Tuesday 9 July 1940

The Italian Cruiser Zara at the Battle of Calabria, 9 July 1940.

Battle of the Mediterranean: Today, 9 July 1940, marks the first large naval engagement of the war in the Mediterranean, and really the first large conflict of any kind in that sector. There are 50 warships involved.

In the Battle of Calabria aka the Battle of Punta Stilo, the Royal Navy and Italian Fleet square off in the vicinity of the Italian naval base at Taranto. The engagement arises from each side shepherding convoys to North Africa at the same time, the British with Convoy MF 1 from Malta. The British have the advantage of firepower, while the Italians have speed.

At about 15:15, the two sides see each other and their cruisers open fire at extreme long range. The Italians damage cruiser HMS Neptune, causing the British to withdraw. However, battleship HMS Warspite then comes up, and a duel between her and Italian battleships Giulio Cesare and Conte di Cavour begins at 15:52. The artillery duel as noted as one of the longest in naval history, at about 24 km (the Kriegsmarine's Operation Juno on 8 June also was about as far, but that was a heavy cruiser against an aircraft carrier). Giulio Cesare takes a hit which reduces its speed, and the battle turns into a duel between each side's cruisers. The Italian Admiral Campioni withdrew with his battleships to Messina at about 17:00. A final Italian air attack damages several of the Royal Navy capital ships. The cargo ships for both sides ultimately reach their destinations, so it is a strategic draw. Most consider the engagement a slight (and rare) Italian naval victory.

Force H, operating out of Gibraltar, is attacked by bombers but suffers no damage.

At Malta, there is a raid at 08:00 by an SM79 bomber and seven CR42s. They bomb Luga, with the RAF prominent in the defense. The Italians lose two planes. Governor Dobbie requests and receives permission to stop using his limited air resources in offensive operations against Sicily, instead of using them to defend the island only at his discretion.

Italian battleship Conte di Cavour. Italian battleships were heavily armed but lightly armored, making them fast but vulnerable.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-34 (Kapitänleutnant Wilhelm Rollmann) torpedoes and sinks 1,865-ton Estonian freighter Tiiu about 100 miles southwest of Mizen Head, Ireland in the southwest approaches at 12:32. All 20 aboard take to lifeboats and survive.

U-43 torpedoes and sinks 3,944-ton British freighter Aylesbury about 230 miles southwest of Cape Clear, Ireland in the southwest approaches at 21:35. All 35 onboard survive.

U-99 (Otto Kretschmer) completes its 14-hours of depth-charge attack and survives. Kretschmer pretends calmly to read a book throughout the ordeal as if he hasn't a care in the world. The book is upside down. There are 129 depth charges dropped.

British submarine HMS Salmon hits a mine (that is the assumption) and sinks off Egersund, Norway. All 35 aboard perish.

German raider Thor sinks Belgian freighter Bruges in the South Atlantic. The crew becomes prisoners of war.

The Luftwaffe bombs and badly damages sloop Foxglove off the Niab en route to Portsmouth.

The Germans send about 60 Bf 109s and 110s on a sweep across the English channel and find targets in a convoy forming up at the mouth of the Thames River. The Luftwaffe catches British freighters Kenneth Hawksfield and Polgrange in the Dover sector and damages them. The Luftwaffe sinks Latvian freighter Talvaldis off Devon. Dutch steamer Iola also was damaged, along with Greek freighter Aegeon.

German armed merchant raider Komet (Kapitän zur See Robert Eyssen) leaves Bergen to break out into the Pacific via the Northern Passage. Soviet icebreakers assist her. The Komet itself is reinforced to travel through ice.

Convoy SL 39 departs from Freetown.

The Italian battleship Giulio Cesare firing salvos from her big guns near Punta Stilo during the Battle of Calabria. Ministero Della Difesa-Marina photo.

European Air Operations: The British consider this the beginning of their strategic night bombing campaign against Germany, though they have been raiding it all along.

RAF Bomber Command raids the key airbase at Stavanger with a dozen planes, Norway, losing seven of the twelve bombers with the rest damaged.

The RAF also sends 11 Hampden bombers to attack the battleship Tirpitz (still under construction) without causing any damage.

King George VI presents Guy Gibson with the DFC on a visit to RAF Digby. Gibson earned this by completing 34 missions in five months with No. 3 Squadron.

The new Luftwaffe night fighter force gets its first victory off Heligoland. Ofw Paul Förster of 8/NJG1 shoots down a Whitney bomber at 02:50. The British crew becomes POWs (this is not the initial night fighter victory of the war, just of this unit).

JG26 adds another Gruppe, 8./JG26, by taking over 2./JG1.

Spitfires of RAF No. 54 Squadron shoot down such an unarmed He-59 marked as a search-and-rescue aircraft on the Goodwin Sands and capture the crew. Nothing incriminating is found and the official report states that "The men were unarmed and whatever else they may or may not have been doing they seem to be genuine sea-rescue Red Cross workers." However, the apparent innocence of the craft does not sway the British, who are deeply suspicious that such planes are performing reconnaissance missions.

The He-59 forced down at Goodwin Sands on 9 July 1940.

North Africa: Italian artillery is in action against the 1st King's African Rifles at Moyale, Kenya.

US Military: US Marine Corps Captain Kenneth W. Benner takes over the military presence on Midway Atoll, relieving Captain Samuel G. Taxis.

British Government:  The House of Commons approves a £1,000 Million line of credit for war expenditure.

The crown appoints the Duke of Windsor the Governor of the Bahamas. He is widely viewed as having German sympathies, and this position is more to keep an eye on him than to reward him with new responsibilities. Hog's Island (Nassau) in the Bahamas has several residents who are considered suspicious, such as industrialist Axel Wenner-Grenn of Sweden.

The Admiralty claims credit for sinking the French battleship Richelieu during recent Operation Catapult. The claim technically is correctly, but the Richelieu has settled in very shallow water and is quickly repaired and refloated.

French Government: The French legislature at Vichy votes Marshal Pétain's full powers to establish a new constitution by decree, with only three in the Chamber and one in the Senate voting against him. In this manner, the Third Republic ends.

Pierre Laval, the French vice-PM, announces that the Republic will become "a Fascist form of government, which I have long admired." This is the first time any member of the Vichy government has openly admitted to Fascist leanings. The new national slogan, "Work, Family, and Fatherland," is adopted.

The Armistice Commission announces that all German POWs in French custody have now been released.

German Government: Berlin announces that Romania is under German protection.

Czechoslovakian Government: Edvard Benes forms a government-in-exile in London.

Romania: King Carol II orders the arrest of Marshal Ion Antonescu after Antonescu sends him a note protesting the decision to give the Soviet Union the lands it had demanded in the east. Antonescu is interned at Bistrița Monastery. At this time, Antonescu is viewed with suspicion by just about everyone.

Greenland: U.S. Consul to Greenland James K. Penfield, Governor of North Greenland E. Brun, and a group of Danish officials arrive at Boston on U.S. Coast Guard cutter USCG Campbell for discussions about trade with Greenland.

Iceland: Canadian Z Force arrives to supplement the existing British occupation force (treated as "guests" by the locals).

China: A Japanese embassy spokesman in Shanghai demands an apology for the recent arrest of 16 Japanese Gendarmes by US Marines, threatening that this could affect "the whole course of Japanese - United States relations."

Sweden: The government denies that it is joining the Axis despite allowing the Wehrmacht transit rights.

Norway: It is reported that Vidkun Quisling is now a local radio commentator in Norway. "Quisling" already has become a synonym for "traitor."

Holocaust: Polish Silesian politician Józef Biniszkiewicz perishes at Buchenwald.

British Homefront: War jitters are at a fever pitch. There are so many rumors of parachutists, German ray guns and the like that the government warns that spreading false rumors will be prosecuting.

Edward R. Murrow is broadcasting in dramatic fashion to the States about The Blitz.

American Homefront: President Roosevelt dodges questions at a press conference about whether he will seek an unprecedented third term. He already has decided to do so but wants to maintain the suspense.

The Major League All-Star Game is held in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis, with the National League winning, 4-0.

July 1940

July 1, 1940: Vichy France
July 2, 1940: Arandora Star
July 3, 1940: Operation Catapult at Mers El Kébir
July 4, 1940: Romania In Crisis
July 5, 1940: The Five Freedoms
July 6, 1940: Hitler's High Point
July 7 1940: Dakar And Ringo
July 8, 1940: Tea Rationing in England
July 9, 1940: Battle of Calabria
July 10, 1940: Battle of Britain Begins
July 11, 1940: "Nous, Philippe Petain"
July 12, 1940: Enter Laval
July 13, 1940: German Surface Raiders Attack!
July 14, 1940: Bastille/Mourning Day
July 15, 1940: Tallest Man Dies
July 16, 1940: Plans for Sea Lion
July 17, 1940: Burma Road Closed
July 18, 1940: FDR Runs Again
July 19, 1940: Last Appeal To Reason
July 20, 1940: First Night Fighter Victory
July 21, 1940: Soviets Absorb Baltic States
July 22, 1940: First RAF Night Fighter Victory
July 23, 1940: Invasion False Alarm
July 24, 1940: The Meknés Incident
July 25, 1940: Black Thursday for RAF
July 26, 1940: Capture The Duke?
July 27, 1940: What's Up, Doc?
July 28, 1940: Destroyers Pulled From Dover
July 29, 1940: Barbarossa On The Burner
July 30, 1940: Hitler Delays Sealion
July 31, 1940: Bloody Wednesday of Olkusz

2020

Wednesday 13 December 1939

Battle of the Atlantic: The Battle of the River Platte on 13 December 1939 is the one military event of late 1939 that people remember. It received endless media coverage during a dreary winter of waiting for the larger war to shift into high gear and watching the Soviet Union grind into Finland. In the end, it is a sideshow, but full of valor and death. It is the first of the great "epics" that characterize the German war effort in World War II.

Captain Langsdorff in the Admiral Graf Spee closes on the three British cruisers (Exeter, Achilles, and Ajax) in Force G that are waiting for him just outside the Platte River. This is his second mistake (his first was offering battle at all): the Admiral Graf Spee has the range to stand off and destroy at least one of the British ships with impunity. By moving in, Langsdorff exposes his own ship to damage. The British ships immediately disperse, make smoke, and wait for their prey to get in range.

Langsdorff fires his first shot at 06:18 from 11 miles away. Commodore Harwood in command of Force G splits his forces to put pressure on Langsdorff's ship because its big guns are not agile. By 06:23, the British ships are in range and returning fire, and they begin scoring hits. The pocket battleship's fire is accurate,, too, and early on hits the HMS Achilles (four dead). HMS Exeter is the largest British ship, and Admiral Graf Spee focuses on it, hammering it with 7 11-inch shells that kills 61 crew. By all rights, that should have finished the Exeter, but it is a lucky ship (for now).

Heavy cruiser Exeter is left barely afloat but still firing. By 06:38, only twenty minutes into the battle, one of Exeter's 8-inch shells plunges into the ship and luckily destroys most of Admiral Graf Spee's fuel system. The battle is decided, though the British have by far taken the worst of the fighting: Admiral Graf Spee, now needing repairs but still functional, scurries for sanctuary in Montevideo. The British ships remaining outside the harbor call for reinforcements. British cruiser HMS Cumberland comes up from Port Stanley in the Falklands to replace the battered Exeter.

Admiral Graf Spee, its guns still hot and raised, enters Montevideo Harbor with colors proudly flying.

In the North Sea, HMS Salmon (Lt. Commander Edward O. Bickford), which narrowly missed sinking the Bremen on the 12th, spots both the cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg in the Heligoland Bight and pumps a torpedo into each. Both survive and struggle back to port, badly damaged.

U-38 (Kapitänleutnant Heinrich Liebe) torpedoes and sinks 4,101-ton British freighter Deptford. Only five survive, 32 perish.

U-57 (Kapitänleutnant Claus Korth) torpedoes and sinks 1,173-ton Estonian freighter, Mina. All 17 onboard perish.

British freighter William Hallett hits a mine and sinks.

US freighter Exochorda is released from detention at Gibraltar by the British.

Convoy OG 10 forms at Gibraltar.

Winter War: International aid continues to flow to Finland. France ships arms there for the first time. General Wallenius takes command of the Finnish Lapland Group. On the Soviet side, Grigori Shtern replaces Ivan Khabarov as commander of the 8th Army, an indication of how poorly the battle is going for the Soviets north of Leningrad.

Winter War Army Operations: Both sides continue battling over Salla, but the Soviets are tightening their grip on the village and looking for their next step. They are at a crossroads there in more ways than one. At Suomussalmi, the Finns remain in control and have completed surrounded the trapped Soviets in the village.

European Air Operations: The RAF intercepts and damages two Dornier flying boats over the North Sea.

Briefing pilots of B Flight at Vitry-en-Artrois after flying in from Merville on 13 December 1939, F/L James G "Sandy" Sanders (third left) of No 615 Squadron RAF chased a He 111 up to 23,000ft during a weather patrol 16 days later in Gladiator Mk II KW-T and, losing it in the clouds, was hit by return fire, ending with a crash near Valenciennes. The badly concussed 25-year-old flight leader was later awarded a damaged claim, the only validated score of an obsolete RAF Gloster biplane in France.

Western Front: The same type of patrols without results that have continued along the border continue.

League of Nations: The League adopts a formal resolution condemning the Soviet Union for its invasion of Finland and calls on member nations to assist Finland.

British Government: The House of Commons meets in secret session for the first time since World War I. The debate is about supplies, and one good guess is that it is a hard look at the true impact of the U-boats on Britain's shipping imports.

Romania: King Carol receives a negative reply from the British on whether they will defend his country from the Soviet Union.

US Military: Lt. Colonel Dwight D. Eisenhower, a long-time aide to General MacArthur in the Philippines, boards the liner President Cleveland to return to the United States for re-assignment.

China: The Chinese Winter Offensive proceeds on multiple axes:

• Chinese 1st War Area clears Taihsing Shan and cuts Taotsing rail line
• 40th Army and 27th Army of Chinese 2nd War Area open offensive against Japanese 36th Infantry Division around Changtze and Tunliu
• 10th Army Group of Chinese 3rd War Area raids Fuyang, Yuhang, Nanchang, and Hangchow
• Chinese 5th War Area captures Changnaoyuan, Hsinchenshih, Chuankoutien, Chianghsitien, and Yangliuho
• Chinese 9th War Area turning back Japanese columns around Wulimiao, Tashihling, and Kueihuashu and also attacking around Fenghsin and Chingan 
• 27th Army Group of Chinese 9th War Area attacking around Chungyang, Kueihuashu, and Shihchengwan

The Japanese forces are reeling and giving up ground everywhere from this vicious attack, which they appear to have had some advance notice of.


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

Tuesday 12 December 1939

Finnish skiers beside a pile of Russian corpses.

Winter War Army Operations: The Finns are counterattacking. Finnish ski troops are able to move through the forests, whereas the Soviets are confined to the roads. Even Soviet Division that have ample ski equipment do not have men trained to use it. The Soviet tanks are a liability in the forests, hard to maintain in the brutally cold weather and restricted to the roads. They also are often left unprotected by sufficient infantry, as the Soviets do not believe in a combined-arms approach.

Colonel Hjalmar Siilasvuo has the Soviet 163rd Rifle Division surrounded at Suomussalmi. His troops have the only way in, the Ratte road, barricaded, but there still is no sign of any Soviet relief effort. He and his men wait.

At Taipale, the Soviets continue trying to smash through the Finnish defenses using only one division. By the end of the day, the Soviet commanders decide to bring in another division, the 10th Rifle Division, and more tanks and artillery. It will take a day or two for these to arrive.

The Finnish defenses at Kollaa also are holding. This is the linchpin of the entire Mannerheim Line and it is well-defended.

At Tolvajärvi, north of Lake Ladoga, the Finnish commander, Colonel Paavo Talvela, sees an opportunity to trap some Soviet troops by sending his troops across the frozen lakes Hirvasjärvi and Tolvajärvi. He sends one group in the north, consisting of two battalions, to attack the Soviet 718th Rifle Regiment. While the attack fails, it draws off Soviet reserves needed in the south. There, a Finnish battalion of the Finish 16th Regiment fends off a Soviet attack in the morning and goes on the offensive as planned. The Soviet troops are pushed back, and Talvela traps the entire Soviet Regiment, capturing its documents and killing its commander. The Soviets army loses over 1,000 dead and equipment (including 26 tanks) that the Finns can badly use. The Soviet 139th Rifle Division is largely destroyed.

The Soviet troops in the far north at Petsamo are being screened only lightly by the Finns, but there is really nowhere for them to go in the round-the-clock darkness of the Arctic winter.

The only Soviet bright spot is at Salla, in the waist of the country. The Soviets are consolidating their advance there, ridding the town of the remaining Finnish troops, and planning their next move west.

Winter War Naval Operations: Soviet submarine SC-311 sinks Finnish freighter Wilpas.

The Bremen (Ang, Federal Archive).

Battle of the Atlantic: The 52,000-ton German liner Bremen (no passengers) wins its gamble and makes it to Bremerhaven from Murmansk. Unbeknownst to its crew, British submarine HMS Salmon (Lt. Commander Edward O. Bickford) had sighted the Bremen but forbore from torpedoing it because that would have violated international law - liners require warning before being attacked. In fact, the Salmon surfaced and tried to give warning, but the liner blew right by it without apparently noticing the sub. Salmon then dove to avoid approaching Dornier Do 18 aircraft, and after he resurfaced, Bickford decided that it would be illegal to sink the ship. The Bremen is of use to the Germans as a barracks ship.

HMS Barham and HMS Duchess collide in the Mull of Kintyre nine miles off the Scottish coast in dense fog. Barham being a battleship and Duchess a destroyer, the later is cut in half and goes to the bottom. There are only 25 survivors and 124 perish.

The 496-ton British freighter Marwick Head hits a mine and sinks south of North Caister Buoy in the English Channel. Five survive and five perish.

The Admiral Graf Spee arrives off the River Platte estuary late in the day and spots the British Force G waiting for him. Captain Langsdorff is under orders to avoid combat. Since he is at the end of a long cruise after four months at sea, he takes those orders lightly, as some damage can be repaired in port while the engines are serviced. He dumps the Arado seaplane, removes extraneous equipment and prepares for battle. It is a fateful decision.

Kriegsmarine destroyers conduct more mine-laying operations in the English Channel.

German U-boat U-50 commissioned.

European Air Operations: The RAF begins occasional patrols over the Frisian Islands being used by Luftwaffe seaplanes to lay mines. They bomb Luftwaffe bases at Borkum and Sylt.

League of Nations: The Soviets say "Nyet!" to the League's offer to mediate and for a ceasefire.

British Government: Winston Churchill goes to Parliament and argues that Great Britain should invade Norway, stating, "it is humanity, and not legality, that we must look to as our judge."

General Wavell returns to the Middle East.

Convoy HX 52 departs from Liverpool and HX 12 from Halifax.

German Government: Hitler orders a doubling in the production of magnetic sea mines and munitions in general.

Admiral Raeder, who supports an invasion of Norway, tells Hitler about a meeting with pro-German Norwegian politician Vidkun Quisling. Hitler is intrigued and agrees to meet Quisling.

China: The Chinese Winter Offensive gets rolling:

• Chinese 5th War Area (western Anhwei, northern Hupei, and southern Honan with 22nd, 29th, 31st, and 33rd Army Groups) opens offensive around Chienchiang, Pailochi, Hsientao, Loyangtien, and Hsuchiatien;
• Chinese 9th War Area (northwest Kiangsi, Hupei south of Yangtze River, and Hunan with 1st, 15th, 19th, 27th, and 30th Army Groups) opens attacks around Wanshoukung, Tacheng, Kulopu, Shihtoukang, Kaoyushih, Hsiangfukuan.

In an early success, the Chinese 9th War Area captures Chungyang, Wanling, Puling, Hsiaoling, Mankanling, Chienchow, and Paitzechiao. This severs communications for local Japanese forces.

American Homefront: Actor Douglas Fairbanks passes away at 56 of a heart attack.


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

Monday 4 December 1939

A prewar photograph of U-36 (Type VIIA) which served as a training vessel until the outbreak of war - she was sunk by the British submarine Salmon on December 4, 1939 (the number on the conning tower was removed during the war)

Winter War: There is a huge snowstorm in Finland on 4 December 1939 that brings operations to a halt. On the whole, this favors the Finns, giving them time to recover from the initial shock of the invasion and develop foreign sources of aid. Helsinki has been evacuated of all non-essential personnel and only some 50,000 remain.

Winter War Army Operations: Poor weather and terrain is forcing the Soviets to use the roads which are typically not paved and not suited to the heavy tanks and other equipment they are using. The Finns, of course, notice the Soviet reliance on the very few good roads running north from Leningrad and in the other, more desolate parts of the front. They mine the roads and site their artillery with precision from their entrenched positions in the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets are barely moving forward either on the Karelian Isthmus.

North of Lake Ladoga, there are few good roads, so nature is the prime obstacle. The Finns have naval batteries at Taipale which can be swung around to attack ground targets. Once again, the Soviet forces are compressed into narrow killing zones in the endless forests. The Finns are in emplaced turrets with extensive experience of targeting the approaches to their guns, while the Soviet troops are on the move with smaller guns that are difficult to pull over the rutted and sometimes obstructed or mined roads.

Winter War Naval Operations: Soviet troops land on Suur Island and Pien-Tytarsaari Island.

With the Soviets picking up Finnish Islands, the Finns fortify their the Aaland Islands in the Gulf of Bothnia.

Battle of the Atlantic: The British Admiralty reveals that, since the outbreak of the war, it has lost 4% of its tonnage. It also states that it has imprisoned 144 U-boat crew as POWs.

HMS Nelson (Captain G.J.A. Miles), the flagship of the British Home Fleet (Admiral Charles Forbes), is damaged by a magnetic mine near Loch Ewe. There are 52 men injured in the crew.

In a rare sub-to-sub engagement, HMS Salmon (N 65), an S-class boat, sinks U-36 (Korvettenkapitän Wilhelm Fröhlich) off of Norway in the Heligoland Bight. All 40 crew perish. U-36 was a moderately successful boat with two ships sunk (2,813 tons) and one captured (1,617 tons) - before the war, she had been a training boat. The Salmon was heading north out of Wilhelmshaven toward Murmansk (Kola Peninsula) on a mission to scout out a proposed German base there. Salmon spotted U-36 on the surface not far from Stavanger. It only took one torpedo.

U-31 (Kapitänleutnant Johannes Habekost) sinks 1,271-ton Norwegian freighter Gimle. Three die, 16 survive.

U-31 also sinks 1,024-ton Norwegian freighter Primula. Eight parish, seven survive. The two actions are east of Stonehaven, Scotland in the North Sea.

Kriegsmarine sub chaser UJ-117 hits a mine and sinks.

British freighter Horsted hits a mine and sinks.

The Kriegsmarine lays more mines near Kristiansand.

The British release the US freighter Examiner from Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 47 departs from Southend, OB 47 from Liverpool, and HX 11 from Halifax.

A civilian building on fire in Helsinki due to Soviet bombing, 30 November 1939.

Soviet/American Relations: Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov replies to President Roosevelt's condemnation of the Soviet invasion of Finland. The reply comes in the Moscow Daily News and focuses solely on one aspect of the President's complaint, the bombings of civilian cities:

"Mr. Roosevelt’s suggestion that air bombardment of the population of Finland’s towns should not be permitted, insofar as it is addressed to the Soviet Government, is caused by a misunderstanding. Soviet airplanes have bombed airdromes, but they have not bombed towns and do not intend doing so, because our Government values the interest of the Finnish population no less than any other Government does. Certainly one may fail to see this from America, which is over 8,000 kilometers away from Finland. Nevertheless, facts are facts. In view of this, Mr. Roosevelt’s statement is, as can be seen, pointless."

Extensive research shows that the Soviets indeed were bombing Helsinki from the very first day of the war. There are many photographs of Helsinki buildings burning.

Anglo/French Relations: King George tours the BEF units in the western front and the Maginot Line. He also meets with  President Lebrun, Premier Daladier, and General Gamelin.

Peace Talks: The USSR refuses the Swedish offer of mediation in the Winter War. The ground is that it no longer recognizes the legitimate Finnish government, but rather its own puppet government. The Soviets make the rather bizarre claim that, since they are at peace with the Finnish Democrat Republic which they had set up with a Finnish Comintern member, they are no longer at war with Finland.

A Finnish appeal to the League of Nations is scheduled to be heard on 9 December 1939. The British suggest that they will attend, while the Soviets state flatly that they will not.

Poland: The developing underground movement in Poland is placed under the command of the Polish government-in-exile.

British Government: Lord Bernard Freyberg, a retired World War I vet, has been recalled to duty as a Major General. He departs for New Zealand to take over the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force and the New Zealand 2nd Division. It is the start of a long association with New Zealand for Major General Freyberg.

China: In the Battle of South Kwangsi, the IJA Taiwan Brigade captures Kunlunkuan northeast of Nanning.

The Japanese launch more spoiling attacks against the Chinese winter offensive, targeting the Chinese 2nd War Area around Wenhsi and Hsia Hsien.

A building on fire from Soviet aerial bombing in Helsinki, Finland - 30th of November 1939.

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