PLYMOUTH |
The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History |
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THE PREPARATIONSFollowing an announcement by Hitler that he was about to send his troops into Czechoslovakia, the war process was begun on August 24th 1938, when Parliament passed the Emergency Powers (Defence) Act. This enabled the Government to take measures to ensure public safety, the defence of the country and the maintenance of public order. Gas masks were issued to the public on September 26th 1938. A few days later, on the 29th, the Prime Minister, Neville Chamberlain, and Adolf Hitler signed the Munich Agreement. On Monday April 3rd 1939 thirteen Great Western Railway trucks arrived at the Sutton Harbour Goods Station, Sutton Road, loaded with nine tons of steel air-raid shelters. A team of around twelve men started to load them on to GWR road vehicles. The following morning the first one was delivered to a house in Mainstone Avenue, not far from the depot. It took six men to carry the parts for each one and they marched through the houses and deposited them against the walls of the back gardens. The parts were:
Each household had to construct its own shelter. Although all the shelters were being delivered to Sutton Harbour, many of the deliveries were expected to be made from Keyham, presumably Keyham Station. Conscription was introduced by the Military Training Act which Parliament passed on Thursday April 27th 1939. Men of 20 and 21 years of age were required to undertake six months of military training. Air Raid Precautions had already been set up by May 1939. Plympton become the headquarters of Devon County's 'H' Division, with Police Superintendent S F Smith in charge as Divisional Coomandant. The Special Constabulary was under Mr S J Lawry; the assistant divisional commandant was Mr C H Crews; the area organiser was Major A G White; and the chief warden was Mr E Birch. Mr William Cornish, the Head Master of Johnston Terrace School at Keyham, recorded in the school's log book that at five past four on the afternoon of Friday September 1st 1939 he recieved notice that owing to hostilities between Germany and Poland, all schools will be closed until further notice. They reopened about three weeks later.
This is what the centre of
Plymouth looked like before WAR DECLAREDGreat Britain and France jointly declared war on Germany on Sunday September 3rd 1939. One of the immediate effects of the declaration was the suspension of pleasure boat trips on the River Tamar. Lord Astor was elected Lord Mayor of Plymouth on Thursday November 9th 1939. On Wednesday December 13th 1939, during the so-called "Battle of the River Plate", the British cruiser HMS Exeter was damaged. The German pocket battleship The Admiral Graf Spee was scuttled on December 17th. HM the King visited the Plymouth Command on Monday December 18th 1939, on the day that the first contingent of Canadian soldiers arrived in England. On Boxing Day, Tuesday December 26th 1939 the first squadron of the Royal Australian Air Force arrived in England. Next - Second World War 1940
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