Showing posts with label Moscow Peace Treaty. Show all posts

Thursday, May 19, 2016

March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!

Friday 22 March 1940

Bf 110 night fighters.

European Air Operations: Handley Page Hampden bombers conduct a standard night reconnaissance and leaflet drop over the Ruhr industrial area and northwest Germany on 22 March 1940. For the first time, though, Luftwaffe Bf 110 Zerstorer (destroyer) night fighters come up to challenge the British. One bomber is damaged.

Along the Dutch border, a Hawker Hurricane tangles with Bf109s and crashes.

Battle of the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe conducts another sweep over the British east coast and attacks the Cromer Knoll lightship without scoring any hits.

The British freighter Loch Assater hits a mine and sinks.

Convoy SL 25 departs from Freetown.

Western Front: Journalist William Shirer, based in Berlin, writes in his diary that "Germany can now try to force the issue on the western front, but this is improbable."

Soviet Military: General Konstantin Rokossovsky, arrested in 1937 during the purges that ended the lives of many of his colleagues, is released from prison and rehabilitated. This is part of Stalin's pattern of imprisoning his top generals, torturing them, executing some, and somewhat arbitrarily restoring others to their former, or even more prominent, positions.

French Government: While new Prime Minister Paul Reynaud has kept former Prime Minister Edouard Daladier in the cabinet, they find that they cannot agree on a strategy. This also has implications for relations with the British.

Turkey: The government orders all Turkish freighters to return to Turkish waters ASAP.

Finland: The Soviets continue occupying the Finnish port of Hanko, which is theirs for 30 years under the Moscow Peace Treaty. They rename it Hangö. The official handover is at midnight on 22 March 1940.

Romania: King Carol II vows to defend his country's borders.

India: The Muslim League advocates splitting India into Muslim and Hindu countries. This is an idea that is highly controversial among other revolutionaries.

China: The Chinese 101st Division, having bagged Wuyuan on the 21st, move on to capture the strongpoint at Hsin-an-chen in order to cut the road along the Yellow River that leads to Wuyuan. The Japanese send 80 trucks full of troops from Dashetai via Siyitang to make a forced crossing of the Wu-chia River at Ta-Tsai-chu 10 km (6.2 mi) north of Wuyuan. This is a Muslim region with Chinese troops that are full of fervor.

In the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Chinese 46th Army attacks the Japanese 22nd Army at Lingshan.

British Homefront: Gerald Winter, a farmer from Sussex, is awarded an Empire Gallantry Medal for dragging an RAF pilot from a burning plane.

American Homefront: Popeye the Sailor -- Stealin Aint Honest # 78 March 22, 1940, is released. Popeye battles Bluto for a gold mine!

Future History: Haing S. Ngor is born in Los Angeles, California. He becomes famous in the 1984 film "The Killing Fields" (1984), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Thereafter, he continues acting and becomes an author.

March 1940

March 1, 1940: Soviet Breakthroughs Past Viipuri
March 2, 1940: Soviets Swarm West in Finland
March 3, 1940: Soviets Across Gulf of Viipuri
March 4, 1940: USSR Apologizes to Sweden
March 5, 1940: Katyn Forest Massacre Approved
March 6, 1940: Finns Head to Moscow
March 7, 1940: The Coal Ships Affair
March 8, 1940: Peace Talks Begin in Moscow
March 9, 1940: Soviets Harden Peace Terms
March 10, 1940: Germany Draws Closer to Italy
March 11, 1940: Winter War Peace Terms Finalized
March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)
March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends
March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia
March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe
March 16, 1940: First British Civilian Killed
March 17, 1940: Enter Dr. Todt
March 18, 1940: Mussolini To Join the War
March 19, 1940: Daladier Resigns
March 20, 1940: Soviets Occupy Hango Naval Base
March 21, 1940: Paul Reynaud Leads France
March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!
March 24, 1940: French Consider Alternatives
March 25, 1940: Reynaud Proposes Action
March 26, 1940: C-46 First Flight
March 27, 1940: Himmler Authorizes Auschwitz Construction
March 28, 1940: Allies Ponder Invading Norway
March 29, 1940: Soviets Prefer Neutrality
March 30, 1940: Allied Uncertainty
March 31, 1940: The Tiger Cage

2019

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe

Friday 15 March 1940

15 March 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Turing Bomb Bletchley Park

Bletchley Park Bombe.

Winter War: The Finnish Diet ratifies the Moscow Peace Treaty 145-3 (52 abstentions) on 15 March 1940 after Prime Minister Risto Ryti states:

Finland, as well as the whole of Western civilization, is still in the greatest danger, and no one can say what tomorrow may bring. We believe that by choosing peace we have acted in the best way for the moment.

The Soviet troops receive a different message:

The mighty force of the Red Army has again secured safety and a lasting peace!

Battle of the Atlantic: British aircraft carrier HMS Eagle suffers damage near the Nicobar Islands when a stowed 250 lb. aircraft bomb accidentally explodes. There are 14 deaths, 3 injured. The aircraft carrier needs minor repairs.

British freighter Melrose hits a mine and sinks off Dunkirk.

British freighter Peridot hits a mine and sinks off Dover.

Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser Kanimbla, a converted Australian passenger ships, is operating in the Sea of Japan. It captures two Soviet freighters, the Selenga and the Vladimir Mayakovsky (US copper), carrying ore to Germany. The captured ships are taken to Saigon in French Indochina via Hong Kong.

Convoy OA 110G departs from Southend.

European Air Operations: The RAF drops leaflets over Warsaw after dark. In an odd interlude during the Phony War, one of the Whitleys lands by mistake in a field behind the Siegfried Line. The startled inhabitants not only do not call the authorities, but they also chat with the British airmen and refuel their plane. They take off again before the authorities arrive amidst some small-arms fire.

Military Intelligence: Alan Turing's Government Code and Cypher School group at Bletchley Park makes a giant stride in reading German codes. Its first working Bombe, the "Victory," is completed at the British Tabulating Machine Company at Letchworth, Hertfordshire. The Bombe goes operational and begins reading some German codes in virtually real-time.

Terrorism: Indian nationalist Udham Singh is charged with the assassination of Sir Michael O'Dwyer, colonial ex-governor of Punjab.

US Government: Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles returns to Rome.

Middle East: Turkish and French commands hold a conference at Aleppo.

Czechoslovakia: There is unrest on the first anniversary of the German takeover. The SS imposes harsh discipline with numerous arrests.

Romania: The government grants an amnesty for the fascist Iron Guard ("Greenshirts"), outlawed since the 21 September 1939 assassination of Prime Minister Calinescu. The 800 released from prison must swear an oath of allegiance to King Carol II. This is a key moment in the gradual shift of the country's allegiance away from the Western Allies due to their ineffectiveness on the Continent.

Australia: The new Chief of the General Staff is Sir Cyril Brudenell White. He had held the same position from 1920-1923 and is recalled to service and promoted to General to take this position, which became available when his predecessor Lieutenant-General Ernest Squires unexpected passed away.

China: At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese 22nd Army captures Yung-shun east of Nanning.

American Homefront: "The Grapes of Wrath," starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford from the novel by John Steinbeck, is released.

Future History: Phil Lesh is born in Berkeley, California. He becomes famous in the '60s and '70s as a bass guitarist for the Grateful Dead.

HMS Eagle.

March 1940

March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia

Thursday 14 March 1940

14 March 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com Viipuri Castle

Viipuri Castle burning.

Winter War: With the Winter War over, the terms must be implemented beginning on 14 March 1940. The Finnish government begins evacuating 470,000 citizens from areas being ceded to the USSR in Karelia. Many evacuees burn their homes, villages and other property.

The Finns also evacuate Viipuri. Viipuri Castle is burning.

The Finnish negotiators return to Helsinki with the signed Moscow Peace Treaty. The Finnish Parliament begins debating ratification.

Lord Halifax requests return of British war matériel from the Finns. Finnish ambassador to the Court of St. James G.A. Gripenberg refuses, stating that Finland properly bought it.

UK General Pownall notes the cynical nature of the "aid" being offered to the Finns: "Of 4 or 5 division that were to be sent, not 1 was meant for Finland- maybe a brigade or 2. A most dishonest business"

Finnish sniper Simo Hayha awakens from a coma after being shot and learns that the war is over.

The Soviet rank and file are frustrated and angry at the war and its outcome. They are in no mood to celebrate. One Soviet soldier, Lt. Viktor Iskrov: "Finns walked out of their trenches with vodka bottles, shouting: 'Russkies, come drink with us!' But we just sat in our trench."

The New York Times contributes to the vitriol being launched at the Allied powers for the Finnish capitulation: "Once again a small nation relied on the help of the Western powers and paid dearly for her trust."

Battle of the Atlantic: Convoy SL 24 departs from Freetown.

European Air Operations: Three Heinkel 111s attack three fishing trawlers in the North Sea but fail to sink them.

German Homefront: Economic Czar Hermann Goering decrees that all items made of copper, bronze, nickel, and other useful metals be surrendered to the war effort. The pretext is to donate them as a gift to Hitler for his 51st birthday.

Polish Government-in-exile: The Poles publish a white paper that appears designed to cause dissension within the Axis. Among other tidbits, it reveals a 1935 discussion by Hermann Goering with Polish leader (at the time) Marshal Pilsudski in which Goering suggested a joint invasion of Ukraine. The Poles further claim they emphatically rejected the idea.

Australia: Prime Minister Menzies forms a new coalition cabinet.

Canada: The government establishes an "Inventions Board" to process "secret weapons" suggestions from the public.

Hong Kong: Hong Kong offers to contribute £100,000 to London for the construction of two minesweepers and four harbor defense boats.

China: In the continuing Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese 22nd Army counterattacks against the Chinese advancing on Nanning from the Yangshuo area.

German Homefront: No economy is too petty to be considered. The government urges the country's tea drinkers to save their used tea for recycling into artificial coffee.

American Homefront: Paramount releases "Road to Singapore," the first Bob Hope/Bing Crosby/Dorothy Lamour "Road" film.

Soviet soldiers examining a captured Finnish flag.

March 1940

March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends

Wednesday 13 March 1940

13 March 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com map of Winter War territorial adjustments

Finnish territorial concessions from the Winter War.

Winter War: The Winter Wars ends at 11:00 Finnish time on the morning of 13 March 1940. Fighting continues in numerous areas past that deadline due to communication issues or sheer indifference, but also in cases out of spite. There are Soviet bombing missions to Vuosalmi, Koivisto, and Iso Kalastajasaarento. Soviet artillery gunners, many if not all aware of the deal, empty their loads during the morning, killing hundreds of Finns. To be fair, the Finnish gunners also fire, but they do not have nearly the firepower.

Red Army signalman Anatoly Derevenets:

The entire earth started vibrating- all weapons on both sides. 2 days' ammunition spent in minutes.

The final order of the day from Marshal Mannerheim:

Peace has been concluded between our country and the Soviet Union, an exacting peace which has ceded to Russia nearly every battlefield on which you have shed your blood on behalf of every thing we hold dear and sacred. You did not want war. You loved peace, work and progress; but you were forced into a struggle in which you have done great deeds, deeds that will shine for centuries in the pages of history.

Estimated total losses from the 105-day Winter War (sources vary):

Dead: 24,923 Finns, 200,000+/- Soviets
Wounded: 45,557 Finns, unknown Soviets
Tanks Lost: 3 Finns, 1600+- Soviets
Planes Lost: 61 Finns, 750-900 Soviets
Guns Lost: unknown Finns, 300+ Soviets
Civilian Dead: 637 Finns, 0 Soviets
Civilians Wounded: 1400 Finns, 0 Soviets
Buildings destroyed: 4,500 Finns, 0 Soviets.

The Soviets have had 1,200,000 men committed to the conflict. The Finns have had 200,000. The official Soviet summary states that they lost 48,000 dead and 158,000 wounded, but most historians believe those figures are vastly understated. There were tremendous numbers of death and injuries, overwhelmingly among the Soviet forces, from frostbite and starvation. Some Soviet dead were due to NKVD blocking detachments.

The subject of Soviet casualties has been the subject of wild guesses that often are influenced by the political environment of the moment - extremely typical in the USSR. Molotov, immediately after the war, gave an estimate of 200,000 Soviet killed and wounded. In the post-Stalin era, though, Nikita Khrushchev ratchets that figure up to 1,000,000 in his memoirs. The first figure appears low, the latter high - but nobody knows.

The war is a Soviet victory, but at a tremendous cost to its reputation. Its failure to overcome Finnish resistance despite massive numerical superiority in all areas of warfare betrays incompetence at all levels. This results partly from the Stalin purges of the 1930s, but also from unrealistic communist principles applied to the military, lack of proper training in all ranks and weaponry that is unsuited to the conditions faced and, in many cases, of mediocre quality for the era. Many Soviet soldiers of all ranks are disgusted at the casualties and the small gains attained.

Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner broadcasts news of the Armistice at 12:00. Later in the day, he also states that Finland is looking into the possibility of creating a defensive alliance with Norway and Sweden. Swedish Foreign Minister Guenther, Lord Halifax and Prime Minister Chamberlain all address their legislatures. The British troops on board ships for transport to Norway disembark.

While the pretext to send Allied troops to Norway has evaporated, the idea remains very much alive in the Supreme War Council. As First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill, a notorious hawk, puts it in a letter to Foreign Minister Halifax:

Whether they [the Germans] have some positive plan of their own [for Norway]… I cannot tell. It would seem to me astonishing if they have not.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-44 (Korvettenkapitän Ludwig Mathes), a successful boat with 8 merchant sinkings of 30,885 tons, hits a mine in Minefield No. 7 in the North Sea and sinks. All 47 crew perish. Date and cause are guesses, this may have occurred later from other causes.

German freighter La Coruna is scuttled by its crew when spotted by Royal Navy armed merchant cruiser Maloja south of Iceland.

Convoy OA 109 departs from Southend, Convoy OB 109 departs from Liverpool, Convoy OG 22F departs from Gibraltar, and Convoy HX 27 departs from Halifax.

German/Italian Relations: The two countries arrange for overland delivery of coal supplies to Italy, as supplies by sea have been disrupted by the Coal Ships Affair of previous days.

US Government: Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles leaves London for Rome.

The New York Herald Tribune publishes a scathing editorial castigating the United States Congress for not supporting the Finns when it mattered.

US Navy: The Fleet Marine Force concludes its Fleet Landing Exercise (FLEX) No. 6 at Culebra, Puerto Rico. The exercise is useful in developing techniques for rubber-boat landings and ship-to-shore communications.

Terrorism: An Indian nationalist assassinates Sir Michael O'Dwyer, the former governor of Punjab.

Holocaust: Hitler tells Colin Ross: "I'd welcome a positive solution to the Jewish question, but I haven't space for my own people."

Future History: Al Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He becomes a well-known jazz performer in the 1960s and thereafter.

Field Marshal Mannerheim. He always operates from a command train parked in an inconspicuous spot. His legendary status in Finland only grew during the war.

March 1940

March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)

Tuesday 12 March 1940

12 March 1940 worldwartwo.filminspector.com U-50

U-50 crew on 12 March 1940. They went out on their next patrol and were sunk, 6 April 1940, in a North Sea minefield as they were returning home. Everybody in this picture was killed. (Federal Archive).

Winter War: At 09:00 on 12 March 1940, Finnish President Kyösti Kallio authorizes the peace delegation in Moscow to sign an agreement ending the war. There is no further negotiation, the Soviet terms have not changed throughout the meetings and agreement is a formality. The Finns meet with Molotov at 22:00 to formalize the document. They capitulate and sign the Moscow Peace Treaty around midnight on the 12th.

The Armistice goes into effect at 11:00 on 13 March. There is no ceasefire until that time. The treaty must be ratified within three days.

As demanded by the Soviets, the Finns give up the entire Karelian Isthmus where the bulk of the fighting took place and which contains their only defensive fortifications. The Finns lose all access to Lake Ladoga. They also surrender a long-term (30 years) lease on the naval base at Hango, a slice of the eastern portion of the country around battle-torn Salla, the major cities of Viipuri and Vuokis, and nearby towns of Sortavala and Käkisalmi. The surrendered territory is rich in natural resources, but more importantly, served as the only defensive buffer zone against the Soviet Union. As a consolation, they receive back the basically worthless port of Petsamo in the far north while the Soviets retain the nearby peninsula which is in a strategic location.

The end result is that Finland loses roughly 10% of the country, 35,000 square km. About 430,000 Finns are displaced, 12% of the population.

Kallio says:

This is the most awful document I have ever had to sign. May the hand wither which is forced to sign such a paper.

The Allies are hopelessly behind the curve. French Prime Minister Daladier still, on this final day, tells his Chamber of Deputies that an Anglo-French expeditionary force of 50,000 men is ready to go - all Finland has to do is ask. With the Moscow Peace Treaty signed, such a request will be a long time coming.

The Swedes add insult to injury by hinting that, finally, when it no longer matters, it might be open to a defensive alliance with Finland.

The British go even further. They actually load 20,000 men - five brigades - on ships at Rosyth in the Firth of Forth. The transports are ready to go to Trondheim, Bergen, and Stavanger. Another brigade is on alert at Scapa Flow to head to Narvik and occupy the key port there. The troops are odds and ends from the Home Army, mostly reservists hastily called up recently, ill-equipped and lacking in training and morale. The most organized troops are serving with the BEF on the continent and thus unavailable.

However, the British War Cabinet is uncertain about how to proceed. No agreement to a British military presence has been received from either Norway or Sweden, and such agreement would effectively violate their neutrality. Nobody knows what to expect, and how to handle armed opposition is up in the air. Prime Minister Chamberlain condemns the entire idea, but he is rapidly losing moral authority due to the deteriorating international situation that he helped create.

Winter War Army Operations: There is a blizzard in the southern and central sectors of Finland that halts most operations. The Soviet 7th Army continues assaulting Finnish defenses at Viipuri. There is fighting throughout the city's suburbs. The Finnish-American Legion, some 300 strong, reaches the city to help defend it.

Winter War Air Operations: The weather keeps most planes grounded. Before things close down, a Soviet Polikarpov I-16 "Ishak" fighter (the Finns call it Siipiorava ("Flying Squirrel")) wages a solitary battle against a lone Finnish anti-aircraft gunner located on a water tower at the city of Utti. The fighter makes numerous passes, obsessed with eliminating the gunner, but finally, the anti-aircraft gunner wins and shoots it down.

Battle of the Atlantic: Having been forced to abandon the key naval base at Scapa Flow due to the sinking of the Royal Oak, the British Home Fleet finally returns from temporary quarters at Rosyth and Loch Ewe. The harbor anti-aircraft defenses have been improved, the netting at the harbor entrances extended, and access to the entire region restricted to authorized personnel only.

British freighter Gardenia hits a mine and sinks.

The Kriegsmarine commissions U-99.

Convoy OB 108 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HG 22 departs from Gibraltar.

European Air Operations: Luftwaffe Heinkel He-111s make attacks along the English east coast, without result.

US Government: Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles, having met Mussolini, Hitler, Chamberlain, and Daladier, now meets with First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill. Churchill is in fine form, sitting by the fire smoking a 24-inch cigar, downing whiskey and soda. As Welles recounts later, "It was quite obvious that he had consumed a good many whiskeys before I arrived," and he exhibited "a cascade of oratory, brilliant and always effective, interlarded with considerable wit."

Republican primaries begin in New Hampshire. President Roosevelt still has not made a firm statement about whether he will pursue a third term.

Middle East: British General Wavell sets out to South Africa for consultations with Jan Smuts.

China: At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Chinese 46th Army attacks the key Japanese base from the east.

Holocaust: The Germans ship Jews from Stettin in boxcars to Lublin. The victims are forced to march for 18 hours through a blizzard carrying all of their possessions. There are 72 deaths out of the thousand people.

Future History: Look Magazine has a six-page feature on a Yale Law School student who also was a partner in a New York modeling agency (he was a model himself) and an assistant coach on the Yale football team. The male model was Gerald Ford. He became the 38th President of the United States in 1974 upon the resignation of Richard Nixon.

Future US President Gerald Ford and his girlfriend/model Phyllis Brown, Look magazine, 12 March 1940. Ford works as a model while college.

World War Two Daily

Pages

Thursday, May 19, 2016

March 22, 1940: Night Fighters Arise!

Friday 22 March 1940

March 1940

Wednesday, May 18, 2016

March 15, 1940: The Bletchley Bombe

Friday 15 March 1940

March 1940

March 14, 1940: Evacuating Karelia

Thursday 14 March 1940

March 1940

March 13, 1940: Winter War Ends

Wednesday 13 March 1940

March 1940

March 12, 1940: War is Over (If You Want It)

Tuesday 12 March 1940

March 1940