british and german times summer 1944

[martin75]

Hello,

As far as I know, during second world war, Great Britain adopted "Double summer timer" so GMT+2. German summer time was also GMT+2. So, it would be the same. But looking at british and german documents for june 1944 in Normandy, it seems to me there is one hour difference. For example, on 6th june,according to logbook of HMS Warspite, this ship opened fire about O5:30 on a german coastal battery at Benerville who was firing at her. The action of this battery for 6th june is well described by german documents : she opened fire on a ship identified as a cruiser at 06:19, firing 11 shells between 06:19 and 06:26 ?
If someone can help me to explain this difference, he'll be welcome.

Thanks in advance for your help

Claude

[Nick Beale]

There have been other threads about this but here is the position for 1944:

British:

16 September 1943 – 1 April 1944: British Summer Time (GMT+1 hour)
2 April - 16 September 1944: British Double Summer Time (GMT+2 hours)
17 September 1944 – 1 April 1945: British Summer Time (GMT+1 hour)

German:

4 October 1943 – 2 April 1944: Central European Time (GMT+1 hour)
3 April – 1 October 1944: German Summer Time (GMT+2 hours)
2 October 1944 – 1 April 1945: Central European Time (GMT+1 hour)

In the one example I have, local time was kept aboard HM ships.