Saturday 16 December 1939

Finnish troops with a destroyed Soviet tank at Summa.

Winter War Army Operations: Apart from its value as a chokepoint against Soviet attacks north from Leningrad, the Mannerheim Line on the Karelian Isthmus serves to shield the city of Viipuri. Loss of the city would open a communications network into the heart of Finland, and it would be a major blow to Finnish morale. The terrain is much more tank-friendly beyond the city. The Finns have heavily fortified the village of Summa to Viipuri's east which defends the city.

On 16 December 1939, frustrated at Summa, the Soviets attempt to bypass Summa and instead head through the nearby Munasuo swamp to the east. In prioritizing their defenses, the Finns have left this area relatively unprepared.  With the ground hard, 20 Soviet tanks blow through this gap, sometimes passing directly over Finnish infantry who hold their ground in trenches. The tank raid, though, could undermine the entire Mannerheim Line if handled properly. This battle introduces the world to "Molotov Cocktails, which are bottles full of combustible fluids thrown at the engine compartments of tanks to set them on fire.

Finnish antitank obstacles at Summa.

At Tolvajärvi, the Soviet 75th Division marches to the relief of the 139th Division which has gotten into difficulty. The Finns counterattack and send the relief force into retreat.

Western Front: The French stop a German raid on an outpost east of the Moselle River.

Battle of the Atlantic: Captain Langsdorff communicates with Berlin through the German embassy. He asks for instructions. He is told to either move the Admiral Graf Spee to Buenos Aires or scuttle the ship to avoid British intelligence from examining it. Admiral Raeder and Adolf Hitler are monitoring the situation closely. Force G remains outside the River Platte, with the Ajax's floatplane monitoring the situation and the ships refueling. Commodore Harwood is promoted to Rear Admiral and knighted (KCB). The three Force G cruiser captains are made Companions of the Bath (CB).

U-59 (Oberleutnant zur See Harald Jürst) torpedoes and sinks 1,568-ton Norwegian freighter east of Scotland. Thirteen crew survive and five perish.

U-59 also torpedos and sinks 1,366-ton Swedish freighter Lister. All 19 crew survive.

British freighters Amble, Evelina and Sedgefly hit mines and sink.

U-64 commissioned.

Convoy OA 54 departs Southend, OB 54 departs Liverpool, and HG 11 departs from Gibraltar.

Italy: Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano gives a speech to the fascist assembly which is anti-Soviet and pro-Finnish. Italy is continuing to send volunteers to Finland along with heavy equipment.

German Homefront: The Germans complete their repatriation of 51,000 Baltic Germans via the port of Riga in Latvia. They are sent to populate the portions of Poland that have been annexed to the Reich.

China: The Chinese Winter Offense continues expanding:

• Chinese 1st War Area captures Kaifeng
• Chinese 3rd War Area (Anhwei south of Yangtze River, northeastern Kiangsi, and territory to the east with 10th Army Group, 23rd Army Group, and 32nd Army Group) opens offensive
• Chinese 5th War Area captures Japanese strongpoints at Niehchiachang, Funanchang, Wuhsuchiachang, Chouchiachang, Tunghsinchang, Tuochuanu, and Nanhofu
• 73rd Army of Chinese 9th War Area opens attacks around Shihchengwan, Kueikoushih, and Tashaping and remains intermittently engaged in that area for a month

The Japanese forces are reeling, but manage some counterattacks such as against the Chinese 2nd War Area.

Finnish troops at Summa, complete with bicycles.

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

Saturday 9 December 1939

Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo (left) during the battle of Suomussalmi (colorized).

Winter War Army Operations: Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo is in command of the Finnish 9th Infantry Division in the Suomussalmi area on 9 December 1939. While successful so far, he is facing two Soviet rifle divisions (the 44th and 163rd) approaching from two different sides (north and east), each backed by tanks and artillery. Siilasvuo only has a scattering of infantry between the Soviet troops: 4th Reserve Battalion, 15th Detached Battalion, 16th Detached Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, Battle Group Kontula, and the 5th and 6th Ranger Groups. All together, Siilasvuo has maybe nine infantry companies - less than a division. The only saving grace is that some of the men are elite Border Guard Rangers, and every single man is fully committed to the cause. The risk is that the Red Army divisions will hook up and create an overpowering force.

Siilasvuo makes the classic textbook mistake of dividing his forces in the face of a superior enemy. His plan is to defeat them in detail. Siilasvuo decides that his first step is to cut the Raatte Road which is supplying the main Soviet forces in Suomussalmi from the east. He begins rearranging his troops and getting them into position. It will take a couple of days, but the Soviets are having a rough time in the forests and snow so there may be sufficient time to arrange things just right.

Elsewhere, the Finns are holding tough at the Kollaa River - there is a vicious night battle there - and Soviet gains in the far north are minimal.

Western Front: Corporal Thomas Priday of King’s Shropshire Light Infantry is killed while leading a patrol on the Western Front. He becomes the first British soldier (as opposed to sailor or airman) killed in World War II. Reportedly, he is a victim of "friendly fire," a term not yet invented.

King George V completes a five-day review of the front.

HMS Exeter.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-20 (Kapitänleutnant Karl-Heinz Moehle) torpedoes and sinks the 1,339-ton Danish freighter, Magnus, off Peterhead in Scotland. One man survives, eighteen perish.

U-48 (Kapitänleutnant Herbert Schultze) torpedoes and sinks 7,397-ton British tanker San Alberto off Cape Clear, Ireland. Everyone survives but one crewman.

German freighter Adolf Leonhardt is scuttled near the Cape of Good Hope to avoid capture by Royal Navy cruiser HMS Shropshire.

German tanker Nordmeer decides to make a run from Curacao to Spain despite Allied patrols.

The British detain U.S. freighter Explorer at Gibraltar.

Royal Navy Force G (light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles, Commodore Henry Harwood) continues toward Montevideo on Harwood's hunch that the Admiral Graf Spee will head there next. He also orders HMS Exeter, just to the south at Port Stanley, Falkland Islands, to rendezvous there as well. Another heavy cruiser, HMS Cumberland, is also at Port Stanley but is unavailable.

The Germans commission auxiliary cruiser Orion.

Soviet Military: Dissatisfied with operations in the Winter War, the Kremlin (The chief of staff of the Red Army (Stavka), Boris Shaposhnikov) assumes more direct operational control of tactics from local commanders and strips Commander of the Leningrad Military District Kiril Meretskov of his overall command of the campaign. Meretskov is effectively demoted to the command of the Soviet 7th Army. It is the first official recognition by senior Soviet military leaders that something is going seriously wrong in Finland.

Peace Talks: The League of Nations meets as scheduled in Geneva to discuss the Soviet invasion of Finland. The US attends, the USSR does not.

Soviet Propaganda: Soviet news agency TASS releases a report claiming that the Germans are supplying Finland. This is very disquieting for the Germans, who are doing nothing of the kind and in fact, have allocated Finland to the Soviets per the terms of the Ribbentrop/Molotov Pact of 23 August 1939. Ironically, virtually everyone else in the world is aiding the Finns, including German ally Italy - but not the Reich.

Holocaust: Some 200 Jews out of 1800 survive a forced march through the winter snows from their homes in Hrubieszow and Chelm across the Bug River to their new home in Hans Frank's occupied Poland.


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