1 March 1940
It was reported in the House
of Commons that there were 73 353 German aliens registered in
Great Britain, 569 of which had been interned. 55 457 of
the total were known to be refugees from Nazi oppression.
There were also 11 989 Austrians registered. |
2 March 1940
The British cargo liner, SS
Domala, was bombed off the Isle of Wight by a Heinkel He111 with
the loss of 108 of the 291 people on board. The ship was
carrying passengers to India, including people released from
Germany for repatriation.
The brand new RMS Queen Elizabeth
departed the Clyde for a secret destination, escorted for more
than 200 miles by the destroyers HMS Mohawk, HMS Punjabi, HMS
Fortune, HMS Foxhound, and HMS Tartar replacing HMS Mohawk.
The stated destination was Southampton, where as part of the
cover, accommodation had been booked for members of the ships
crew. The ship actually crossed the Atlantic for New York.
It included on board a Southampton pilot! |
3 March 1940
The Italian Government
objected to the British blockade of German coal shipments to
Italy. |
4 March 1940
A draft of forty men arrived
from the King's Own Infantry Training Centre, Middleton Towers,
Heysham, by train to Swindon Junction. They were split up
between the rifle companies. |
5 March 1940
The Royal Navy seized seven
Italian ships in the English Channel which were taking coal from
Germany to Italy. |
6 March 1940
The German cargo ship, 'Urugary'
was stopped by HMS Berwick and scuttled by her crew. |
7 March 1940
The RMS Queen Elizabeth
completed her secret maiden voyage from England to New York.
It was reported in the House of Commons that 21 349 men claimed
registration as conscientious objectors under the Military
Training Act, 1939. |
8 March 1940
It was reported in the House
of Commons that the number of German combatant prisoners of war
were 257 and the number of German merchant seamen was 1271.
The City of Lancaster Soldiers' Welfare Committee held a dance
in Ashton Hall, Lancaster Town Hall, for the benefit of the
Soldiers and Auxiliary Territorial Service Clubs. |
9 March 1940
An England versus Wales war
time charity rugby match was played at Cardiff Arms Park |
10 March 1940
Soldiers of the 2nd
Battalion, King's Own Royal Regiment, stationed in Palestine
received the medal ribbon for the General Service Medal with
clasp 'Palestine'. |
11 March 1940
The French battleship
'Bretagne' and the cruiser 'Algerie' departed Toulon with 147
tons of gold for safekeeping in Canada.
In Britain all meat
was to be rationed. |
12 March 1940
The Moscow Peace Treaty
ended the Winter War with Finland. Russia received 16 000
square miles of Finnish territory. |
13 March 1940
Hostilities between the
Soviet Union and Finland ceased at 11 a.m.
The King's Own
Infantry Training Centre held an evening concert in the Ashton
Hall, Lancaster Town Hall. |
14 March 1940
The evacuation of Finish
Karelia took place. More than 450 000 Finns displaced by
the Moscow Peace Treaty began to cross Finland's new border,
some burned their homes leaving as little as possible for the
Soviets. |
15 March 1940
In the House of Commons £700
million was allowed for the financial year up to 31st March 1941
for the conduct of the war. |
16 March 1940
The first British civilian
was killed in a German air raid when fourteen Junkers Ju88
bombers attacked the British Fleet at Scapa Flow, Orkney
Islands.
The King's Own Infantry Training Centre held an
evening concert in the Ashton Hall, Lancaster Town Hall. |
17 March 1940
Fritz Todt is named as
German Minister for Armaments and Munitions. The 'Todt
Organisation' was a military engineering company which provided
forced labour for German industry, general and military related
construction and also the building of the 'Atlantic Wall'
defences. |
18 March 1940
German leader Adolf Hitler
met Italian ruler Mussolini at the Brenner Pass in the Alps.
He made clear that his troops were poised for an offensive in
the west. |
19 March 1940
The Royal Air Force attacked
the German sea plane base at Hoernum on the island of Sylt.
A
British force of 100 000 men were ready to go to support
Finland, but they were refused right of passage through Norway
and Sweden. |
20 March 1940
One third of the 5th
Battalion, King's Own, were sent on special privilege leave for
Easter. |
21 March 1940
The RMS Queen Mary sailed
from New York for Sydney, Australia, to be refitted as a
troopship. |
22 March 1940
The aircraft carrier HMS Ark
Royal sailed from Plymouth for the Mediterranean Sea, escorted
by the destroyers HMS Imogen and HMS Isis. |
23 March 1940
BBC Radio's broadcasts today
including music from the Band of the Royal Marines, Plymouth
Division, second half commentary of the West Ham versus Charlton
Athletic match from Upton Park, and the crazy comedy 'The
Colonel's been murdered at last'. |
24 March 1940
One third of the 5th
Battalion, King's Own, returned from special Easter leave. |
25 March 1940
The British government
ordered its troops not to participate in German radio broadcasts
if they became a prisoner of war. Britons had been tuning
into the German radio to learn of the capture of family members
by hearing their voices on the radio. |
26 March 1940
The 5th Battalion, King's
Own, took part in a Brigade parade which was held at Chisledon
Camp, where His Majesty King George VI inspected the Brigade.
A draft of 150 men joined the 5th Battalion from the 7th Holding
Battalion at Rhyl. |
27 March 1940
Three months after the event
the Admiralty published a report that a mutiny had occurred on
board the German cruiser 'Admiral Graf Spee' on 16 December
1939, two days before the Captain scuttled her following the
Battle of the River Plate. |
28 March 1940
The Anglo-French Supreme War
Council met in London and agreed that neither Britain nor France
would make a separate peace with Germany. It was also
agreed that mines would be laid in Norwegian coastal waters. |
29 March 1940
Acting Pilot Officer Prince
Alexander Obolensky, a natural born Russian and naturalised
Britain, who played Rugby for England and the Leicester Tigers
was killed when his Hawker Hurricane overshot the runway on
landing. |
30 March 1940
A British high altitude
reconnaissance flight from RAF Habbaniya in Iraq flew
unchallenged for several hours over Soviet oilfields on the
Absheron Peninsular. This was part of a plan to destroy by
strategic bombing the Soviet oil industry, as Moscow had signed
the Nazi-Soviet Pact, they were in effect supporting Hitler
against the Allies. The plan was discovered in May 1940
when the Germans captured a train full of secret documents which
were being evacuated from Paris. |
31 March 1940
Rationing of paper to
publishing and printing industries was introduced in Great
Britain. |
