Operation Overlord practice |
|
8th |
Date for D-Day set as 5th June |
| June |
13th |
1st 10 V1 rockets (4 landed) |
|
18th |
V1 nr Buckingham Palace – 119 die |
| July |
3rd |
London evacuation begins |
|
|
(High death tolls from V1s) |
| August |
28th |
Plans to deflect V1s paying off – 94 launched, 4 got through. |
| September |
6th |
Home Guard partially stood down. |
|
6th |
Blackout relaxed |
|
17th |
Blackout replaced by ‘dim-out’ |
|
18th |
1st V2 rockets fired |
| October |
8th |
Ministry of Social Insurance formed |
|
16th |
1st British soldier demobilised |
| November |
10th |
Churchill admits to the V2 rockets. (100 already landed) |
|
20th |
Street lights turned on. |
| December |
3rd |
Farewell parade of the Home Guard |
| 1945 |
|
|
| February |
20th |
Churchill, Roosevelt & Stalin met Crimea – Churchill promises to throw weight behind war with Japan |
| April |
24th |
‘Dim-out’ abolished except in 5 coastal regions |
| May |
23rd |
Churchill resigns in preparation for general election |
| June |
12th |
Eisenhower given Freedom of City of London |
|
18th |
Mass demobilisation begins. (30,000 per week) |
| July |
5th |
General election (results delayed to collect servicemen’s votes) |
|
26th |
Labour victory declared |
| August |
2nd |
End of Potsdam Conference |
|
3rd |
Attlee appoints 19 new ministers |
|
17th |
secret of RADAR revealed |
|
17th |
Social reform programme announced, centred on NHS |
| September |
2nd |
Press censorship ends |
| October |
7th |
First F. Eastern PoWs arrive |
| November |
5th |
Dockers Strike ends |
drbexl
