Zero hour the term origins ?

[Guest Abster]

Dear Ladies and Gents

Does anyone know when the term 'zero hour' was first used in the war, or was it simply because it followed x-day or y-day ? Any info? I am a novice writer seeking background on this term, due to the awful consequences of reaching it .... I am hoping my characters can blame its use on some office wallah.... which is probably the case...

many thanks

[johnboy]

If it wasn't Zero it would have been called something else and meant the same thing. I can't see why you would want to blame someone for its use.

[Lawsyd]

I had always assumed that it's to do with the countdown to an event such as an attack.. As in '5 hours to go'; 4 hours to go'; 3 hours to go'; etc. Then, eventually, '0 hours to go' i.e. zero hour.

[Guest]

Would it not simply have been .....5 days, 4 days, 3 days, 2 days, 1 day, 0 days?

Mike

[johnboy]

Zero hour -2 2hrs to start

[Guest]

" Would it not simply have been .....5 days, 4 days, 3 days, 2 days, 1 day, 0 days? "

Would it not simply have been .....5 hours, 4 hours, 3 hours, 2 hours, 1 hours, 0 hour ...I meant

Mike

[johnboy]

Once Zero hour was known, maybe days before an attack was to be made the day and time of that attack could be safely used in messages using zero hour -. A message saying for instance ' Zero hour -3 men will draw rations.' could be given on any day without having to give the date,

[spof]

Once Zero hour was known, maybe days before an attack was to be made the day and time of that attack could be safely used in messages using zero hour -. A message saying for instance ' Zero hour -3 men will draw rations.' could be given on any day without having to give the date,

Also very useful if the attack was delayed for any reason such as 1 July 1916 originally being planned for 29 June. No need to re-issue orders.

[Moonraker]

First use in 1917???

Origin 1915-20???

Cue for GWF members to cite earliest usage.

Moonraker

[David Ridgus]

Once Zero hour was known, maybe days before an attack was to be made the day and time of that attack could be safely used in messages using zero hour -. A message saying for instance ' Zero hour -3 men will draw rations.' could be given on any day without having to give the date,

And so that all the paperwork did not have to be reissued in the event of a delay in an operation eg D Day

[centurion]

D day was an American term used with H hour - Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated September 7, 1918: "The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient."

[centurion]

Although there are a great many retrospective accounts which use the term zero hour ( for example "18th (Service) Battalion (3rd City) the Manchester Regiment were ordered to advance at 60 minutes after zero hour" contemporary documents pre about mid 1917 use a slightly different phrasing ("The 88th. Brigade will attack and capture the German trenches ~ east of Monchy-le-Preuxon April 13th at an hour zero which will be notified later, OPERATION ORDER NO.66 by Brig.General D.E.Cayley C.M.G., Comdg. 88 Brigade. 13 April 1917.") So it is possible that Hour Zero morphed into Zero Hour.

The term zero hour was in use as long as the English language although sometimes expressed as 0 hour but in one of two non military senses. It was used very precisely, usually in legal documents to mean immediately after mid night of the shortest day of the year - i.e. the start of a new legal year so that a document might say something like "all tithes and rents for this land shall be due to the Bishop of..... from 0 hour in the year of our Lord ...."

However in the days of sundial technology the first hour of the day was regarded as that following dawn (a practice dating back at least as far as the Roman Empire)and was also latterly commonly referred to as 0 hour. Given that dawn attacks used to be common military practice it's possible that this is the original source of hour zero

[healdav]

D day was an American term used with H hour - Field Order Number 9, First Army, American Expeditionary Forces, dated September 7, 1918: "The First Army will attack at H hour on D day with the object of forcing the evacuation of the St. Mihiel Salient."

Its used as an emphasis, so the full thing should read D is for Day, H is for Hour, etc.

When you think about it, it would be a bit silly having an order saying that D is for Hour.

I have seen M Minute, and I suppose S, second is possible, but I have never come across it.

[centurion]

Its used as an emphasis, so the full thing should read D is for Day, H is for Hour, etc.

When you think about it, it would be a bit silly having an order saying that D is for Hour.

I have seen M Minute, and I suppose S, second is possible, but I have never come across it.

Sorry but that seems pure gobbledygook - can you explain? The US Army has been using H hour for years and it appears in a number of glossaries.

[Guest]

The earliest mention in the British Newspaper Archives of the term " zero hour " is Monday 17 July 1916 , The Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer, relating to the Somme offensive.

Mike

[Luke0000]

Zero hour, dont know its origins, but it would certainly be the TIME they plan to start something

E.g. "We storm the stronghold at O' one hundred hour" which would mean they start at 0100 or 1am so 0 hour would be midnight.

[johnboy]

Zero hour, dont know its origins, but it would certainly be the TIME they plan to start something

E.g. "We storm the stronghold at O' one hundred hour" which would mean they start at 0100 or 1am so 0 hour would be midnight.

I don't think that was used during WW1.

[healdav]

Sorry but that seems pure gobbledygook - can you explain? The US Army has been using H hour for years and it appears in a number of glossaries.

I though that was what I said. The use of D Day or H Hour is for emphasis as it is not advised to repeat the whole word, partly for cipher reasons and partly because these things can get mixed up in transmission.

We were taught never to transmit, NOT repeat NOT, as this might be received as NOT repeat NOW (or NOW repeat NOT). It should be, for example, NOT repeat NEGATIVE or some such variation.

So, with D Day it might be received a May, Say, Hay. The extra D gives the clue in a corrupt text.

This has been NATO standard terminology for at least 50 years, and in common use for decades before that in both the US and British armies. The French, naturally, use JOUR J, etc. and the Germans T TAG.

By the way, you are now specifically forbidden to use 0 hour or rather 0000 to mean midnight. It is too liable to corruption. Normally you would use 0001 0r better, 2359. Only in the most compelling circumstances are you permitted to use 0000 (and you hade better have a very good excuse.)

[Liz in Eastbourne]

'Zero' for '0' seems not to have entered the English language until the 16th or 17th centuries, from Arabic cifr (cypher) via French and Italian: OED cites the earliest military usages in WW1 without 'hour', or at least not in the phrase 'zero hour':

1916 When the hour of 'zero' came for the attack. (P Gibbs, Battles of the Somme)

1916 Zero, the time the gas and smoke was to start, was at 5.50am. (KRRC Chronicle 1915)

1918 We've got to be at Battalion Headquarters at 5, although I don't suppose zero'll be for a good time after that. (E.A. Mackintosh, War, the Liberator)

1926 The men's teeth chatterin' behind their masks between rum-issue an' zero. (Rudyard Kipling, Debits and Credits)

I see Mike (Skipman) has found use of the term 'zero hour' in newspapers in 1916 (# 15) but it doesn't seem to have been general .

Liz

[Liz in Eastbourne]

The Wipers Times of 6th March 1916 includes under the heading 'Things We Want to Know', along with the famous query 'Are we as offensive as we might be', the query 'What is Zero'. (Note to fellow-pedants: neither of them has a question mark.)

Perhaps the terms were both entering military jargon at the time? Zero was familiar in maths, meteorology, philosophy, roulette, etc but perhaps not previously in this usage.

Liz

[johnboy]

This has been NATO standard terminology for at least 50 years, and in common use for decades before that in both the US and British armies. The French, naturally, use JOUR J, etc. and the Germans T TAG.

By the way, you are now specifically forbidden to use 0 hour or rather 0000 to mean midnight. It is too liable to corruption. Normally you would use 0001 0r better, 2359. Only in the most compelling circumstances are you permitted to use 0000 (and you hade better have a very good excuse.)

With due respect we are discussing it's use during WW1.

I have never seen times given using the 24hr clock during WW1.

Midnight has been shown as MN and midday as Noon.

[Liz in Eastbourne]

The WIpers Times of 6th March 1916 includes under the heading 'Things We Want to Know', along with the famous query 'Are we as offensive as we might be', the query 'What is Zero'. (Note to fellow-pedants: neither of them has a question mark.)

Perhaps the terms were both entering military jargon at the time? Zero was familiar in maths, meteorology, philosophy, roulette, etc but perhaps not previously in this usage.

Liz

Now I've got immersed in the Wipers Times, fatal...

There's another use of 'zero' without 'hour', and of 'the hour of zero' in The "New Church" Times of 17th April 1916, in their new serial, 'Herlock Shomes At It Again', where Shomes 'drawing a searchlight from his pocket, ...read the fateful message: -

"Division moves tomorrow at dawn AAA You will assemble all characters at zero fifteen outside Cloth Hall, Typers...in time to catch the underground for*--------------at zero twenty AAA....."

..................................

....Having rapidly given him a summary of all that had happened, they went into a neighbouring estaminet to await the fateful hour of zero.'

This is authentic WW1 stuff - none of your modern army reminiscences! But with the caveat that the writers are obviously spoofing authentic usage and the underground bit is mixed with ordinary timetable usage.

Liz

Edited 21 April , 2014 by Liz in Eastbourne

[Jack Sheldon]

Well done Liz and certainly better than the main OED (2nd Edition), which cites the first recorded use of the term as a publication of 1917.

Jack

[Guest kingdom]

First use in 1917???

Origin 1915-20???

Cue for GWF members to cite earliest usage.

Moonraker

According to an old note from the War Office, Zero Hour was first officially used for the start time for operations in First Army Operation Order 19 Sept 1915 – see Official History France & Belgium 1915, Vol 2 p 452

Kingdom

[Liz in Eastbourne]

It would be interesting to see the text, Kingdom, can you quote it? The date would be just right to explain why the Wipers Times editors were still making fun of it in spring 1916 - a bit like us mocking 'Going forward' and other such phrases.

By 1918 'Zero hour' seems to have been in frequent use. This National War Bonds Ad is from The Times of 24 July 1918. Sorry the quality's not great, and wherever it says 'zero hour' there's a smudge because that was the term I searched on. But the second paragraph offers a succinct explanation:

'When an attack is planned the precise moment cannot be rigidly fixed in advance. "Zero hour" is the starting point and every subsequent move is reckoned in minutes from zero hour, thus enabling the first step to be taken just when all conditions are favourable.'