During the First World War (in particular during 1918), how many hours
difference was there in time between the British and the German troops
in the trenches?  I need to know this as I am researching some battles
using sources from both sides.  Were the Germans an hour ahead of the
British, as they
are now? Did the Germans and British use daylight saving time starting
at the same dates?

Hello mikeyoung~

What an interesting question. As it turns out, although the idea of
daylight savings time was proposed by Benjamin Franklin, WWI was
instrumental in bringing about the practice of the idea.

?During World War I, in an effort to conserve fuel needed to produce
electric power, Germany and Austria took time by the forelock, and
began saving daylight at 11 p.m. on the 30th of April, 1916, by
advancing the hands of the clock one hour until the following October.
This 1916 action was immediately followed by other countries in
Europe, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands,
Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Turkey, as were Tasmania, Nova Scotia,
and Manitoba. Britain began 3 weeks later, on 21 May 1916.? (?Early
Adoption in Law,? Daylight Savings Time,
http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/e.html )

England?s version was called the Summer Time Act, and was passed on May 21, 1916.

Regards,
Kriswrite

KEYWORDS USED:
"daylight savings" "history of"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=%22daylight+savings%22+%22history+of%22&btnG=Google+Search

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Request for Answer Clarification by mikeyoung-ga on 02 Mar 2004 14:10 PST

Thank you for what you have done so far, but what I really need to
know is the time difference between the British and German troops in
the trenches (if any).  Were the Germans an hour ahead of the English?

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Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 02 Mar 2004 15:32 PST

Mikeyoung~

If the British and Germans were on the same territory, then no, they
were not on different clocks--unless this was before the British
passed their Summer Time Act of May 21 (in which case the Germans were
an hour ahead).

Kriswrite

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Request for Answer Clarification by mikeyoung-ga on 03 Mar 2004 05:31 PST

Why do you say the British and the Germans had synchronised clocks?
What evidence do you have to support this?

This is another way of putting the question:

Assuming everyone's watch says what it should....

It is the moring of the 25th March 1918.  A British officer looks at
his watch.  It says 5:00AM.  300 years away are the German trenches. 
A German officer looks at his watch simultaniously.  What time is on
the German Officer's watch?

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Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 03 Mar 2004 07:51 PST

Hello mikeyoung~

It was my understanding that you were asking whether or not the
British and Germans in 1916 both used what we generally call "daylight
savings time." The answer is, yes, they both set their clocks an hour
ahead.

This is a very different question than wondering if the Germans and
Brits had synchronized clocks...and unfortunately, the latter is a
question that I cannot answer.

However, I find it unlikely that the Germans and the Brits would have
had widely separately times; after all, England adopted the time
keeping method *after* Germany, in a desire to keep up with them.
Also, the countries aren't very far apart--and certainly today they're
on the same time zones. (See "Worldwide Daylight Savings Time,"
Daylight Savings Time, http://webexhibits.org/daylightsaving/g.html
and "Time Zones," Countries & Territories Operating Daylight Savings
Time, http://www.worldtimezone.org/daylight.html )

I'm sorry I can't be of further help. If you are still unhappy with
your Answer, please feel free to contact the Editors.

Regards,
Kriswrite

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Clarification of Answer by kriswrite-ga on 03 Mar 2004 12:26 PST

Correction: I mis-typed:

Check here for current changes in time zones between England and Germany:

http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/custom.html?sort=1


Note: one hour off.

Begging your pardon,
Kriswrite

I asked for the difference in times (if any) between the British and
the Germans in the Trenches in World War One.  I clarifed, but did not
change the question.  This question was not answered.  Instead I was
given lots of info about daylight saving time, but not about the real
question.
I am doing historical reswearch using British and German records.  If
the British Records say something took place at (say) 4:00pm what time
will the Germans think it took place?

Today, most military forces use a time zone that is synchronised - one
example is the "Zulu time" (equivalent to UTC/GMT) used by NATO
forces.  Zulu time is used regardless of what timezone the forces
might actually be located in.

I do not know which protocols were used in the context of this
question.  However, I doubt one can assume that German and British
forces would have synchronised clocks just becuse they were on the
same territory.

This site might help a little
http://cnparm.home.texas.net/Wars/JulyCrisis/JulyCrisis00.htm