Tuesday 20 February 1940

A Soviet armored sled is full of infantry.

Winter War Army Operations: The flashpoint now is in the Taipale sector. The Soviet 13th Army remains on the attack. While they repelled an assault by the 123rd and 19th Rifle Regiments across the ice at Lake Suvanto on the 19th, things remain tenuous. The Taipale River is frozen and remains an easy way to exploit any transient Finnish weakness. The Soviet 49th Rifle Regiment penetrates the Finnish lines today using tanks towing armored sleds and advances 1 km into the Finnish rear. A determined Finnish counterattack expels the Soviets and the line is restored by the end of the day.

Winter War Peace Talks: Following their military's cracking of the Mannerheim Line, the Soviet government expresses a fresh interest in negotiations.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-54 (Korvettenkapitän Günter Kutschmann) is listed as lost from unknown causes. One theory is that it hit a mine laid by the British destroyers HMS Ivanhoe and HMS Intrepid in early Jan 1940. All 41 crew are never seen again and presumed to have perished.

Operation Nordmark, the naval exercise by the Gneisenau, Scharnhorst and Admiral Hipper, ends without the fleet sighting any convoys or being discovered by the British.

Convoy OA 095G departs from Southend.

European Air Operations: The RAF sends 20 aircraft to attack German shipping in the North Sea during the night, but does not find any. The Luftwaffe also is searching for targets and sinks the British freighter Fifeshire.

German Military: Hitler, wishing to get the Norway headache off of his desk, appoints General der Infanterie (Lieutenant General) Nikolaus von Falkenhorst ground commander for the invasion of Norway and Denmark (Operation Weserübung). Admiral Raeder is working up the naval aspects. The Fuhrer is in a hurry and tells Falkenhorst to come up with a plan by 5 p.m. Falkenhorst walks out to a nearby stationery store, picks up a Baedeker tourist guidebook of Norway, and plans his operation from that. Hitler immediately approves the plan.

The way that Hitler makes the choice shows increasing interference in army operations. This is an OKW (overall military) operation, so the OKH (army) is basically excluded from the process.

Iraq: A coup d'etat against the regime of the "four colonels" led by General Amin al-Umari fails. One of the chief sources of the complaint by General al-Umari and his confederates is the regime's decision to send Iraqi forces to join the Allied forces in the Balkans. Thus, this could be interpreted as positive for the Allies.

General von Falkenhorst.

February 1940

February 3, 1940: Soviets Capture a Bunker
February 4, 1940: Peace Talks in Stockholm
February 5, 1940: Allies to Invade Norway
February 6, 1940: Careless Talk Costs Lives
February 7, 1940: IRA Terrorists Executed
February 8, 1940: Spies!
February 9, 1940: The Welles Mission
February 10, 1940: Confiscation of Jewish Goods
February 11, 1940: Soviets Attack Mannerheim Line
February 12, 1940: Breaches In Mannerheim Line
February 13, 1940: Soviets Inching Forward in Finland
February 14, 1940: Soviets Batter Mannerheim Line
February 15, 1940: Finns Retreat
February 16, 1940: Altmark Incident
February 17, 1940: Manstein and Hitler Discuss Fall Gelb
February 18, 1940: Operation Nordmark
February 19, 1940: King Gustav Says No
February 20, 1940: Falkenhorst Commands Weserubung
February 21, 1940: Radar Advances
February 22, 1940: Friendly Fire
February 23, 1940: Soviets Present Their Demands
February 24, 1940: Fall Gelb Revised
February 25, 1940: Mr. Welles Comes to Visit
February 26, 1940: Battle of Honkaniemi
February 27, 1940: Finns Retreat Again
February 28, 1940: Overseas Volunteers Help Finland
February 29, 1940: Finns Accept Soviet Terms In Principle

2019

Monday 19 February 1940

Winter War: King Gustav of Sweden has the final say on whether his country will help Finland:

From the first hour I informed Finland that she unfortunately could not count on military intervention from Sweden.

While the Swedish government cannot help the Finns, Swedish volunteers continue to pour across the border. Some 8,000 Swedish and 725 Norwegian volunteers take up stations in the far north of the front to relieve Finns for duties on the Karelian Isthmus.

Winter War Army Operations: The Soviets are gaining footholds within the V-line switch position. Soviet units work on building an ice road over the frozen Gulf of Viipuri. They attack across Lake Suvanto in the Taipale sector near Lake Ladoga. The Finns use artillery fire to break the ice and destroy the Soviet formation. The ice is littered afterward with 700-1,000 dead Soviet troops.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-23 (Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer), having sunk the HMS Daring on the 18th, continues its successful patrol in support of Operation Nordwind by torpedoing and sinking 5,225-ton British freighter Tiberton with one torpedo east of the Orkneys. All 33 crew perish as the ship sinks within 30 seconds.

Operation Nordmark continues without spotting any convoys.

Convoy OG 19F forms at Gibraltar.

Western Front: The Germans ambush a French patrol east of the River Nied and kill 20 French soldiers.

Special Ops: The Norwegian legislature (the Storting) endorses the way the Norwegian coastal forces handled the Altmark Incident.

Related to these events involving the Altmark, Hitler prods Admiral Raeder to speed up planning for Operation Weserubung.

American Homefront: Sugar Ray Robinson (Walker Smith Jr.) wins New Yorks' Golden Glove Tournament at Madison Square Garden.

Sugar Ray Robinson, 19 February 1940.

February 1940

February 1, 1940: Second Battle of Summa
February 2, 1940: Soviet Assaults at Summa February 3, 1940: Soviets Capture a Bunker
February 4, 1940: Peace Talks in Stockholm
February 5, 1940: Allies to Invade Norway
February 6, 1940: Careless Talk Costs Lives
February 7, 1940: IRA Terrorists Executed
February 8, 1940: Spies!
February 9, 1940: The Welles Mission
February 10, 1940: Confiscation of Jewish Goods
February 11, 1940: Soviets Attack Mannerheim Line
February 12, 1940: Breaches In Mannerheim Line
February 13, 1940: Soviets Inching Forward in Finland
February 14, 1940: Soviets Batter Mannerheim Line
February 15, 1940: Finns Retreat
February 16, 1940: Altmark Incident
February 17, 1940: Manstein and Hitler Discuss Fall Gelb
February 18, 1940: Operation Nordmark
February 19, 1940: King Gustav Says No
February 20, 1940: Falkenhorst Commands Weserubung
February 21, 1940: Radar Advances
February 22, 1940: Friendly Fire
February 23, 1940: Soviets Present Their Demands
February 24, 1940: Fall Gelb Revised
February 25, 1940: Mr. Welles Comes to Visit
February 26, 1940: Battle of Honkaniemi
February 27, 1940: Finns Retreat Again
February 28, 1940: Overseas Volunteers Help Finland
February 29, 1940: Finns Accept Soviet Terms In Principle

2019

Tuesday 13 February 1940

Finnish ski trooper.

Winter War: The Finnish Foreign Minister on 13 February 1940 travels to Stockholm for meetings with the Swedish government about support in the Winter War.

Winter War Army Operations: In the Merkki sector, the two sides are battling over the Finnish trenches, possession of which swings back and forth. The Soviets were sending chemical tanks and BHM flame-thrower tanks against the Finns in the trenches. The Finns knocked out several Soviet tanks and held the trenches throughout the day.

At Lahde, the Soviets continue fighting off Finnish counterattacks. While giving up ground grudgingly, the Soviets have enough firepower to slowly hack away at the Finnish strong points, none of which can be recovered by the Finns for good once they are taken.

The Kirvesmaki stronghold on the Taipale River continues changing hands, as both sides realize it is the key to the defense.

Battle of the Atlantic: British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire intercepts the German blockade runner Wakama near Rio de Janeiro. The Wakama's crew scuttles it. The Brazilian government protests against British operations off its coast.

U-54 (K.Kapt. Günter Kutschmann) sinks in a British minefield approximately this date. The reason for her disappearance remains officially unknown, but part of one of her torpedoes was recovered by a German patrol boat on 14 March 1940. The minefield had been laid by the Royal Navy destroyers HMS Ivanhoe and Intrepid in early January 1940.

U-25 (Kapitän zur See Viktor Schütze) sinks Norwegian freighter SS Chastine Mærsk with its deck gun at dawn after not sinking it with two defective torpedoes the previous evening. The U-boat chased the ship on the surface all night long. All 30 crew survive.

U-53 (K.Kapt. Harald Grosse) sinks Swedish freighter SS Norna west of Ireland. 18 lives are lost.

The German freighter Wolfsburg also is scuttled by its crew off the coast of Brazil.

British freighter British Triumph is sunk by a mine.

US freighter Exford is released from detention at Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 91 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 90 departs from Liverpool, and Convoy OB 91 departs from Liverpool.

Palestine: The Second Australian Imperial Force, part of General Freyberg's command, arrives in Palestine.

British Government: A Labour Party bill to nationalize all forms of inland and coastal transport is defeated in the House of Commons. The government does impose strict control over the railway network but allows it to remain in private hands.

The Chastine Mærsk (Photo courtesy of State Library of New South Wales).

February 1940

February 3, 1940: Soviets Capture a Bunker
February 4, 1940: Peace Talks in Stockholm
February 5, 1940: Allies to Invade Norway
February 6, 1940: Careless Talk Costs Lives
February 7, 1940: IRA Terrorists Executed
February 8, 1940: Spies!
February 9, 1940: The Welles Mission
February 10, 1940: Confiscation of Jewish Goods
February 11, 1940: Soviets Attack Mannerheim Line
February 12, 1940: Breaches In Mannerheim Line
February 13, 1940: Soviets Inching Forward in Finland
February 14, 1940: Soviets Batter Mannerheim Line
February 15, 1940: Finns Retreat
February 16, 1940: Altmark Incident
February 17, 1940: Manstein and Hitler Discuss Fall Gelb
February 18, 1940: Operation Nordmark
February 19, 1940: King Gustav Says No
February 20, 1940: Falkenhorst Commands Weserubung
February 21, 1940: Radar Advances
February 22, 1940: Friendly Fire
February 23, 1940: Soviets Present Their Demands
February 24, 1940: Fall Gelb Revised
February 25, 1940: Mr. Welles Comes to Visit
February 26, 1940: Battle of Honkaniemi
February 27, 1940: Finns Retreat Again
February 28, 1940: Overseas Volunteers Help Finland
February 29, 1940: Finns Accept Soviet Terms In Principle

2019

Thursday 8 February 1940

The bridge connecting the two separate sections of the Lodz Ghetto (Federal Archive).

Winter War: The Finnish government announces on 8 February 1940 that a Swedish brigade of 6,000 men is manning part of the line on the Salla front.

Winter War Army Operations: Attacks at Summa continue without much change aside from the gradual attrition of the Finnish defenders. Soviet tanks continue dragging armored sleds full of explosives that are detonated near Finnish fortifications.

At 10:15, the Soviets open an attack at Taipale. Two Soviet Divisions shell the Kirvesmäki Cape and attack across the River Taipale. The Soviets take two Finnish strongholds at Terenttilä at the extreme East end of the Mannerheim Line where the River Taipale empties into Lake Ladoga. Finnish casualties are extreme for them: 219 men, with 32 killed.

Further north, the Finnish 9th Division finishes its work around Kuhmo. It destroys the 1500 Soviet soldiers of the Soviet 54th Division that have been surrounded near Kuhmo in separate mottis (logs).

Winter War Peace Talks: Discussions continue in Stockholm, but the Soviets show no inclination to bargain. The Soviets require an island in the Gulf of Finland to serve as a Soviet naval base.

Western Front: Two French soldiers capture a German patrol in Forbach Woods.

Battle of the Atlantic: It is one of the quieter days of the war in the endless war on the high seas.

US freighter Scottsburg is detained by the British at Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 88GF departs from Southend.

Spies: Double agent William Sebold, a German native born in Mulheim, Germany, arrives in New York City as "Harry Sawyer." Sebold is a spy for the Reich, but in actuality is a double agent working for the FBI. He sets up a short-wave radio transmitter with FBI help and begins transmitting reports (prepared by the FBI) to Berlin.

Separately, the Paris police raid the Soviet Press Agency. They discover that it is being used as a cover for German propaganda.

Canada: The third contingent of Canadian soldiers arrives in England at a west coast port.

New Zealand: It is the 100th anniversary of the founding of New Zealand with the Anglo-Maori Treaty of Waitangi.

Palestine: Chaim Weizmann meets with President Roosevelt to discuss issues regarding the Jewish/Arab conflict in Palestine.

Holocaust: Orders are given for the establishment of a Jewish Ghetto in Lodz.

China: Japanese planes attack Mengzi. Three Chinese Hawk 75 fighters intercept them and a dogfight ensues for more than an hour, with one Chinese pilot, Yang Tzu-fan, injured after crash-landing.

The Shangtung Operation continues as the Japanese occupy the Shangtung Peninsula.

At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese capture Wuning north of Nanning after several days of battle.

Future History:  One of the soldiers captured in the Forbach Woods, Joseph Darnand, later heads the Vichy French secret police.

Double-agent William Sebold.

February 1940

February 1, 1940: Second Battle of Summa
February 2, 1940: Soviet Assaults at Summa February 3, 1940: Soviets Capture a Bunker
February 4, 1940: Peace Talks in Stockholm
February 5, 1940: Allies to Invade Norway
February 6, 1940: Careless Talk Costs Lives
February 7, 1940: IRA Terrorists Executed
February 8, 1940: Spies!
February 9, 1940: The Welles Mission
February 10, 1940: Confiscation of Jewish Goods
February 11, 1940: Soviets Attack Mannerheim Line
February 12, 1940: Breaches In Mannerheim Line
February 13, 1940: Soviets Inching Forward in Finland
February 14, 1940: Soviets Batter Mannerheim Line
February 15, 1940: Finns Retreat
February 16, 1940: Altmark Incident
February 17, 1940: Manstein and Hitler Discuss Fall Gelb
February 18, 1940: Operation Nordmark
February 19, 1940: King Gustav Says No
February 20, 1940: Falkenhorst Commands Weserubung
February 21, 1940: Radar Advances
February 22, 1940: Friendly Fire
February 23, 1940: Soviets Present Their Demands
February 24, 1940: Fall Gelb Revised
February 25, 1940: Mr. Welles Comes to Visit
February 26, 1940: Battle of Honkaniemi
February 27, 1940: Finns Retreat Again
February 28, 1940: Overseas Volunteers Help Finland
February 29, 1940: Finns Accept Soviet Terms In Principle

2019

Wednesday 6 December 1939

Winter War: It is Finnish Independence Day, 6 December 1939, and it is especially poignant with the country fighting to retain that independence.

Winter War Air Operations: Italy makes a gesture by sending 50 airplanes to Finland to aid the defense. Great Britain also sends airplanes and other armaments. Volunteers also are pouring by sea and air to Finland from other European countries.

Winter War Army Operations: The Soviet 7th Army begins its attacks on the Mannerheim Line on the eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus. So far, the line is working exactly as planned. It is not some masterpiece of military might - more like a bunch of tank ditches - but the Soviets are up against the fixed defenses, the truly skilled and desperate Finns, and the weather. It is becoming roughly an even match. However, the Soviets do have massive numbers behind them and are thus never in any danger of losing the initiative.

The Battle of Taipale begins along the shores of Lake Ladoga on the Karelian Isthmus. The Finns have the advantage of coastal batteries there which they can use against land targets also. It is not considered the highest priority defensive sector, and the Soviets have made less progress here than elsewhere, but any breakthrough of the Mannerheim Line would undermine the truly vital components of the Finnish defenses further west. This also would forfeit the protection of natural barriers such as the Suvanto River. Minimal as the Mannerheim Line might be, it is at least something, a point of reference in the endless forests. The Soviets are taking a lot of casualties at the Taipale River near the eastern coast.

Winter War Naval Operations: The Soviets complete their occupation of the islands off the Finnish coast. Largely undefended and small, they are of little military or economic value.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Germans lay more mines at night off the east coast of England, both by seaplane and destroyers.

British minesweeping trawler HMS Washington strikes a mine and sinks off the eastern coast of England near Great Yarmouth. One crew member survives.

U-31 (Kapitänleutnant Johannes Habekost) torpedoes and sinks the 1,575-ton Estonian freighter Agu. The ship's crew of 18 perishes.

The U-31 also torpedoes the 1,974-ton Swedish freighter Vinga. All 22 crew survive. The U-31 is operating about 100 miles east of Dundee, Scotland.

U-47 (Kapitänleutnant Günther Prien) torpedoes the 6,214-ton tanker MV Britta about 45 miles southwest of Longships Lighthouse in southwestern England. Six perish and 25 survive, picked up by the Belgian trawler Memlinc.

Admiral Graf Spee refuels from the Altmark. It is about 1,700 miles from Montevideo, Uruguay. The Admiralty has learned of the Graf Spee's sinking of a ship off of St. Helena. Commodore Henry Harwood guesses that the German pocket battleship will head for the River Platte and has been sailing his three cruisers (HMS Exeter, Achilles, and Ajax) toward there for some days now.

President Roosevelt, in a rare rebuke of the British during the war, sends a diplomatic note protesting the British "reprisals" for the German magnetic mines. He does not believe it is proper to seize German goods on neutral vessels. The British practiced a similar policy during the First World War.

The British release from detainment at the Downs the US freighter Yaka.

Convoys OA 48 and OB 48 depart from Southend and Liverpool, respectively.

Altmark. In some ways, this miserable little supply vessel is more important to the conduct of the war than the ship it is servicing, the Admiral Graf Spee. But, the ship with the biggest guns always gets the most press.

European Air Operations: Air activity has slackened in recent weeks due to the poor weather. Nevertheless, the Luftwaffe is still intent on overflying Great Britain for various purposes. Today, a wrecked Heinkel He 111 bomber is found on the East Anglian coast. Other aircraft are sighted over the Orkneys. The weather hampers attempts to intercept all of these flights, but it also is causing the Luftwaffe pilots problems.

Anglo-Finnish Relations: President Roosevelt sends a message to President Kallio. The US has never had any issues with Finland.

German/Romanian Relations: The German and Romanian governments reach an agreement for the Romanians to reserve a set fraction of their oil production for the Reich. Oil is always one of Hitler's top concerns, and for good reason.

British Government: The government issues a statement to the press questioning why neutral countries are not doing more to assist the Allies in their blockade of Germany.

Field Marshal Archibald Wavell, the UK's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief of Middle East Command, arrives in London to confer with the general staff. So far, his theater of operations has been quiet.

China: The Chinese winter offensive gets in motion with an attack by the 1st War Area on the Japanese 1st Independent Brigade in the vicinity of Anyang.

The Japanese are still launching spoiling attacks against the Chinese at Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien.


December 14, 1939: Quisling Meets Hitler
December 15, 1939: Chinese Winter Offensive in High Gear
December 16, 1939: Battle of Summa
December 17, 1939: End of Admiral Graf Spee
December 18, 1939: Battle of Heligoland Bight
December 19, 1939: British Disarm Magnetic Mines
December 20, 1939: Finnish Counterattacks Continue
December 21, 1939: Finns Plan More Counterattacks
December 22, 1939: Enter Chuikov
December 23, 1939: Failed Finnish Counterattack
December 24, 1939: Soviets on the Run
December 25, 1939: Fresh Soviet Attacks
December 26, 1939: Vicious Battles at Kelja
December 27, 1939: Grinding Finnish Victories
December 28, 1939: Liberators
December 29, 1939: Finns Tighten the Noose
December 30, 1939: Finnish Booty
December 31, 1939: Planning More Soviet Destruction

2019