The 1939–40 English football season was Aston Villa's first season disrupted by Word War II. Matches were suspended in September after the outbreak of the conflict. The three matches that had been played were expunged from the records.https://www.avfchistory.co.uk/aston-villa/player/first-team/legacy-numbers
In August 1939 the Aston Villa footballers played their 20th annual cricket match with Perry Barr. Heavy rain stopped play on the first day but Villa would go on to victory at Church Road, Perry Barr. Jim McConnon and Eric Houghton excelled for Villa.Villa at Cricket, Evening Despatch, 8 August 1939, p12 The football season began as normal on 26 August. Following the German invasion of Poland and subsequent declaration of war by Britain against Nazi Germany on 3 September 1939, football matches were halted.
Villa Park found itself in an evacuation district designated under the British Government's civilian evacuation scheme.No Competitive Football, Chronicle, 16 September 1939, p5 The Police Chief Constable of Birmingham, C.C.H Moriarty, intimated that he would not sanction football matches within the city of Birmingham.No Football at Villa Park or St Andrews Yet, Evening Despatch, 25 September 1939, p6Swindon Advertiser, 10 November 1939, p8 The matter was first raised in Parliament in November 1939, but the Home Secretary was unwilling to intervene in what he perceived as a local issue outside his jurisdiction. The Football League's Scheme for War-time football proposed to limit gates to 15,000 or 8,000 in evacuation areas. With their large overheads, the directors of Aston Villa and Sunderland announced their intention to close down.Big Names in Football that will not be seen in War-Time Liverpool Echo, 30 September 1939, p2 The manager and players were paid off whilst Villa Park was commandeered by the War Office.
Villa's players quickly found war-time employment. Houghton, Allen, Callaghan, Rutherford, Starling, Moss, Kerr, Barker, C.S. Batty, and Cobley became policemen. Broome, Massie, and Iverson engaged in factory work of national importance.Strong Villa Team, Birmingham Evening Mail, 14 September 1939, p7 Les Latham joined the Royal Marines participating in the Normandy Landings.https://greensonscreen.co.uk/gosdb-players2.php?pid=475
The Villa players had freedom to guest. When Wolves met Northampton in the Midland Regional League, the Northampton team contained six Villa players.Association Football, The Birmingham Post, 1 June 1940, p5
HMT Aston Villa In January 1940, Chairman Fred Normansell's wife was a member of the Aston & Lozells women's working party when they adopted the Royal Navy minesweeper Aston Villa.The Aston Villa, Birmingham Evening Mail, 6 January 1940, p6
At the outbreak of the Second World War, Sir Geoffrey Cecil Congreve, 1st Baronet was given command of four naval trawlers of the Royal Naval Patrol Service, based at Aberdeen and Scapa Flow, among then being HMT Arab. Congreve took command of the force on 22 January 1940, from HMT Aston Villa. After several months of convoy duties and anti-submarine warfare, Congreve received orders on 25 April to cross the North Sea to the coast of Norway, against the German Operation Weserübung. His 16th Anti-Submarine Group comprised the Angle, Arab, Aston Villa and Gaul.
The trawlers were under William Boyle, 12th Earl of Cork, commanding the fleet of the allied forces attempting to capture Narvik. The Namsenfjorden area in which they were to operate left the vessels exposed to air attack. Both HMT Aston Villa and HMT Gaul were damaged in attacks. Aston Villa was hit by dive-bombers on 30 April, and was damaged to the point of lacking the seaworthiness to make the return crossing of the North Sea. It was scuttled on 3 May in Kroken Bay of Namsenfjorden.
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