This is a Timeline of the United Kingdom home front during World War II covering Britain 1939–45.
For a narrative history and bibliography of the home front see British home front during World War II, as well as history of Scotland § Second World War 1939–45 and history of Northern Ireland § Second World War.The main sources here are Facts on file yearbook (compilation of weekly reports) and Keesing's Contemporary Archives (monthly reports), both online. For the military story see military history of the United Kingdom during World War II for foreign affairs, diplomatic history of World War II. For the government see Timeline of Winston Churchill's first premiership. __NOTOC__ 193919401941 1942194319441945
1939 3 June 1939 The Military Training Act, Britain's first peacetime draft, comes into force. All men aged 20–21 are now liable to call-up for four years military service as 'Militiamen'.
24 August 1939 Given the worsening situation in Europe, Parliament is recalled and immediately enacts the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1939, granting the government special legislative powers for the duration of the crisis. Army reservists are called up. Civil Defence workers are put on alert.
25 August 1939 The National Defence Companies (a voluntary reserve force of former servicemen) are mobilised to protect "vulnerable points".Perry, Frederick W., 1988, The Commonwealth Armies: Manpower and Organisation in Two World Wars Manchester University Press (p. 50)
30 August 1939 The Fleet proceeds to its war stations. The Royal Navy is much stronger than Germany's Kriegsmarine. It has twelve battleships versus zero for Germany; seven aircraft carriers versus zero; three battle cruisers versus five; 66 cruisers versus six; 100 destroyers versus 17, 67 submarines versus 57; and a merchant fleet five times larger.Daniel Todman, Britain's War: 1937-1941 (2016) p 213. 1 September 1939 In response to the German invasion of Poland and the prospect of war with Germany, plans for the evacuation of children and nursing and expectant mothers from London and other areas deemed vulnerable to German air attack are put into action. The Blackout begins. The British Army is officially mobilized. Government initiates 'Operation Pied Piper' which would see the evacuation of over 1.5 million people from urban 'target' areas, of whom 800,000 were children.
2 September 1939 Under intense criticism from the House, Neville Chamberlain abandons an offer to negotiate peace terms between Germany and Poland and agrees to present an ultimatum to Hitler.
3 September 1939 Shortly after 11:00 Chamberlain announces to the nation that his ultimatum has expired and that Britain is at war with Germany. Twenty minutes later the first air raid sirens are sounded in London. They are a false alarm. Chamberlain reforms his Government, creating a small War cabinet which includes Winston Churchill as First Lord of the Admiralty. The National Service (Armed Forces) Act is passed. All men aged 18–41 are now potentially liable for conscription.
7 September 1939 The National Registration Act is passed, introducing identity cards.
23 September 1939 Petrol rationing introduced.Freeman, Joseph Bray (1945), Commodity Control Butterworth (p. 146)
27 September 1939 The first war tax is revealed by the Cabinet, including a significant increase in income taxes.
1 October 1939 Call-Up Proclamation: all men aged 20–21 who have not already done so must apply for registration with the military authorities.
6 October 1939 With the end of formal Polish resistance the Phoney War begins; It lasts until April 1940. There was little military action, although the Allies (Britain and France) began economic warfare, and shut down the German surface raiders. They created elaborate plans for numerous large-scale operations designed to swiftly and decisively cripple the German war effort. These included opening a French-British front in the Balkans; invading Norway to seize control of the Germany's main source of iron ore; and a strike against the Soviet Union, to cut off its supply of oil to Germany. Only the Norway plan came to fruition, and it was too little too late in April 1940.Talbot Charles Imlay, "A reassessment of Anglo-French strategy during the Phony War, 1939-1940." English Historical Review 119#481 (2004): 333-372.
November 1939 London schools start to reopen because of evacuee children returning to the capital.
1940
January 1940 35% of London schoolchildren had returned from evacuation.
8 January 1940 First food rationing introduced.
May to June 1940 Further evacuation of 160,000 children from London and relocation of children who had been settled near vulnerable coastal areas. Winston Churchill gives a series of famous speeches in Parliament: "Blood, toil, tears and sweat", "We shall fight on the beaches" and "This was their finest hour."Lori Maguire, "'We Shall Fight': A Rhetorical Analysis of Churchill's Famous Speech." Rhetoric & Public Affairs 17.2 (2014): 255-286.
7 May 1940 The debate on the recent military failure in Norway leads (on 10 May) to Chamberlain's resignation.
10 May 1940 Germany invades France and the Low Countries, ending the Phoney War. Winston Churchill becomes Prime Minister and forms an all-party coalition government.
12 May 1940 Internment of all German or Austrian males aged between 16 and 60 begins, starting with those living nearest to the south and east coasts.Cesarani, David and Kushner, Tony (1993), The Internment of Aliens in Twentieth Century Britain Routledge, (p. 149)
14 May 1940 In a BBC radio broadcast Anthony Eden calls for the creation of the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) militia – renamed on 23 July the Home Guard.
22 May 1940 The Emergency Powers (Defence) Act 1940 is passed, granting the government even more authority to control persons and property for the duration of the war.W. Ivor Jennings, "The Emergency Powers (Defence)(No. 2) Act, 1940." The Modern Law Review 4.2 (1940): 132-136. online
10 June 1940 Italy declares war on Britain. Italian men aged 17 to 60 are arrested and interned. Large mobs attack Italian businesses and families in London, Liverpool, Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Glasgow.Cesarani and Kushner (pp. 172-173)
19 – 28 June 1940 25,000 Channel Island refugees arrive in England.
30 June 1940 German occupation of the Channel Islands begins.
July 1940 A further 60,000 schoolchildren evacuated from London and the Home counties in the following 12 months.
3 July 1940 Cardiff is bombed for the first time.
6 July 1940 Plymouth is bombed for the first time.
9 July 1940 Official start date of the Battle of Britain.
10 July 1940 Introduction of Defence Regulation 58AA allowing the Minister of Labour to ban strike action and force compulsory arbitration. No strikes are called by any trade union during the war; there are unofficial short local strikes in coal, shipbuilding and machinery.
21 July 1940 leaves Liverpool for Halifax, Nova Scotia with the first group of 82 children being evacuated under the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) scheme.Fethney, Michael (1990), The Absurd and the Brave: C.O.R.B. - The True Account of the Government's World War II Evacuation of Children Overseas, Book Guild Publishing Ltd (p. 60)
25 August 1940 First major air raid on central Birmingham.
28 August 1940 First major air raid on Liverpool.
August–October 1940 The German Blitz hits London and other major cities causing death and damage. Official histories concluded that the mental health of a nation may have improved, while panic was a rarity. Prewar dire predictions of mass air-raid neurosis were not borne out. Predictions had underestimated the adaptability and resourcefulness; in addition there were many new civil defense roles that gave a sense of fighting back rather than despair.Edgar Jones, et al. "Civilian morale during the Second World War: Responses to air raids re-examined." Social History of Medicine 17.3 (2004): 463-479. The highly visible dangerous role gave firemen some of the ideal attributes more commonly associated with the venerated image of the military hero.Linsey Robb, "‘The Front Line’: Firefighting in British Culture, 1939–1945." Contemporary British History 29.2 (2015): 179-198.
7 September 1940 German bombing raid on South London; formal beginning of London Blitz.
18 September 1940 bound for Canada is torpedoed and sunk in the Atlantic; 77 of the 90 evacuee children on board died, resulting in the abandonment of the Children's Overseas Reception Board (CORB) evacuation scheme.Fethney p. 148
31 October 1940 Official end date of the Battle of Britain.
14 November 1940 Massive German bombing raid on Coventry.
12 December 1940 Major raid on Sheffield.
24 November 1940 First major air raid on Bristol.
20 December 1940 Major raid on Liverpool.
22 December 1940 First major raid on Manchester.
1941 21 January 1941 The Communist Daily Worker newspaper is banned. It had ignored a July 1940 warning that its pacifist line contravened Defence Regulation 2D, which made it an offence to 'systematically to publish matter calculated to foment opposition to the prosecution of the war'. When Germany invaded Russia in June 1941, the British Communists became fervent supporters of the war and the ban was lifted.
13 and 14 March 1941 Major air raids destroy most of Clydebank.
20 April 1941 34 firefighters killed in the 1941 Old Palace School bombing, the largest single loss of Fire Brigade personnel in English history.
10 May 1941 Last major attack on London of the 1940-41 Blitz.
27 May 1941 The German battleship Bismarck is sunk after hours of cannon duels and biplane torpedo attacks.
1 June 1941 Civilian clothing is rationed for the first time.Ross, Stewart (2007), Rationing (At Home in World War II), Evans Brothers Ltd (p. 113)
18 December 1941 The National Service (No. 2) Act is passed. All men 18-60 and unmarried women and childless widows aged 20-30 are now liable to some form of national service, including military service for those under 51. The first military registration of 18.5-year-olds takes place. The Schedule of Reserved Occupations is abandoned: from now on only individual deferments from the draft will be accepted.
1942
23 January 1942 First US Army troops arrive in the UK. Disembarking at Belfast, the officers were the advanced party of a force intended to defend Northern Ireland and release British troops for service overseas.
5 March 1942 The Daily Mirror publishes a controversial cartoon by Philip Zec which Churchill and other senior government figures alleged was damaging to public morale. Zec is investigated by MI5 and the government seriously proposes banning the newspaper until parliamentary opposition forces a retreat.
23 April 1942 Beginning of so-called Baedeker Blitz on English provincial towns, mainly chosen for their historic and cultural significance; Exeter, Bath, Canterbury, Lincoln and York along with several coastal towns were targeted. Attacks continue sporadically until 6 June.
1 July 1942 The basic civilian petrol ration was abolished, making fuel unavailable to private car owners.Briggs, Susan (1975), The Home Front: War Years in Britain, 1939-1945, American Heritage Publishing Co (p. 112)
15 November 1942 Church bells were rung all over the United Kingdom for the first time since May 1940, in celebration of victory at the Second Battle of El Alamein.Taylor, A J P (1965), English History 1914-1945, Oxford University Press, (p. 560)
1 December 1942 Sir William Beveridge's Report on Social Insurance and Allied Services published.
The Ministry of Labour reports that 1942 strikes cost 1,527,000 working days, as compared with 1,079,000 in 1941.Facts on File, Facts on file yearbook 1943 (1944) p. 178
1943
18 February 1943