The following Time Table records some of the events leading up to Germany once more invading its close neighbours, leading to WW2 1939-1945. The subsequent war in the Far East by Japan. How Great Britain and the allied countries fought to bring it to its conclusion.
1933 - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, revoked the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and began re-arming Germany, aiming to reunite all German people into one nation. He resigned from the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, an intergovernmental organization founded in 1920 following World War I, aimed at promoting international cooperation and preventing future wars.
1933 - (Japan)
Japan also resigned from the LEAGUE OF NATIONS
1935 July 9th - (Great Britain)
The Home Office was charged with public protection and issued a circular to local authorities. They were required to set up and recruit Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) services
1936 - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler united Germany with Austria
1937 December - (Great Britain)
The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) Act was passed in the British Parliament. It was set up to protect civilians from the danger of air raids. Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties, and liaison with police and fire brigades.
1938 March - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland
1938 September 15th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler at his residence Berchtesgaden to discuss peace.
1938 September 22th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler at Godesberg to discuss peace.
1938 September 29th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler in Munich to discuss peace.
1938 September 30th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned with a signed document declaring ‘Peace in our time’
1939 March 15th - (Germany)
German troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia.
1939 August 11th - (Croxley Green)
An appeal by Ellendell Holdings Ltd against Rickmansworth Urban Council to sanction a sports stadium and greyhound racing track between the LMS railway line and the canal at Croxley Green was the subject of a Ministry of Health inquiry on Thursday, published in The Advertiser and Gazette. (This area is Common Moor)
1939 September 1st - (Germany)
Germany Invaded Poland
1939 September 1st - (Great Britain)
From 1 September 1939, ARP wardens enforced the "Blackout". Heavy curtains and shutters were required on all private residences, commercial premises, and factories to prevent light escaping and so making them a possible marker for enemy bombers to locate their targets. They later came under the title Civil Defence.
1939 September 1st - (Croxley Green)
Evacuee children arrived in Croxley Green.
1939 September 3rd - (Great Britain)
Neville Chamberlain, speaking via a wireless message, informed the British people that Great Britain was ‘now at war with Germany’. Chamberlain had flown to Germany in 1938 on 3 separate occasions to find a solution and obtained an international agreement that Hitler should have the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany making no further demands for land in Europe. Chamberlain said it was ‘Peace for our time’.
1939 September 3rd - (Allied Forces)
Canada, Australia, France and South Africa declared war on Germany
1939 September 17th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the East
1939 September 23rd - (Croxley Green)
Harry Brown of Barton Way Croxley Green was summoned for exceeding the speed limit of 20mph at Crawley. PC Winton said the defendant’s speed was 29-30 mph in the London Road. Defendant had a large lorry laden with 12 tons of timber. A fine of £2 was imposed as reported in the Sussex & Surrey Courier. Harry [Harold] Brown lived at 28 Barton Way, according to the 1939 register which describes him as a Heavy Motor Transporter. He was 28 years old)
1939 September 29th - (Great Britain)
The National Registration exercise resulted in the issue of a personal identity card and ration book for each citizen.
1939 October 27th - (Croxley Green)
A War-time distress fund was formed by the Guildhouse General Committee and empowered to spend up to £100 to relieve local war time distress. (This would have been the Guildhouse in New Road)
1939 November 30th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Army invaded Finland.
1940 January 1st - (Great Britian)
The rationing of basic food items commenced in January 1940. The scheme was introduced to ensure everyone had a fair share at a time of national shortage. Citizens had to register with their preferred local supplier who then was allocated quantities of supplies. Eventually rationing was extended to include most food items plus clothing and furniture.
1940 January 1st - (Croxley Green)
With the housing growth in the 1930’s Croxley Green, more shops opened in the Watford Road and New Road as well as those located on Scots Hill. These were conveniently located to serve the residents. Very little could be obtained without surrendering the necessary coupon(s) from an individual’s ration book which could vary in colour. Adults had a buff-colour, pregnant women or nursing mothers and children under five had green books. The latter were given priority for fruit, a daily pint of milk and a double supply of eggs (if available). This also applied to children between five and sixteen who had blue books.
This is a typical weekly food ration for an adult: Bacon & Ham 4 oz + Other meat value of 1 shilling and
2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops) – Butter 2 oz - Cheese 2 oz – Margarine 4 oz - Cooking fat 4 oz – Milk 3 pints - Sugar 8 oz - Preserves 1 lb every 2 months -Tea 2 oz - Eggs 1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg) -Sweets 12 oz every 4 weeks (however, they were not plentiful and there was little choice)
1940 April 9th - (Germany)
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
1940 May 10th - (Great Britain)
Neville Chamberlain had struggled on as Prime Minister but now resigns. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
1940 May 10th - (Germany)
Germany invaded Holland and Belgium.
1940 May 12th - (Germany)
Germany entered France.
1940 May 14th - (Great Britain)
The Government broadcast a message asking for volunteers for the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) 17yrs-65yrs. The name was later changed to the HOME GUARD
1940 May 14th - (Allied Forces)
The Netherlands surrendered to Germany.
1940 May 26th - 4th June - (Allied Forces)
Operation Dynamo. More than 300,000 British and French troops are evacuated from Dunkirk to Britain
1940 May 28th - (Allied Forces)
Belgium surrendered to Germany
1940 June 10th - (Allied Forces)
Norway surrendered to Germany
1940 June 10th - (Germany)
On 11th June 1940, Italy's Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, declared war on Britain and France.
1940 June 22nd - (Allied Forces)
France surrendered to Germany
1940 July 1st - (Germany)
Hitler occupied the Channel islands.
1940 July 25th - (Great Britain)
25 July 1940: RAF Spitfire pilots scrambled for their planes and the Battle of Britain began.
1940 September - (Great Britain)
Henry Tizard was known for helping with the British development of radar. He led what became known as the Tizard Mission to the United States. The aim was to share British secret Science and Engineering plans along with secret weapon and prototype inventions that would eventually lead to the USA supporting Britain in the war.
GAS MASKS - (Great Britain)
In 1940, everyone was issued with a personal gas mask, each in its own cardboard box. It was considered an impending threat that Germany would drop poisonous gas canisters on the civilian population. Citizens were advised to carry their gas mask and their identity card at all times. Over 38 million gas masks were distributed to regional centres. Postal pillar box tops were painted with a special solution that would change colour if gas was present.
1940 July – October - (Great Britain)
The Battle of Britain. Operation Sea Lion - Hitler’s intention to invade Great Britain, initially attacking by air with the Luftwaffe, followed by troop invasion. The Germans began bombing coastal areas and British shipping operating in the English Channel. London was the next target where the raids had devastating effects on London’s buildings and residents.
RAF Fighter Command under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, was conducted from Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory, Stanmore and Uxbridge. At Uxbridge a bunker housed RAF Fighter Command's No.11 Group Operations Room and continued throughout the remainder of the war. Both Stanmore and Uxbridge playing a pivotal role - both sites now open as museums. Nearly 3,000 men of the RAF took part in the Battle of Britain – those who Winston Churchill called ‘The Few’. While most of the pilots were British, Fighter Command was an international force. Men came from all over the Commonwealth and occupied Europe – from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Belgium, France, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Some pilots came from the neutral United States and Ireland.
1940 August 12th - (Germany)
The German fighter bombers launched attacks on S/E England shortly after 9am; twenty Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighter-bombers attacked the radar stations at Dover, Rye, and Pevensey, knocking them out of action for six hours. A fourth attack on the station at Dunkirk near Canterbury caused no vital damage. While emergency repairs were being carried out another attack on RAF Lympne damaged hangers, offices, and the landing ground. Later in the day RAF Manston and Hawkinge stations on the Kent coast were also attacked. Attacks were also on made on Portsmouth Harbour, destroying the railway station, oil tanks, and shipping, and killing ninety-six navy personnel and civilians.
1940 August 23rd - (Great Britain)
Winston Churchill changed the name of the Local Defence Volunteers to the Home Guard as it was becoming more serious that there would be an invasion by the Germany army.
1940 August 19th - 31st - (Croxley Green)
Croxley Green experienced many air-raid alerts within Area D: twenty-seven were sounded between between 19th and 31st August.
1940 September- 1941 May - (Germany)
Following on from the Battle of Britain, Hitler authorised a sterner attack called The Blitz. Across the UK, towns and cities were subjected to German bombing raids which, over the course of eight months, resulted in 43,500 deaths of innocent civilians.
1940 September 7th - (Germany)
The lightning war began on what became known as “Black Saturday”, 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe launched its attack on London. In just one night, London suffered approximately 450 fatalities and around 1,500 injured. Nearly 350 German bombers (escorted by over 600 fighters) dropped explosives on East London, targeting the docks in particular. The intention was to completely destabilise the economic backbone of London which included docks, factories, warehouses and railway lines, in a bid to destroy and weaken the infrastructure. Many more children were evacuated to homes around the country in a bid to protect them from the dangers of the Blitz.
1940 September 25th - (Croxley Green)
During the night of the 25th September, on the 93rd alert of the month, two parachute mines fell and exploded near All Saints Church. No one was killed but seven of the thirteen casualties required hospital treatment.
The massive explosions caused considerable damage to the church, church hall and other property. Eight houses were destroyed and three hundred and fifty-eight sustained damage. A mile away in Rickmansworth at 80 High Street the shop window of ‘The Fifty Shilling Tailors ’was broken by the blast.
1940 September 29th - (Croxley Green)
An oil bomb and two high explosive bombs destroyed seven houses and damaged two others near to the Metropolitan Railway station. No one was hurt. It was witnessed that an oil bomb landed in a garden well.
1940 October 13th/14th - (Croxley Green)
Incendiary bombs fell on Common Moor, Lincoln Way, Rochester Way and Winton Crescent. They were dealt with by the Wardens.
1940 October 18th - (Croxley Green)
George Ricketts, a 102 yr old resident, died. He lived 94 New Road. His occupation had been a Tortoiseshell worker.
1940 - 1941 Winter - (Local Area)
During the winter of 1940-41, scientists at the BRE (Building Research Institute, Garston) began discussing ways to attack German dams in the Ruhr Valley. Along with the RRL (Road Research Laboratory) and under the direction of Barnes Neville Wallis, they constructed a 1/50 scale model of the Möhne Dam on a secluded part of the BRE site. The operation was top secret and named “Weir No.1”. It can still be seen there today.
1941 March - (Great Britain)
Ellen Wilkinson was made responsible for the introduction of the Morrison shelter, named after the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison. The frame was made of very heavy steel with wired sides. Intended to be erected in the living room it could double up as a table. An opening on one side, when lifted, enabled space for 2/3 for people to crawl underneath and provided sleeping space overnight.
1941 March 29th - (Croxley Green)
From the Herts & Essex Observer:-
The value of an Evacuees Club and Play Centre at Croxley Green set up by the Rickmansworth Urban District Council referred to in a news item by Eastern Ministry of Aviation.
The centre not only enables evacuees to spend their spare time usefully, but it also gives relief to householders whose homes are fuller than normal times.
The club facilities include knitting, reading, cake making and the evacuees provide and serve their own tea. The profits on the teas have been spent on wool and embroidery materials. A Committee has been responsible for the organisation of games and competitions, and auditions are taking place in preparation for the formation of a concert party. Another feature of the Centre is a birthday and sick club, which is run by the members.
1941 May 1st - (Great Britain)
Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country outside London, due to the city, along with Birkenhead, being the largest port on the west coast and of significant importance to the British war effort.
1941 May 26th - (Great Britain)
BATTLE of the Atlantic - HMS Hood sank the German ship Bismark at Tirpitz, Tromso fjord, Norway. Churchill called it ‘The Beast ‘ as it had intercepted and sunk many ships carrying essential food for Britain.
1941 June - (Croxley Green)
At an ‘At Home’ at the Methodist Church, New Road this month, £82 7s 10d had been raised towards the damage caused by the bombing the previous year. £200 was required in total.
1941 June 22nd - (Germany)
Operation Barbarossa- Hitler invaded Russia
1941 November 13th - (Germany)
HMS Ark Royal sunk by a German U boat U81 off Gibraltar. Built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, and completed in November 1938, the aircraft carrier was torpedoed and sank the following day.
1941 December 7th (Japan)
Japanese aircraft attacked American ships in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
The destroyer USS Shaw exploded in dry dock, after being hit.
1941 December 11th - (Germany)
Hitler declared war on the United States of America.
1942 February 8th - February15th
The Fall of Singapore took place. Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8th to 15th February.
Singapore was the foremost British military base and an economic port in South-East Asia.
1942 February 20th - (Croxley Green)
The A rtichoke P H, it was reported in the newspaper, Mr H T Mayor the publican for the past 8 years who had taken over from his uncle, ran the quaint public house on The Green. In his saloon there was an array of ancient pistols and blunderbusses of the type used by Dick Turpin (a highwayman), muskets, warming pans and decorative pottery. In another room, relics of the Zulu War, gruesome spears and hide shields. The guests entering the establishment were greeted by the WHITE COCKATOO with a cheery “ALLO”
1942 April - (Local Area)
A scene was described between a foreman and a lorry driver at a Watford war factory after the latter had been reproached for smoking in a sawmill. The lorry driver was fined £2 for assaulting William Aspinall of Croxley Green on 21st March.
1942 July - (Croxley Green)
From July 1942 householders were asked to register with a specific milk supplier. Croxley Green residents were fortunate that the village had several small farms with dairy herds and could deliver the milk locally. There were times when fresh milk was not always available in the quantity that most families would prefer. Extra supplies of ‘dried’ milk could be obtained in canisters labelled ‘Nation Dried Milk’. The powder once reconstituted with water, was suitable for making cakes and puddings, but was not recommended as a cold drink, or to be given to young babies or infants!
1942 September 18th - (Croxley Green)
A newspaper reported Mr Victor William Thomas Spinks of Sherborne Way Croxley Green was summoned to Uxbridge Court for not having control over a motor cycle. Mr Spinks was seated close to the handlebars, a female sat on the saddle, another person on the pillion seat and the 4th person on the mudguard! He was seen travelling at 50mph along the Western Avenue. He stated he had been doing it for a ‘lark’. He was fined 40 shillings.
1942 October 23th - 11th November - (Germany)
A second Battle of Alamein was fought in the Egyptian desert between Germany/Italy led by General Rommel, and the British Eighth Army led by General Montgomery, who won the battle.
1942 July 17th - 2nd February 1943 - (Soviet Union)
Soviet Russia successfully defended Stalingrad preventing the German troops advancing further into Russia.
1943 March 26th - (Croxley Green)
The Kensington Progressive Ramblers Club began their annual walk this year from Croxley Green. Their route led from the spacious Green continuing through the neighbouring countryside with lunch at Chandlers Cross. They then advanced to Kings Langley for afternoon tea, before returning via Cassiobury Park to the Watford Metropolitan railway station and homeward.
1943 April 28th - (Croxley Green)
Several Land Army girls in Croxley Green were suspended for a day, because they arrived at 8.15 am. The local farmer told them their starting time was 8 am and if they did not arrive on time, he had no further need of their services. The girls replied that their working day should start when they left their Billets at 8 o’clock. The time it took to cycle to the farm should come out of their working day. One girl said, that up to 2 weeks ago she was working 15 miles away from her Hostel, and that would mean she would have had to leave at 6.45am, to arrive at 8 am! The West Herts Golf Club was used as a hostel.
1943 May 16th - 17th - (Great Britain)
RAF 617 Squadron left Scampton for the Ruhr Valley dams, Möhne, Eder and the Sorpe, using the ‘bouncing bomb’ to impact each dam. The Möhne and the Eder were both successfully breached, while the Sorpe was damaged but not destroyed. 19 crews that had set out on the raid, 8 did not return.
1943 July - (Great Britain)
Bill (William) Tutte a codebreaker at Bletchley Park identified and decrypted messages between the German High Command using their Lorenz-enciphered messages, code name Tunny.
1943 October 2nd - (Croxley Green)
It was reported that Mr. C Manders of Croxley Green had successfully grown 99 TOMATOES on one outdoor plant. The 1939 Register shows this could be Cyril Manders, 229 Baldwins Lane. Cyril’s occupation, a Printing Machine Minder, possibly at the local Sun Printers in Whippendell Road. Cyril is also described as an A.R.P. warden.
1943 October 13th - (Croxley Green)
Mr. John Theodore Tussaud, The Hawthorns, 17 New Road died on this day, in his 86th year. He was the director of Madame Tussaud & Sons’ Exhibition, London. Mr. Tussaud was the great grandson of Madame Tussaud, founder of the exhibition.
1944 January 2nd - (Croxley Green)
Marie Scherz 38 years old, a dressmaker from Vienna living in Beechcroft Avenue, Croxley Green shot and murdered Air-craftsman Francis William Turner on his doorstep, in Franklyn Road, Willesden, Middlesex. She later appeared at the Old Bailey, London, where she pleaded Not Guilty. She stated she had not meant to kill him although she had fired 8 shots, 4 hitting Mr Turner. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
1944 February 19th - (Croxley Green)
On the night of February 19th 1944 a second parachute bomb fell near Scots Hill almost 150yds from where the parachute mine had fallen in 1940. The bomb exploded on an outhouse causing 25 casualties of which 7 were serious but none fatal. The blast affected 210 houses and 7, including the Gospel Hall, were demolished.
1944 April 9th -15th May - (Croxley Green)
In February 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), a joint U.S. - British military organisation, was created in England to carry out the invasion of Western Europe. The British side was commanded by Lt Col Langley and his deputy was Major Airey Neave. The British section, with origins in M19, and their American counterpart M.I S. X., met from the 9th April until 1st May 1944 at CROXLEY HOUSE, and would be known jointly as IS9 (WEA). They continued the talks at Fulmer House, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, leading to the planning of the D Day Normandy landings.
1944 April 21st - (Croxley Green)
The Bucks Examiner reported Mr J Greenwell of Croxley Green was a judge for the CHESHAM & DISTRICT RABBIT CLUB at the British Legion Hall in aid of the Red Cross Agricultural Fund. It was stated he carried out his duties most efficiently. At the conclusion Mr Greenwell sold 4 rabbits on behalf of the Red Cross, swelling the amount realised by 27 shillings and 6 pence.
The 1939 Register shows this may have been John T Greenwell, 87 New Road.
1944 June 6th - (Allied Forces)
D Day /Overlord, the combined forces landed on the Normandy beaches. The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD. The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies, landed on D-Day.
1944 June 24th - (Croxley Green)
Following the marriage of Leonard Newby and Violet Stacey at St Paul’s Hounslow, Middlesex, and their reception at the Co- operative Hall, Hounslow, the couple decided to have their HONEYMOON IN CROXLEY GREEN.
1944 July 20th - (Germany)
A plot to murder Adolf Hitler failed. A briefcase containing two bombs was placed under a table at Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia (the “Wolf’s Lair”). They were intended to target Hitler but the first bomb missed him and the second bomb failed to explode.
1944 September 17th - (Great Britain)
10,000 paratroopers left R A F Barkston Heath, Lincolnshire for Arnhem, Holland, occupied by the German Nazis. This was one of the most daring operations in WW2, involving destroying bridges on the Rhine. Fewer than 3,000 returned. Talks for this operation were known to have taken place at Moor Park Mansion Rickmansworth
1945 January 27th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on January 27th, 1945.
1945 February 4th - 11th - (Germany)
A conference was held in Yalta, Crimea, with Allied Leaders known as The Big Three. President Franklin D Roosevelt USA, Prime Minister Winston Churchill Chief Allied leader and Premier Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union, met to discuss plans to finally defeat Nazi Germany
1945 March - (Croxley Green)
Mr G Snashall, a Gunner-Surveyor, of Croxley Green, whilst out in Burma (now Myammar) was a member of a Swing Quartet, entertaining his fellow army comrades.
1945 April - (Great Britain)
In anticipation that the war in Europe was coming to an end, a booklet was produced by the War Cabinet and sent to government departments providing details about the measures they should take in the days after hostilities ceased in Europe. It was designed to have any necessary decisions and preparations in place in readiness for when this happened.
1945 April 3rd - (Great Britain)
On 3rd April 1945, at a meeting of the War Cabinet, the Home Secretary and the Minister of Home Security set out arrangements for celebrating V.E. Day. They recommended that the announcement should be made by sounding the ‘All Clear’, the alarm used to signal safety after nearby bombing, for three minutes. It was recommended it should occur at 11am, recalling the two-minute silence held on Remembrance Day.
1945 April 30th - (Great Britain)
A letter was sent to Local Authorities from the Home Office encouraging them to make their own arrangements for the celebration of the end of hostilities in Europe. However, it was stressed that the war in Europe was not the end of the conflict, until the war in the Far East had been concluded.
1945 April 15th - (Allied Forces)
British Forces liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15th April 1945.
1945 April 28th - (Germany)
Mussolini, the Italian leader, was executed in Giulino
1945 April 30th - (Germany
Adolf Hitler and his long term partner Eva Braun committed suicide.
1945 May 4th - (Germany)
Led by Hans Georg Von Friedburg Germany initially surrendered at a press conference in the presence of Field Marshal Montgomery
1945 May 7th - (Germany)
Germany surrendered unconditionally
1945 May 8th - (Croxley Green)
V E Day in Europe. Following this news people began to celebrate and cities, towns and villages came together planning their celebrations over the next few days. Croxley Green held a parade on The Green and Street parties were arranged. Many roads and streets in Croxley Green built in the past 10 years, saw new families come together; despite there being a shortage of food they created celebratory teas for the children.
1945 May 8th - (Croxley Green)
Mr Samuel Ingleby Oddie, a London coroner for 27years who conducted over 30,000 inquests during his career, died at his home in Chess Side, Copthorne Road. 1945 June 29th FOR SALE: Croxley Green, Modern semi-detached house with 3 bedrooms, 2 reception, 3 bedrooms, bathroom, excellent garden, close to station, convenient to shops, Vacant possession, freehold, £1,800. Christopher Rowland, Rickmansworth. Listed in The Advertiser and Gazette,
1945 August 6th - (Allied Forces)
The United States of America dropped an atomic bomb onHiroshima. Approximately 80,000 + people died immediately and over the next months several more thousand died from the effects.
1945 August 9th - (Allied Forces)
The United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Over 40,000 people died instantly and many more thousand over the following months.
1945 August 15th - (Japan)
Japan surrendered. Emperor Hirohito issued a proclamation to the Japanese people that they should accept the decision to surrender, and every effort was made to persuade them to accept the defeat that they had come to regard as unthinkable.
1933 - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler became Chancellor of Germany, revoked the 1919 Treaty of Versailles and began re-arming Germany, aiming to reunite all German people into one nation. He resigned from the LEAGUE OF NATIONS, an intergovernmental organization founded in 1920 following World War I, aimed at promoting international cooperation and preventing future wars.
1933 - (Japan)
Japan also resigned from the LEAGUE OF NATIONS
1935 July 9th - (Great Britain)
The Home Office was charged with public protection and issued a circular to local authorities. They were required to set up and recruit Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) services
1936 - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler united Germany with Austria
1937 December - (Great Britain)
The Air Raid Precautions (A.R.P.) Act was passed in the British Parliament. It was set up to protect civilians from the danger of air raids. Every local council was responsible for organising ARP wardens, messengers, ambulance drivers, rescue parties, and liaison with police and fire brigades.
1938 March - (Germany)
Adolf Hitler sent German troops into the Rhineland
1938 September 15th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler at his residence Berchtesgaden to discuss peace.
1938 September 22th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler at Godesberg to discuss peace.
1938 September 29th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain met Adolf Hitler in Munich to discuss peace.
1938 September 30th - (Great Britain)
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain returned with a signed document declaring ‘Peace in our time’
1939 March 15th - (Germany)
German troops took over the rest of Czechoslovakia.
1939 August 11th - (Croxley Green)
An appeal by Ellendell Holdings Ltd against Rickmansworth Urban Council to sanction a sports stadium and greyhound racing track between the LMS railway line and the canal at Croxley Green was the subject of a Ministry of Health inquiry on Thursday, published in The Advertiser and Gazette. (This area is Common Moor)
1939 September 1st - (Germany)
Germany Invaded Poland
1939 September 1st - (Great Britain)
From 1 September 1939, ARP wardens enforced the "Blackout". Heavy curtains and shutters were required on all private residences, commercial premises, and factories to prevent light escaping and so making them a possible marker for enemy bombers to locate their targets. They later came under the title Civil Defence.
1939 September 1st - (Croxley Green)
Evacuee children arrived in Croxley Green.
1939 September 3rd - (Great Britain)
Neville Chamberlain, speaking via a wireless message, informed the British people that Great Britain was ‘now at war with Germany’. Chamberlain had flown to Germany in 1938 on 3 separate occasions to find a solution and obtained an international agreement that Hitler should have the Sudetenland in exchange for Germany making no further demands for land in Europe. Chamberlain said it was ‘Peace for our time’.
1939 September 3rd - (Allied Forces)
Canada, Australia, France and South Africa declared war on Germany
1939 September 17th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Union invaded Poland from the East
1939 September 23rd - (Croxley Green)
Harry Brown of Barton Way Croxley Green was summoned for exceeding the speed limit of 20mph at Crawley. PC Winton said the defendant’s speed was 29-30 mph in the London Road. Defendant had a large lorry laden with 12 tons of timber. A fine of £2 was imposed as reported in the Sussex & Surrey Courier. Harry [Harold] Brown lived at 28 Barton Way, according to the 1939 register which describes him as a Heavy Motor Transporter. He was 28 years old)
1939 September 29th - (Great Britain)
The National Registration exercise resulted in the issue of a personal identity card and ration book for each citizen.
1939 October 27th - (Croxley Green)
A War-time distress fund was formed by the Guildhouse General Committee and empowered to spend up to £100 to relieve local war time distress. (This would have been the Guildhouse in New Road)
1939 November 30th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Army invaded Finland.
1940 January 1st - (Great Britian)
The rationing of basic food items commenced in January 1940. The scheme was introduced to ensure everyone had a fair share at a time of national shortage. Citizens had to register with their preferred local supplier who then was allocated quantities of supplies. Eventually rationing was extended to include most food items plus clothing and furniture.
1940 January 1st - (Croxley Green)
With the housing growth in the 1930’s Croxley Green, more shops opened in the Watford Road and New Road as well as those located on Scots Hill. These were conveniently located to serve the residents. Very little could be obtained without surrendering the necessary coupon(s) from an individual’s ration book which could vary in colour. Adults had a buff-colour, pregnant women or nursing mothers and children under five had green books. The latter were given priority for fruit, a daily pint of milk and a double supply of eggs (if available). This also applied to children between five and sixteen who had blue books.
This is a typical weekly food ration for an adult: Bacon & Ham 4 oz + Other meat value of 1 shilling and
2 pence (equivalent to 2 chops) – Butter 2 oz - Cheese 2 oz – Margarine 4 oz - Cooking fat 4 oz – Milk 3 pints - Sugar 8 oz - Preserves 1 lb every 2 months -Tea 2 oz - Eggs 1 fresh egg (plus allowance of dried egg) -Sweets 12 oz every 4 weeks (however, they were not plentiful and there was little choice)
1940 April 9th - (Germany)
Germany invaded Denmark and Norway.
1940 May 10th - (Great Britain)
Neville Chamberlain had struggled on as Prime Minister but now resigns. Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.
1940 May 10th - (Germany)
Germany invaded Holland and Belgium.
1940 May 12th - (Germany)
Germany entered France.
1940 May 14th - (Great Britain)
The Government broadcast a message asking for volunteers for the Local Defence Volunteers (LDV) 17yrs-65yrs. The name was later changed to the HOME GUARD
1940 May 14th - (Allied Forces)
The Netherlands surrendered to Germany.
1940 May 26th - 4th June - (Allied Forces)
Operation Dynamo. More than 300,000 British and French troops are evacuated from Dunkirk to Britain
1940 May 28th - (Allied Forces)
Belgium surrendered to Germany
1940 June 10th - (Allied Forces)
Norway surrendered to Germany
1940 June 10th - (Germany)
On 11th June 1940, Italy's Fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, declared war on Britain and France.
1940 June 22nd - (Allied Forces)
France surrendered to Germany
1940 July 1st - (Germany)
Hitler occupied the Channel islands.
1940 July 25th - (Great Britain)
25 July 1940: RAF Spitfire pilots scrambled for their planes and the Battle of Britain began.
1940 September - (Great Britain)
Henry Tizard was known for helping with the British development of radar. He led what became known as the Tizard Mission to the United States. The aim was to share British secret Science and Engineering plans along with secret weapon and prototype inventions that would eventually lead to the USA supporting Britain in the war.
GAS MASKS - (Great Britain)
In 1940, everyone was issued with a personal gas mask, each in its own cardboard box. It was considered an impending threat that Germany would drop poisonous gas canisters on the civilian population. Citizens were advised to carry their gas mask and their identity card at all times. Over 38 million gas masks were distributed to regional centres. Postal pillar box tops were painted with a special solution that would change colour if gas was present.
1940 July – October - (Great Britain)
The Battle of Britain. Operation Sea Lion - Hitler’s intention to invade Great Britain, initially attacking by air with the Luftwaffe, followed by troop invasion. The Germans began bombing coastal areas and British shipping operating in the English Channel. London was the next target where the raids had devastating effects on London’s buildings and residents.
RAF Fighter Command under the leadership of Air Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, was conducted from Fighter Command Headquarters at Bentley Priory, Stanmore and Uxbridge. At Uxbridge a bunker housed RAF Fighter Command's No.11 Group Operations Room and continued throughout the remainder of the war. Both Stanmore and Uxbridge playing a pivotal role - both sites now open as museums. Nearly 3,000 men of the RAF took part in the Battle of Britain – those who Winston Churchill called ‘The Few’. While most of the pilots were British, Fighter Command was an international force. Men came from all over the Commonwealth and occupied Europe – from New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), Belgium, France, Poland and Czechoslovakia. Some pilots came from the neutral United States and Ireland.
1940 August 12th - (Germany)
The German fighter bombers launched attacks on S/E England shortly after 9am; twenty Bf 109 and Bf 110 fighter-bombers attacked the radar stations at Dover, Rye, and Pevensey, knocking them out of action for six hours. A fourth attack on the station at Dunkirk near Canterbury caused no vital damage. While emergency repairs were being carried out another attack on RAF Lympne damaged hangers, offices, and the landing ground. Later in the day RAF Manston and Hawkinge stations on the Kent coast were also attacked. Attacks were also on made on Portsmouth Harbour, destroying the railway station, oil tanks, and shipping, and killing ninety-six navy personnel and civilians.
1940 August 23rd - (Great Britain)
Winston Churchill changed the name of the Local Defence Volunteers to the Home Guard as it was becoming more serious that there would be an invasion by the Germany army.
1940 August 19th - 31st - (Croxley Green)
Croxley Green experienced many air-raid alerts within Area D: twenty-seven were sounded between between 19th and 31st August.
1940 September- 1941 May - (Germany)
Following on from the Battle of Britain, Hitler authorised a sterner attack called The Blitz. Across the UK, towns and cities were subjected to German bombing raids which, over the course of eight months, resulted in 43,500 deaths of innocent civilians.
1940 September 7th - (Germany)
The lightning war began on what became known as “Black Saturday”, 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe launched its attack on London. In just one night, London suffered approximately 450 fatalities and around 1,500 injured. Nearly 350 German bombers (escorted by over 600 fighters) dropped explosives on East London, targeting the docks in particular. The intention was to completely destabilise the economic backbone of London which included docks, factories, warehouses and railway lines, in a bid to destroy and weaken the infrastructure. Many more children were evacuated to homes around the country in a bid to protect them from the dangers of the Blitz.
1940 September 25th - (Croxley Green)
During the night of the 25th September, on the 93rd alert of the month, two parachute mines fell and exploded near All Saints Church. No one was killed but seven of the thirteen casualties required hospital treatment.
The massive explosions caused considerable damage to the church, church hall and other property. Eight houses were destroyed and three hundred and fifty-eight sustained damage. A mile away in Rickmansworth at 80 High Street the shop window of ‘The Fifty Shilling Tailors ’was broken by the blast.
1940 September 29th - (Croxley Green)
An oil bomb and two high explosive bombs destroyed seven houses and damaged two others near to the Metropolitan Railway station. No one was hurt. It was witnessed that an oil bomb landed in a garden well.
1940 October 13th/14th - (Croxley Green)
Incendiary bombs fell on Common Moor, Lincoln Way, Rochester Way and Winton Crescent. They were dealt with by the Wardens.
1940 October 18th - (Croxley Green)
George Ricketts, a 102 yr old resident, died. He lived 94 New Road. His occupation had been a Tortoiseshell worker.
1940 - 1941 Winter - (Local Area)
During the winter of 1940-41, scientists at the BRE (Building Research Institute, Garston) began discussing ways to attack German dams in the Ruhr Valley. Along with the RRL (Road Research Laboratory) and under the direction of Barnes Neville Wallis, they constructed a 1/50 scale model of the Möhne Dam on a secluded part of the BRE site. The operation was top secret and named “Weir No.1”. It can still be seen there today.
1941 March - (Great Britain)
Ellen Wilkinson was made responsible for the introduction of the Morrison shelter, named after the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison. The frame was made of very heavy steel with wired sides. Intended to be erected in the living room it could double up as a table. An opening on one side, when lifted, enabled space for 2/3 for people to crawl underneath and provided sleeping space overnight.
1941 March 29th - (Croxley Green)
From the Herts & Essex Observer:-
The value of an Evacuees Club and Play Centre at Croxley Green set up by the Rickmansworth Urban District Council referred to in a news item by Eastern Ministry of Aviation.
The centre not only enables evacuees to spend their spare time usefully, but it also gives relief to householders whose homes are fuller than normal times.
The club facilities include knitting, reading, cake making and the evacuees provide and serve their own tea. The profits on the teas have been spent on wool and embroidery materials. A Committee has been responsible for the organisation of games and competitions, and auditions are taking place in preparation for the formation of a concert party. Another feature of the Centre is a birthday and sick club, which is run by the members.
1941 May 1st - (Great Britain)
Liverpool was the most heavily bombed area of the country outside London, due to the city, along with Birkenhead, being the largest port on the west coast and of significant importance to the British war effort.
1941 May 26th - (Great Britain)
BATTLE of the Atlantic - HMS Hood sank the German ship Bismark at Tirpitz, Tromso fjord, Norway. Churchill called it ‘The Beast ‘ as it had intercepted and sunk many ships carrying essential food for Britain.
1941 June - (Croxley Green)
At an ‘At Home’ at the Methodist Church, New Road this month, £82 7s 10d had been raised towards the damage caused by the bombing the previous year. £200 was required in total.
1941 June 22nd - (Germany)
Operation Barbarossa- Hitler invaded Russia
1941 November 13th - (Germany)
HMS Ark Royal sunk by a German U boat U81 off Gibraltar. Built by Cammell Laird, Birkenhead, and completed in November 1938, the aircraft carrier was torpedoed and sank the following day.
1941 December 7th (Japan)
Japanese aircraft attacked American ships in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii.
The destroyer USS Shaw exploded in dry dock, after being hit.
1941 December 11th - (Germany)
Hitler declared war on the United States of America.
1942 February 8th - February15th
The Fall of Singapore took place. Japan captured the British stronghold of Singapore, with fighting lasting from 8th to 15th February.
Singapore was the foremost British military base and an economic port in South-East Asia.
1942 February 20th - (Croxley Green)
The A rtichoke P H, it was reported in the newspaper, Mr H T Mayor the publican for the past 8 years who had taken over from his uncle, ran the quaint public house on The Green. In his saloon there was an array of ancient pistols and blunderbusses of the type used by Dick Turpin (a highwayman), muskets, warming pans and decorative pottery. In another room, relics of the Zulu War, gruesome spears and hide shields. The guests entering the establishment were greeted by the WHITE COCKATOO with a cheery “ALLO”
1942 April - (Local Area)
A scene was described between a foreman and a lorry driver at a Watford war factory after the latter had been reproached for smoking in a sawmill. The lorry driver was fined £2 for assaulting William Aspinall of Croxley Green on 21st March.
1942 July - (Croxley Green)
From July 1942 householders were asked to register with a specific milk supplier. Croxley Green residents were fortunate that the village had several small farms with dairy herds and could deliver the milk locally. There were times when fresh milk was not always available in the quantity that most families would prefer. Extra supplies of ‘dried’ milk could be obtained in canisters labelled ‘Nation Dried Milk’. The powder once reconstituted with water, was suitable for making cakes and puddings, but was not recommended as a cold drink, or to be given to young babies or infants!
1942 September 18th - (Croxley Green)
A newspaper reported Mr Victor William Thomas Spinks of Sherborne Way Croxley Green was summoned to Uxbridge Court for not having control over a motor cycle. Mr Spinks was seated close to the handlebars, a female sat on the saddle, another person on the pillion seat and the 4th person on the mudguard! He was seen travelling at 50mph along the Western Avenue. He stated he had been doing it for a ‘lark’. He was fined 40 shillings.
1942 October 23th - 11th November - (Germany)
A second Battle of Alamein was fought in the Egyptian desert between Germany/Italy led by General Rommel, and the British Eighth Army led by General Montgomery, who won the battle.
1942 July 17th - 2nd February 1943 - (Soviet Union)
Soviet Russia successfully defended Stalingrad preventing the German troops advancing further into Russia.
1943 March 26th - (Croxley Green)
The Kensington Progressive Ramblers Club began their annual walk this year from Croxley Green. Their route led from the spacious Green continuing through the neighbouring countryside with lunch at Chandlers Cross. They then advanced to Kings Langley for afternoon tea, before returning via Cassiobury Park to the Watford Metropolitan railway station and homeward.
1943 April 28th - (Croxley Green)
Several Land Army girls in Croxley Green were suspended for a day, because they arrived at 8.15 am. The local farmer told them their starting time was 8 am and if they did not arrive on time, he had no further need of their services. The girls replied that their working day should start when they left their Billets at 8 o’clock. The time it took to cycle to the farm should come out of their working day. One girl said, that up to 2 weeks ago she was working 15 miles away from her Hostel, and that would mean she would have had to leave at 6.45am, to arrive at 8 am! The West Herts Golf Club was used as a hostel.
1943 May 16th - 17th - (Great Britain)
RAF 617 Squadron left Scampton for the Ruhr Valley dams, Möhne, Eder and the Sorpe, using the ‘bouncing bomb’ to impact each dam. The Möhne and the Eder were both successfully breached, while the Sorpe was damaged but not destroyed. 19 crews that had set out on the raid, 8 did not return.
1943 July - (Great Britain)
Bill (William) Tutte a codebreaker at Bletchley Park identified and decrypted messages between the German High Command using their Lorenz-enciphered messages, code name Tunny.
1943 October 2nd - (Croxley Green)
It was reported that Mr. C Manders of Croxley Green had successfully grown 99 TOMATOES on one outdoor plant. The 1939 Register shows this could be Cyril Manders, 229 Baldwins Lane. Cyril’s occupation, a Printing Machine Minder, possibly at the local Sun Printers in Whippendell Road. Cyril is also described as an A.R.P. warden.
1943 October 13th - (Croxley Green)
Mr. John Theodore Tussaud, The Hawthorns, 17 New Road died on this day, in his 86th year. He was the director of Madame Tussaud & Sons’ Exhibition, London. Mr. Tussaud was the great grandson of Madame Tussaud, founder of the exhibition.
1944 January 2nd - (Croxley Green)
Marie Scherz 38 years old, a dressmaker from Vienna living in Beechcroft Avenue, Croxley Green shot and murdered Air-craftsman Francis William Turner on his doorstep, in Franklyn Road, Willesden, Middlesex. She later appeared at the Old Bailey, London, where she pleaded Not Guilty. She stated she had not meant to kill him although she had fired 8 shots, 4 hitting Mr Turner. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
1944 February 19th - (Croxley Green)
On the night of February 19th 1944 a second parachute bomb fell near Scots Hill almost 150yds from where the parachute mine had fallen in 1940. The bomb exploded on an outhouse causing 25 casualties of which 7 were serious but none fatal. The blast affected 210 houses and 7, including the Gospel Hall, were demolished.
1944 April 9th -15th May - (Croxley Green)
In February 1944 the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (SHAEF), a joint U.S. - British military organisation, was created in England to carry out the invasion of Western Europe. The British side was commanded by Lt Col Langley and his deputy was Major Airey Neave. The British section, with origins in M19, and their American counterpart M.I S. X., met from the 9th April until 1st May 1944 at CROXLEY HOUSE, and would be known jointly as IS9 (WEA). They continued the talks at Fulmer House, Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, leading to the planning of the D Day Normandy landings.
1944 April 21st - (Croxley Green)
The Bucks Examiner reported Mr J Greenwell of Croxley Green was a judge for the CHESHAM & DISTRICT RABBIT CLUB at the British Legion Hall in aid of the Red Cross Agricultural Fund. It was stated he carried out his duties most efficiently. At the conclusion Mr Greenwell sold 4 rabbits on behalf of the Red Cross, swelling the amount realised by 27 shillings and 6 pence.
The 1939 Register shows this may have been John T Greenwell, 87 New Road.
1944 June 6th - (Allied Forces)
D Day /Overlord, the combined forces landed on the Normandy beaches. The D-Day operation of June 6, 1944, brought together the land, air, and sea forces of the allied armies in what became known as the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The operation, given the codename OVERLORD, delivered five naval assault divisions to the beaches of Normandy, France. The beaches were given the code names UTAH, OMAHA, GOLD, JUNO, and SWORD. The invasion force included 7,000 ships and landing craft manned by over 195,000 naval personnel from eight allied countries. Almost 133,000 troops from the United States, the British Commonwealth, and their allies, landed on D-Day.
1944 June 24th - (Croxley Green)
Following the marriage of Leonard Newby and Violet Stacey at St Paul’s Hounslow, Middlesex, and their reception at the Co- operative Hall, Hounslow, the couple decided to have their HONEYMOON IN CROXLEY GREEN.
1944 July 20th - (Germany)
A plot to murder Adolf Hitler failed. A briefcase containing two bombs was placed under a table at Hitler’s headquarters in East Prussia (the “Wolf’s Lair”). They were intended to target Hitler but the first bomb missed him and the second bomb failed to explode.
1944 September 17th - (Great Britain)
10,000 paratroopers left R A F Barkston Heath, Lincolnshire for Arnhem, Holland, occupied by the German Nazis. This was one of the most daring operations in WW2, involving destroying bridges on the Rhine. Fewer than 3,000 returned. Talks for this operation were known to have taken place at Moor Park Mansion Rickmansworth
1945 January 27th - (Soviet Union)
The Soviet Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in Poland on January 27th, 1945.
1945 February 4th - 11th - (Germany)
A conference was held in Yalta, Crimea, with Allied Leaders known as The Big Three. President Franklin D Roosevelt USA, Prime Minister Winston Churchill Chief Allied leader and Premier Joseph Stalin, Soviet Union, met to discuss plans to finally defeat Nazi Germany
1945 March - (Croxley Green)
Mr G Snashall, a Gunner-Surveyor, of Croxley Green, whilst out in Burma (now Myammar) was a member of a Swing Quartet, entertaining his fellow army comrades.
1945 April - (Great Britain)
In anticipation that the war in Europe was coming to an end, a booklet was produced by the War Cabinet and sent to government departments providing details about the measures they should take in the days after hostilities ceased in Europe. It was designed to have any necessary decisions and preparations in place in readiness for when this happened.
1945 April 3rd - (Great Britain)
On 3rd April 1945, at a meeting of the War Cabinet, the Home Secretary and the Minister of Home Security set out arrangements for celebrating V.E. Day. They recommended that the announcement should be made by sounding the ‘All Clear’, the alarm used to signal safety after nearby bombing, for three minutes. It was recommended it should occur at 11am, recalling the two-minute silence held on Remembrance Day.
1945 April 30th - (Great Britain)
A letter was sent to Local Authorities from the Home Office encouraging them to make their own arrangements for the celebration of the end of hostilities in Europe. However, it was stressed that the war in Europe was not the end of the conflict, until the war in the Far East had been concluded.
1945 April 15th - (Allied Forces)
British Forces liberated Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on 15th April 1945.
1945 April 28th - (Germany)
Mussolini, the Italian leader, was executed in Giulino
1945 April 30th - (Germany
Adolf Hitler and his long term partner Eva Braun committed suicide.
1945 May 4th - (Germany)
Led by Hans Georg Von Friedburg Germany initially surrendered at a press conference in the presence of Field Marshal Montgomery
1945 May 7th - (Germany)
Germany surrendered unconditionally
1945 May 8th - (Croxley Green)
V E Day in Europe. Following this news people began to celebrate and cities, towns and villages came together planning their celebrations over the next few days. Croxley Green held a parade on The Green and Street parties were arranged. Many roads and streets in Croxley Green built in the past 10 years, saw new families come together; despite there being a shortage of food they created celebratory teas for the children.
1945 May 8th - (Croxley Green)
Mr Samuel Ingleby Oddie, a London coroner for 27years who conducted over 30,000 inquests during his career, died at his home in Chess Side, Copthorne Road. 1945 June 29th FOR SALE: Croxley Green, Modern semi-detached house with 3 bedrooms, 2 reception, 3 bedrooms, bathroom, excellent garden, close to station, convenient to shops, Vacant possession, freehold, £1,800. Christopher Rowland, Rickmansworth. Listed in The Advertiser and Gazette,
1945 August 6th - (Allied Forces)
The United States of America dropped an atomic bomb onHiroshima. Approximately 80,000 + people died immediately and over the next months several more thousand died from the effects.
1945 August 9th - (Allied Forces)
The United States of America dropped an atomic bomb on Nagasaki. Over 40,000 people died instantly and many more thousand over the following months.
1945 August 15th - (Japan)
Japan surrendered. Emperor Hirohito issued a proclamation to the Japanese people that they should accept the decision to surrender, and every effort was made to persuade them to accept the defeat that they had come to regard as unthinkable.
