German winter and summer time
 

Hello gents,

What were the exact dates throughout the war when the Germans switched from summer to winter time and vice versa.

Cheers,
Boris

Re: German winter and summer time
 

You can thank Steve Coates for the following, which I've found incredibly useful over the years:

The Germans used CET (Central European Time, which they called MEZ = »mitteleuropäische Zeit«) and GST (German Summer Time)

CET = GMT + 1 hour
GST = GMT + 2 hours

German time varied as follows:–

To

1/4/40 - CET

From

1/4/40 - GST
2/11/42 - CET
29/3/43 - GST
4/10/43 - CET
3/4/44 - GST
2/10/44 - CET
2/4/45 - GST
18/11/45- CET

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Very useful information, Nick! Thank you and Steve. Do you happen to have the same for any of the other combatant nations?

Re: German winter and summer time
 

These changes normally came into effect at 0200 hrs, same with the British. I have times for UK which changed 14 times during the war (at 0200 hrs)

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Thank you, Chris. Why did the British change times more frequently? Your email is still the tinyworld one, I assume.

Re: German winter and summer time
 

I guess to make the most of daylight? Yes the email is the same plus I now have a @gmail.com with the same prefix

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Thanks a lot Chris!

Re: German winter and summer time
 

...and don't forget Nick!

Re: German winter and summer time
 

We hv to understand , that the brits only change time ???

Rémi

Re: German winter and summer time
 

I'm not sure what it is you're asking but British times were as follows:

During the war, local time in the UK varied from GMT(Greenwich mean Time) to BST (British Summer Time) to BDST (British Double Summer Time): BST = GMT + 1 hour; BDST = GMT + 2 hours.

16/4/39 - BST
19/11/39 - GMT
25/2/40 - BST
4/5/41 - BDST
10/8/41 - BST
5/4/42 - BDST
9/8/42 - BST
4/4/43 - BDST
15/8/43 - BST
2/4/44 - BDST
17/9/44 - BST
2/4/45 - BDST
15/7/45 - BST
7/10/45 - GMT

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Many thks , Nick, the data for the brit. time was missing so difference. between german time nd british could vary from 0 to 2 hours , but we hv to handle both grids

Rémi

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Nick - Thanks for the nod.

Without wishing to derail the thread, I do wonder if there is case for the reintroduction of BDST as it really doesn't matter to all but a few in mid-summer whether it's nice and bright at 5.00 or 6.00 AM but the additional hour of light in the evening would probably benefit businesses.

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Steve, you have chanced upon one of the most persisent pet causes in Great Britain. One Telegraph article will illustrate the point -
"The clocks spring forward: here's why we should never change them back"
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/...r-change-them/

Regards,

Paul

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Paul - Whichever way one jumps on this, it's pretty clear you can't please all the people all the time.

Re: German winter and summer time
 

Yes,yes, and first of all to Nick!