MARCH
12th Germany
annexes Austria, the Anschluss.
SEPTEMBER
29th Neville
Chamberlain and Edouard Daladier, the British and French
prime ministers, reach agreement
with Hitler and Mussolini at Munich, resolving the Sudetenland
crisis. A separate resolution
provides for Germany and Great Britain settling all
future disputes by peaceful means,
thus ensuring "peace for our time". Czechoslovakia
will pay the price.
OCTOBER
10th In
accordance with the Munich agreement Germany takes control
of the Sudetenland region of Czechoslovakia.
NOVEMBER
9/10th Kristallnacht,
a night of state-sponsored destruction and murder, is
a further development in the
Nazi policy of persecution of the Jews.
11th On
this day, twenty years earlier, there ended the Great
War - "the war to end all wars".
1939
FEBRUARY
Anderson
air raid shelters start to be issued.
MARCH
15th In
breach of the Munich agreement Germany occupies Prague
and takes control of all of Czechoslovakia.
APRIL
27th Conscription
introduced in U.K. for all men of ages 20-21.
AUGUST
11th There
is a blackout trial in London.
23rd Germany
and the U.S.S.R. sign a non-aggression pact.
24th Military
reservists are called up and the A.R.P. is put on alert.
25th
Great Britain and Poland sign a Mutual Assistance
Treaty.
31st Thousands
of British children start to be evacuated from cities
into safer areas as the threat of war
looms - "The First Evacuation".
SEPTEMBER
1st Germany
invades Poland.
3rd Neville
Chamberlain broadcasts to the nation and Great Britain
declares war on Germany.
5th President
Franklin D. Roosevelt declares the U.S.A.'s neutrality.
10th The
main force of the British Expeditionary Force starts
to arrive at Cherbourg.
17th In
accordance with a further secret pact with Germany,
the Soviet Union invades eastern Poland.
OCTOBER
1st
British men between 20 and 22 are
now liable for conscription
8th
Winston
Churchill, First Lord of the Admiralty, is proposing
the forming of a "Home Guard" of about
500,000 men.
Meanwhile
recruitment into the tiny "National Defence Forces",
started in 1936, is halted.
14th HMS
Royal Oak is sunk whilst moored at Scapa Flow.
NOVEMBER
An
uneasy calm descends on Great Britain - "The Phoney
War". About
1.5 million men will have
been conscripted into the armed forces by the end of
the year.
Germany
and its new Soviet ally continue to carve up Poland
between them and brutally subjugate
it.
30th Russia
invades Finland.
DECEMBER 17th Following
the Battle of the River Plate the Graf Spee is
scuttled.
1940
JANUARY
- FEBRUARY
The
Phoney War continues in Western Europe with military
activities limited to the air and sea. Hitler
and Mussolini meet.
Rationing begins in
Great Britain. Conscription is extended to the ages
20 - 27. A large proportion
of evacuated children have now returned to their homes.
January
is a particularly cold month in the U.K.
MARCH
12th After
a valiant struggle Finland makes a peace agreement with
Russia.
APRIL
9th
Germany
attacks Norway and Denmark by air, land and sea.
British, French and Polish troops
go
to Norway's aid.
MAY
In
Great Britain there is a sense of shock and the fear
of a "Fifth Column" of traitors and saboteurs.
There is great popular pressure to form a civil
militia.
8th Proposals
in the House of Lords for the creation of "local
levies armed with rifles".
10th
The
German Army and Luftwaffe attack Belgium, the Netherlands
and France.
Winston
Churchill becomes Prime Minister.
11th Crucial
War Office meeting to consider the forming of a militia.
12th-16th
Thousands of aliens are interned.
12th Parallel
schemes being prepared by the War Office and General
HQ, Home Forces in collaboration
with Eastern Command for a local defence force. 13th
Essential details
are agreed.
The
second evacuation of children starts from vulnerable
areas and continues into July.
14th Secretary
of State for War, Anthony Eden, broadcasts to the nation
anouncing
the formation of
the Local Defence Volunteers and enrolment starts immediately.
Rotterdam
is heavily bombed and the Netherlands surrenders.
15th Some
Home Guard groups start patrols.
16th
The
German Army smashes through the French lines at Sedan. 17th The
legal staus of the L.D.V. is established via the issue
of an Order in Council. 18th Detailed
instructions concerning the L.D.V. issued from GHQ,
Home Forces.
20th
The
German Army reaches the sea at Boulogne.
22nd 250,000
L.D.V. armbands are on their way to members.
23rd
An appeal is launched for owners of
shotguns and rifles to hand them in for use by the L.D.V.
Boulogne
is evacuated by the British.
24th Middlesbrough
is the first British town to be attacked by the Luftwaffe.
27th Evacuation
of B.E.F. (British Expeditionary Force) from Dunkirk
starts.
Sir Edmund Ironside is appointed Commander-in-Chief
of Home Forces.
28th
Belgium
surrenders.
31st Total
of L.D.V. volunteers reaches 750,000.
late
Small
numbers of S.M.L.E. .303 rifles start to be issued to
some L.D.V. units.
Orders
are placed for 75,000 Great War Ross rifles from Canada
and 100,000 .300 Springfield
and Remington P14 and P17 rifles from the U.S.A.
Denim overalls start to be issued to L.D.V. members.
The
Northern Ireland Government decides to raise the Ulster
Defence Volunteers as a branch of
the Royal Ulster Constabulary and equivalent to the
Home Guard.
JUNE
1st
All signposts
which might be helpful to parachutists landing in Britain
are taken down.
4th Evacuation
from Dunkirk ends with 340,000 British and French soldiers
safely reaching Southern
England, but without their arms. Fighting continues
in France.
8th The
last Allied troops withdraw from Norway after the unsuccessful
attempt to defend the country.
11th Householders
in possession of Anderson shelters must by law have
them up and earthed by today.
14th Paris
surrenders.
17th British
withdrawal from France is completed.
20th Lt.-Gen.
H.R. Pownall, C.B., D.S.O., M.C. is appointed Inspector-General
of the L.D.V.
22nd France
capitulates and signs an Armistice with Germany, and
with Italy on the 24th. France is partitioned
into a German occupied zone and a sympathetic "independent"
zone, "Vichy France".
Great Britain is now alone apart from the Commonwealth
countries.
25th Bristol
has an air raid, the first of many up to 15th May 1944.
The heaviest attacks will occur on
24th November, 2nd December and 6th December 1940, 3/4th
January 1941 and 16/17th March
1941.
30th The
Channel islands are occupied by German troops.
JULY
The
first Ross rifles arrive from Canada.
Debate
rages during the month over the role of the L.D.V. -
passive or active?
Opinion is shifting
towards a more active role. This will be confirmed and
formalised in August.
3rd The
Royal Navy attacks and destroys much of the French fleet
at Oran and Mers-el-Kebir.
9th
The Luftwaffe's air war against
Great Britain starts - the Battle of Britain.
10th Italy
declares war on Britain and France.
13th 1,166,212
men have enrolled in the L.D.V.
14th In
a broadcast Churchill refers to the "Home Guard".
16th Hitler
issues a directive for the invasion of Great Britain,
"Operation Sealion".
19th General
Sir Alan Brooke takes over from General Ironside as
C-in-C, Home Forces.
20th The
King inspects 2000 Home Guards at Woodford, Essex.
21st The
start of Operation Sealion is provisionally scheduled
for 15th September 1940.
23rd Formal
acceptance of the name change to "Home Guard"
under pressure from
Churchill.
24th German
radio issues a threatening warning to members of the
Home Guard.
AUGUST
1st There
are now 1,472,505 members.
3rd The
Home Guard units are given county titles.
6th Army
Council Instruction 92.4 sets out the role of the Home
Guard as a part of the Army.
8th The
Luftwaffe's heightened main offensive against Great
Britain begins, prior to invasion.
9th The
first air raid on Birmingham. There will be 26 more
until 23rd April 1943, the
most serious taking
place between the end of August 1940 and May 1941.
13th The
War Office announces that it will issue light machine
guns to the Home Guard
"where necessary".
18th The
Home Guard brings down its first enemy aircraft with
rifle fire in South London.
20th The
King inspects 3000 S.E. London Home Guards at West Whickham.
25th
The first bomber attack
by the RAF on Berlin takes place.
28th The
issue of full battledress to all Home Guards is approved
in principle but initially only to those
without denims.
SEPTEMBER
A
dedicated Home Guard training base is created at Osterley
Park under the direction of Tom
Winteringham.
Further
large evacuations of children and the vulnerable occur
with the onset of the Blitz.
7th/8th The
Luftwaffe switches its main target from RAF airfields
and radar installations to London. The
London Blitz has started.
The code word "Cromwell"
is inadvertedly issued which leads to a major invasion
scare overnight
throughout the country.
13th Italy
invades Egypt.
15th Rising
Luftwaffe losses peak today at between 50 and 60 aircraft.
17th The
first military award to the Home Guard, a Military Medal,
is awarded to Volunteer Glyn Jones
for his actions during an air raid on 12/13th July at
an unspecified location.
"City
of Benares", a ship carrying children being evacuated
to North America, is torpedoed
by submarine U-48 with
heavy loss of life.
Operation
Sealion is postponed.
28th Maj.-Gen.
T.R. Eastwood, D.S.O., M.C. is appointed Inspector-General
of the Home Guard succeeding
Lt.-Gen. Pownall.
end The
Luftwaffe switches its main bombing effort to night
operations thus acknowledging that the
Battle of Britain is being lost.
OCTOBER
12th Unknown
to the British, Operation Sealion, the plan to invade
the British Isles, is postponed further
until Spring 1941.
24th British
Summer Time is to be extended throughout the winter.
28th Italy
invades Greece.
29th British
troops land in Greece.
31st Official
end of the Battle of Britain.
NOVEMBER
6th In
Parliament an announcement is made: an army rank structure
will be introduced, administration
arrangements will be tightened, regular Army personnel
will be inserted into Home
Guard battalions as instructors and administrators and
standard Army battledress will
replace the denims although the latter will probably
take 6 months.
11th The
first large Italian raid on Great Britain takes place.
The
Fleet Air Arm attack the Italian fleet at Tarranto.
12/13th After
more than two months of daily attacks, the relentless
aerial attack on London temporarily
ceases.
The
first consignment of rifles, revolvers and ammunition
donated by private U.S. citizens is distributed
to an unspecified Home Guard unit.
14/15th The
Luftwaffe switches to other targets for its bombers,
industrial centres starting with a devastating
attack on Coventry.
19th The
House of Commons demonstrates its keen interest in the
Home Guard by again debating
its role.
DECEMBER
9th The
British Army opens its offensive in the Western desert.
10th Two
German spies are executed at Pentonville Prison. 17th Home
Office announces third German spy hanged at Pentonville
Prison.
An
Isle of Wight housewife is sentenced to death at
Winchester for "Treachery", the cutting
of
a military telephone wire; this
is later commuted to 14 years of penal servitude.
20th Liverpool
suffers a 48 hour attack by the Luftwaffe. It will endure
many other attacks until early
1942, some of the most serious occurring between 1st
and 7th May 1941.
22nd The
start of a 48 hour onslaught by the Luftwaffe against
Manchester.
29th Much
of the City of London is destroyed.
1941
JANUARY
A month of severe
weather.
9th Churchill
inspects the 1st American Motorised Squadron of the
Home Guard, founded
officially last September.
13th The
War Office announces that Home Guards may be employed
in helping to deal with incendiary
bombs at the discretion of the local unit commander.
18th Dive
bombing attacks on Malta begin.
end
Battledress has replaced denims
in most units and has been issued to 1.2m. men. A small
stock of denims will be retained for use for dirty work
or in those cases where full battledress
has not been issued.
FEBRUARY
The
official number of evacuees is now 1.37 million.
3rd The
War Office announces details of commissioned ranks for
the Home Guard, ranging from
Second Lieutenant up to Brigadier.
19th The
start of a three-day bombing attack on Swansea, the
worst in a series from 27th June 1940
to 19th May 1943.
MARCH
11th Compensation
for unavoidable loss of earnings fixed at a maximum
of 10/- (£0.50) per day.
The
Lend Lease Bill is signed by President Roosevelt.
APRIL
6th German
forces invade Yugoslavia; and also Greece where they
rapidly overwhelm the British
forces and take complete control by 11th May.
22nd/23rd Plymouth
suffers a devastating air raid, the worst of a long
series from 6th July 1940 to 30th
April 1944.
MAY
10th
Hitler's deputy, Rudolph Hess, bales out over Scotland
and is captured by the Home Guard. The
mystery of his appearance is never properly explained.
The
last major attack on London of the 1940/41 Blitz.
14th The
first anniversary of the establishment of the Home Guard.
It is given the privilege of mounting
guard at Buckingham Palace.
15th The
establishment of a National Fire Service, combining
local brigades and the A.F.S. (Auxiliary
Fire Service), is announced.
17th
Maj. Gen Lord Bridgeman, D.S.O., M.C., takes over from
Maj. Gen. T.R. Eastwood as Director-General.
It is announced that Tommy Guns and
anti-tank weapons are being distributed.
24th HMS
Hood is sunk by
the German battleship Bismarck.
27th Bismarck
is sunk.
A posthumous George
Cross is awarded to Section Commander George Walter
Inwood for
courage and self-sacrifice in Bishop Street, Birmingham
during an air-raid on 15/16
October 1940.
28th
Every cadet unit will
be eligible for affiliation to the local Home Guard
unit.
31st
German airborne forces,
despite heavy losses, finally overcome British resistance
and take
Crete.
This
gives rise to renewed fears of an airborne attack on
Great Britain.
JUNE
1st
Clothes rationing
is introduced in Britain. 22nd
Germany attacks its
ally, the Soviet Union, without warning. Russia thus becomes
the
first ally of Great Britain and the Commonwealth in
the fight against Nazism.
JULY
5th
Foreign Secretary Eden
categorically rules out possibility of negotiating with
Hitler.
12th
Britain and Russia sign mutual assistance agreement,
pledging ‘no separate peace’.
25th Announcement
that 1 million Home Guards will take part in exercises
over the next two
weeks.
AUGUST
1st
Compensation for loss of earnings
increased to 12/- (£0.60)
per day or 70/- (£3.50)
per
week maximum.
10th
London and Birmingham
are the scene of fierce simulated battles involving
the Home
Guard.
15th
Lord Bridgeman talks of
the lessons from Russia and the suitability of the Home
Guard
for the necessary duties of behind-the-lines
sabotage in the event of invasion.
Josef Jacobs, captured
by the Home Guard within 12 hours of his descent by
parachute, is
shot in the Tower of London after conviction
for espionage.
SEPTEMBER
12th A
small number of Liverpool Home Guards will transfer
to anti-aircraft batteries on an experimental
basis.
OCTOBER
5th
The battle for
Moscow begins. This will last until 6th December.
NOVEMBER
Announcement
that w.e.f. January 1942 all eligible men between the
ages of 18 and 51 must
serve in the Home Guard and accept strict obligations
of service.
12th Order
issued by War Office stating that training of women
as unofficial Home Guards has not
been authorised and the use of weapons or ammunition
in the training of women is not permitted.
27th
German Panzers are only 19 miles
from Moscow.
DECEMBER
2nd
Churchill introduces a new National
Service Bill, including compulsory service for women.
It
is announced that Home Guards have been manning coastal
artillery batteries for some time.
The question of manning AA batteries is still under
consideration.
5th
Britain declares
war on Finland, Hungary and Rumania.
8th The
Japanese attack the U.S.A. at Pearl Harbour and simultaneously
attack Malaya and The
Philippines.
9th Great
Britain and the U.S.A. declare war on Japan.
10th HMS
Prince of Wales and HMS Repulse are sunk off Malaya
by Japanese aerial attack.
11th Germany
declares war on the U.S.A. The war is now truly global.
12th Britain
declares war on Bulgaria.
18th All
men and women aged between 18 and 60 now liable for
some form of national service including
military service for those under 51. This
includes compulsory service in the
Home Guard in certain districts, the removal of the
right of Home Guards to resign and the imposition
of obligatory training and duty of 48 hours per month.
24th Those
disabled in Home Guard service will be liable to pensions.
There will be allowances for
the dependents of those killed in service.
25th Hong
Kong falls to the Japanese.
1942
JANUARY
Two months of particularly severe weather in the U.K. 1st
The Merseyside Home Guard anti-aircraft batteries start
their operations. An extension of this
experiment is still being considered.
10th It
is revealed that 90,000 employees of the main line train
companies are fully trained Home Guards.
15th The
Japanese Army moves into Burma.
20th At
Wannsee, near Berlin, the S.S. chair a conference of
15 top Nazi bureaucrats to coordinate
the practical details of the "Final Solution",
the systematic murder of all Jews in Europe.
22nd It
is reported that for some time Home Guard units, in
cooperation with the Army and the new
RAF Regiment, have been testing aerodrome defences.
23rd Those
living in East Anglia are warned of the continuing probability
of invasion, possibly in the
spring.
29th
In
the House of Commons Churchill
seeks and obtains an overwhelming vote of confidence.
FEBRUARY
1st First
Travelling Wing established for the training of Home
Guard units in situ.
11th There
is pressure on the Government to permit the recruitment
of women into the Home Guard.
12th A
Government statement in support of the issue of pikes
to the Home Guard is met with incredulity
and ridicule.
15th Singapore
surrenders and its huge British Garrison falls into
the hands of the Japanese Army.
16th Deadline
for original volunteers in the Home Guard either to
resign or to accept the new terms
of service.
17th Fewer
than 2% of Home Guards have resigned before that option
is closed to them.
19th The
Australian city of Darwin suffers a heavy aerial attack
from the Japanese.
MARCH 7th Rangoon
falls to the Japanese. 23rd The
War Office decides, following successful experiments,
to recruit large numbers of Home
Guards to man special anti-aircraft batteries.
The
first court martial of Home Guards leading to detention
takes place in Altrincham,
Cheshire. Two brothers get 56 days for
insubordination and disobedience
.
The
duty of civilians in the event of invasion is clarified
by a statement in Parliament.
26th Compulsory
service, previously limited to the south of England,
is extended to the entire
country.
APRIL
The Home Guard voluntarily mans anti-aircraft batteries
in Aberdeen.
1st Mandalay
falls to the Japanese. 13th Four
Home Guard officers are amongst those killed during
a combined exercise in Southern England
near Warminster.
15th
Gun crews for 12 A.A. sites in London are being recruited
from the Home Guard.
17th It
is confirmed that the Blacker Bombard, or spigot mortar,
is now being issued to units.
23rd
Beginning of so-called Baedeker air raids by the Luftwaffe
on picturesque provincial
British cities such as Exeter, Canterbury, Bath,
Norwich, York, Bury St. Edmonds,
Cambridge, Great Yarmouth and Ipswich. These will last
until 6th June.
MAY
8th
The Philippines fall to the Japanese.
Despite heavy losses, in the Battle of the Coral
Sea the US Navy thwarts Japanese
landings at Port Moresby in New Guinea which would
have threatened Australia.
14th
The second anniversary of the Home Guard is marked by
a tribute from Churchill in the
House of Commons. The War Office has expressed
a desire that the public be allowed to
witness demonstrations by Home Guards under training.
The King becomes
Colonel-in-Chief.
17th
Bristol and Cambridge are the object of major military
exercises.
26th
Axis offensive launched in Libya.
30/31st
First RAF 1000 bomber raid is launched against Cologne.
JUNE
The Japanese reach the north-eastern frontier of India.
7th
The Battle of Midway ends with the sinking of four Japanese
aircraft carriers and the
establishment of air superiority in the area by
the US Navy.
17th In
North Africa Tobruk falls to the Germans.
24th
The Germans penetrate 50 miles into Egypt.
JULY
2nd
Attacks begin on PQ-17, one of 78 Arctic convoys throughout
the war transporting supples
from the U.K. to Russia. Of the 36 ships of PQ-17,
only 11 reach their destination. Two
of
the survivors will also be sunk on their return journey.
4th
The USAAF launches its first major
attack on German targets.
AUGUST
19th
A nine hour raid is made on Dieppe which involves heavy
Allied losses.
SEPTEMBER 27th The
minimum age for joining the Home Guard is reduced from
17 to 16. Parental consent will
be needed.
OCTOBER
23rd The
Battle of El Alamein begins.
NOVEMBER
4th The
British Eighth Army defeats Rommel and his army at El
Alamein.
8th A
combined British and American force starts landing on
the Algerian and Tunisian coast - "Operation
Torch".
11th French
forces in Morocco and Algeria capitulate.
German
forces enter Vichy France. 28th The
George Cross is awarded posthumously to Lt. William
Foster, 7th Battalion Wiltshire Home
Guard, for throwing himself on a grenade before it detonated
and thus saving several
comrades.
DECEMBER
The
British 14th Army attempts its first, and unsuccessful,
offensive in Burma. 23rd The
ringing of church bells will be permitted before noon
on Christmas Day; but the general
ban remains in place.
1943
JANUARY
18th The
siege of Leningrad is raised.
FEBRUARY 2nd The
remnants of the German 6th Army surrender at Stalingrad.
8th The
Americans take Guadalcanal.
11th Suggestions
that the Home Guard will be used as a post-war police
force are refuted in Parliament.
MARCH Home
Guard membership peaks at 1,793,000.
A
determined Japanese offensive to invade India is repulsed.
APRIL
20th
The limited recruitment of women into the Home Guard
is announced. Duties will be
non-combatant, such as driving, cooking and clerical
work. Age range: 18-65 but preference to
go to those over 45.
MAY
The
turning point is reached in the Battle of the Atlantic
when the "wolf pack" tactics of the German
submarines, adopted in 1940 against Atlantic supply
convoys and murderously successful,
begin to be effectively countered by the convoys and
their escorts.
13th Final
total victory by the British and American armies in
North Africa.
14th The
third anniversary of the Home Guard is marked by a speech
delivered by Churchill in
Washington D.C. and
heard in the U.K. by radio. Guard is mounted at Buckingham
Palace and
the King takes the salute at a march past in Hyde Park
on Sunday the 16th.
JULY 10th Allied
forces invade Sicily
15th The
German offensive at Kursk ends in failure after the
biggest tank battle in history. This
marks a turning of the tide for the
Red Army and the long suffering Russian people.
AUGUST
27th Men
already working 60 hours per week will not be directed
into Home Guard service unless
circumstances make it imperative.
SEPTEMBER
8th The
Italian surrender is announced but Germany immediately
assumes control of the
country. 9th Allied
forces invade the Italian mainland.
OCTOBER
4th Corsica
is liberated.
22nd A
future large scale surprise exercise to test London's
defences is announced. This takes place
on Saturday night 23rd/Sunday 24th and involves every
H.G. unit in Greater London repelling
100 separate "attacks" from regular troops.
NOVEMBER
9th Churchill
warns of future "new forms of attack on the this
island" which, if they come, will call
for the utmost efficiency and devotion in the firewatchers
and the Home Guard.
DECEMBER
2nd
Minister of Labour Ernest Bevin announces conscription
to mines as coal output continues to
flag in Britain.
26th The
German battlecruiser Scharnhorst is sunk.
1944
JANUARY
4th In
Italy the battle for Cassino begins.
22nd The
Allies land south of Rome at Anzio.
FEBRUARY
3rd The
Germans launch an offensive against the Anzio beachhead.
MARCH
7th In
Burma a Japanese offensive is launched across the Chindwin
River but is eventually repulsed by
the 14th Army.
18th Some
details are revealed about the rocket A.A. batteries
which have been operating since 1941
and which are now mainly manned by the Home Guard.
30th For
purposes of national defence all men in Germany will
be subject to rifle training.
APRIL
15th Changes
in the organisation of the Home Guard mean the abolition
of zone commands and groups
and their work taken over by sub-district commands,
the commander bearing the title
"Home Guard Adviser".
23rd One
officer and five members of an Essex unit are killed,
and three more injured, in an accidental
explosion.
25th It
is revealed that since earlier in the year and with
the greater availability of ammunition some
training exercises are being undertaken using live ammunition
and explosives.
MAY
14th The
fourth anniversary of the Home Guard is marked by an
appreciative speech by H.M. King
George VIth, his taking the salute in Hyde Park and
a H.G. guard being mounted at Buckingham
Palace.
18th The
Battle of Monte Cassino ends, opening up the road to
Rome.
JUNE
5th Allied
troops enter Rome.
6th D-Day
- Allied forces land in Normandy.
13th The
first V1 "doodlebug" falls on London.
21st Maj.-Gen.
Sir James Syme Drew, K.B.E., C.B., D.S.O., M.C. is appointed
Director-General of the Home Guard in succession to
Maj.-Gen. Lord Bridgeman.
JULY
8th Thousands
more children are evacuated over the weekend from London
to escape the new onslaught,
continuing a trend which started soon after the arrival
of the first V1s; many families
make private arrangements to avoid the danger.
9th Caen
finally falls to British and Canadian forces.
20th An
attempt on Hitler's life fails.
24th
The military commander of
the London District pays generous tribute to the work
done by the
Home Guard during V1 attacks.
AUGUST
1st Start
of the Warsaw uprising.
10th Japanese
resistance on Guam ceases.
12th The
Germans start to retreat from Normandy.
15th Allied
forces land in the South of France.
24th Paris
is liberated.
In
an Order of the Day, South-Eastern Command stresses
the continuing need for the Home
Guard until there remains no further possibility of
an invasion of the country. In the meantime
the threat "is by no means over".
SEPTEMBER
2nd In
Italy the German Gothic Line is broken by the Eighth
Army.
3rd Brussels
is liberated by the British.
5th The
War Office states that whilst the existence of the Home
Guard remains necessary, plans
for its eventual stand-down are being prepared.
6th Sir
James Grigg, Secretary of State for War, makes a generous
broadcast tribute to the Home
Guard.
8th The
first V2 rocket missile falls on London.
11th
Conscription
into the Home Guard ends, as do compulsory training
and parades. The membership
stands at 1,727,095.
There are 142,246 manning 93 rocket
batteries and 27 heavy
A.A. batteries throughout the country.
17th "Operation
Market Garden", the airborne assault to capture
Rhine bridges, is initially successful
but eventually fails at Arnhem.
Reduction
of complete black-out to "dim-out".
30th The
last of the German cross-Channel guns which have pounded
the southeast coast of England
for three years are silenced.
There
is confusion, disappointment and even resentment in
many quarters at the way in which the
Home Guard is apparently being allowed to "fizzle
out".
OCTOBER
10th It
is announced that Home Guards will be permitted to retain
their greatcoats, boots and other
articles of clothing at stand-down.
18th All
able-bodied Germans between the ages of 16 and 60 are
to be conscripted into a Volkssturm,
equivalent to the British Home Guard, under the command
of
Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler.
20th American
forces land in the Philippines.
21st The
Germans state that a Volkssturm (Home Guard) Division
has been in action against Russian
tanks.
25th A
German Home Guard division is identified as fighting
in the Vosges Mountains.
28th Units
are advised that stand-down will begin on 1st November
and all units will remain in
reserve
until final disbandment. Stand-down parades will take
place on Sunday 3rd December.
NOVEMBER
1st Stand-down
begins.
12th The
German battleship Tirpitz is finally sunk.
19th The
wholly secret Auxiliary Units are stood down. 23rd It
is revealed that over the last three years the annual
cost to the nation of each
Home Guard has been &po