Timeline 1939 - 1945
Alan Payne
January 2018
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 for children of factory workers. 
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