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Timeline for World War 2, 1939 - 1945 Alan Payne January 2018 Rev Arthur Frank Maltin (photographed right, courtesy Box Parish Magazine) was vicar of Box throughout the Second World War from 1936 until 1946 when he left to take up a ministry in London. Of course, there were worse places during the wartime but Arthur Maltin had seen service during the First World War and his own children entered the RAF during the Second. His notes from the Parish Magazine enlighten events in the village throughout the war years. He was dependable, consistent and undemonstrative, the ideal person to hold the village together in times of need. |
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Box Timeline
1934 November League of Nations meeting held in Bingham Hall 1935 May King’s Silver Jubilee Fund at The Northey Arms attended by 500 people. 1936 March Air Raid Precautions lecture at Bingham Hall 1936 War Office purchased Tunnel Quarry for Central Ammunition Depot 1939 August Army reservists called up and Civil Defence put on alert 1939 August 25 Voluntary reserve of former servicemen 1939 September 1 Blackout began 1939 September 3 11am AT WAR 1939 September Box School opened Tuesday to Thursdays
1939 September Box Church side aisles closed 1939 September 23 Petrol rationed 1939 October Call-up of men aged 20-21 1940 January First food rationing 1940 Air Ministry bought Rudloe Manor as HQ of 10 Group Fighter Command. 1940 Plans to build 8 hostels at Rudloe and Corsham for 14,000 workers 1940 May Defensive pillboxes built on Kennet & Avon canal and in Box Valley 1940 May Evacuation of children from London to Box started 1940 July 23 Home Guard established 1940 August 600 people complain about sirens 1940 September Aircraft production planned for underground factories in the Box and Corsham stone mines. 1940 October Purchase Tax introduced at rate of 33% 1940 Lights installed at Norbin Barton Farm to replicate Thingley Railway Junction electricity generator to simulate fires of bomb strikes. 1940 Stone blocks on Kingsdown Common 1940 3,000 Home Guards man road blocks and checkpoints day and night 1940 September 13 two bombs fell at Colerne 1940 October German airmen buried in Box 1940 November two more bombs at Colerne 1940 December 7 Ministry of Supply requisitioned all quarries held by the Bath and Portland Company 1941 March Bomb Assembly points nominated in Box 1941 March Bingham Hall dance for Bristol Air Raid Relief 1941 April Work started on underground factories. Catholic church at Leafield for Irish navvy workers 1941 June 1 Civilian clothing is rationed 1941 October Box designated an Emergency Feeding and Rest Centre for Bath or Bristol blitz victims 1941 December 18 Call-up of all men and women aged 18-60 1942 April 20 Emergency Centre opened in Box to house Bath Blitz survivors 1942 April 23 Blitz of Bath started 1942 Prefabs in Corsham for homeless Bristol workers 1942 May Box adopted HMS Cyclops in Warship Week 1942 Middlehill House was used as a convalescent hospital for the Canadian Air Force 1942 July 1 Civilian petrol stopped 1942 November 15 Church bells rung in UK to celebrate victory at El Alamein for first time since May 1940 1943 Special Company established under Major A Lambert to protect factories 1943 Scrap metal dump set up at Recreation Field entrance 1943 Brown's Quarry converted into RAF Fighter Command including plans for Cabinet Office to move to Box tunnels if Germans captured London 1943 November Temporary school built at Box Hill called Highlands School 1943 December Bevin Boys chosen by ballot or by volunteering 1943 December Women from 19 to 50 to work in plane and munitions plants 1944 January Only 12 London County Council children remained in Box 1944 September Blackout replaced by a partial dim-out 1944 December 3 Home Guard stood down 1945 February 1 Some National Fire Service stood down 1945 May 2 Civil Defence stood down 1945 May 8 VE DAY (Victory in Europe) celebrations 2 days 1945 May Announcement of peace made at Recreation Field 1945 Eight Box men recorded as killed in action, two missing, five prisoners-of-war 1945 June 16 Family Allowances Act money to mothers 1945 June 18 Demobilisation of the armed forces began 1945 July 5 General election counted overseas service votes 1945 July 26 Labour Party wins after troops votes recorded 1945 August 15 VJ DAY (Victory over Japan) 1945 August Peace Commemoration Fete at Fete Field
1946 St Patrick’s Church established in the old Pickwick School (used as a gas mask factory during the war) 1947 Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten (Prince Philip), serving in HMS Royal Arthur, opened a Garden of Remembrance in Station Road, Corsham 1949 July 10 Dedication service at Box War Memorial |
National Timeline
1935 Germany began re-armament 1936 March Germany invaded the Rhineland 1938 March Germany invaded Austria 1938 September Germany annexes part of Czechoslovakia 1938 September Chamberlain signs Munich Peace Agreement 1939 March Germany annexes rest of Czechoslovakia 1939 June 3 Draft call-up for men aged 20-21 1939 August Germany and Russia non-aggression pact 1939 August 24 Parliament recalled 1939 September 1 Germany invades Poland. Hitler given ultimatum to withdraw 1939 September 3 AT WAR Britain & France declare war 1939 September 3 Men aged 18-41 liable for conscription
1939 September 7 Identity cards introduced 1939 October 6 Polish submits and Phony War starts 1939 November Russia attacks Finland 1940 April Germany invades Denmark and Norway 1940 May 10 Germany invades France, Holland, Luxembourg and Belgium. Phoney War ends 1940 May 10 Chamberlain resigns as Prime Minister replaced by Churchill 1940 May Dunkirk Evacuation of 338,000 troops in 860 boats 1940 May to June Evacuation of 160,000 children from London 1940 May 12 Internment of German and Austrian men in UK 1940 June 10 Italy declares war on Britain 1940 June France surrenders. British Empire fights alone 1940 July to 1940 June Further 60,000 schoolchildren evacuated 1940 July 9 Battle of Britain starts 1940 August Major bombing of Birmingham and Liverpool 1940 September 7 The Blitz starts 1940 September War in Africa when Italy invades Egypt 1940 September Japan signs pact with Germany and Italy 1940 October Italian invades Greece 1940 October 31 End of Battle of Britain 1940 November 16 Coventry bombed; Cathedral destroyed 1940 November 24 Bristol bombed 1941 April Germany invades Yugoslavia and Greece 1941 May Germany sinks Battleship Hood in Atlantic; 3 men out of 1,422 survive 1941 May 10 End of first Blitz on London 1941 June Germany attacks Russia 1941 September German siege of Leningrad 1941 December Japan attacks America at Pearl Harbour 1941 December USA and Canada declare war on Japan 1941 December Germany and Italy declare war on United States 1942 January 23 US Army troops arrive in Britain 1942 February Singapore surrenders to Japan, 130,000 British Empire troops captured 1942 April Bath bombed 1942 May British bomb Cologne 1942 August Disastrous attack on Dieppe 1942 September Battle of Stalingrad 1942 December 1 Beveridge Report on Social Insurance 1943 February German 6th Army surrenders at Stalingrad surrenders; 450,000 casualties 1943 April 7 John Maynard Keynes Report on post-war currency stability 1943 April 12 Budget proposed £2.8 billion deficit 1943 May German Afrika Korps surrender in Tunisia 1943 July Allies attack Sicily 1943 July Mussolini overthrown 1943 July Britain bombs Hamburg; 40,000 killed 1943 September Italy surrenders 1943 November Britain starts bombing of Berlin 1944 January 21 Second Blitz of London begins 1944 March 10 Butler's Education Act 1944 June Americans capture Rome 1944 June Normandy landings in Operation Overlord 1944 June 12 V-1 flying bomb attack on London 1944 August Paris liberated 1944 September 22 Plan for military demobilization 1944 December Battle of the Bulge 1945 February Britain bombed Dresden 1945 March Last flying bombs on London 1945 March America bombs Tokyo 1945 April Japanese kamakazi plane attacks 1945 April Hitler commits suicide 1945 May Russia captures Berlin 1945 May 8 VE DAY 1945 August Americans drop nuclear bomb on Hiroshima 1945 August American nuclear bomb on Nagasaki 1945 August 15 VJ DAY |
