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 5 February 1940

U-41 (on left) was a German type IX U-boat of World War II. She was commissioned on April 22, 1939, with Kapitänleutnant Gustav-Adolf Mugler in command. U-41 conducted three patrols and was sunk by depth charges from HMS Antelope on February 5, 1940. All hands were lost.

Winter War Army Operations: On 5 February 1940, Soviet 7th and 13th Armies continue attacking the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets are not advancing, but they are not trying yet. For now, they are weakening the Finnish Mannerheim line in aid of a breakthrough at a later point.

Winter War Air Operations: Soviet air raids continue. The monastery of Valamo on Lake Ladoga is among the places hit, as well as churches.

Winter War Peace Talks: Secret peace talks continue between the Finnish Foreign Minister and Madame Kollontai, the Soviet ambassador to Sweden.

Battle of the Atlantic:  U-41 (Kapitänleutnant Gustav-Adolf Mugler) torpedoes Dutch tanker Ceronia which is damaged but makes it to port. It then sinks British freighter SS Beaverburn 150 miles south of Ireland. There are 76 survivors and one crew perishes

U-41 then attacks Convoy OA-84 south of Ireland without success. Instead, U-41 itself is sunk by depth charges by the destroyer HMS Antelope. Antelope's Captain, Lt. Commander White, wins the DSO for this first sinking by a solitary destroyer. There are no survivors of the U-boat.

US freighter Exford is detained by the British at Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 86 departs from Southend, Convoy SL 19F departs from Freetown.

Supreme Allied War Council: The fifth meeting takes place in Paris. A decision is taken to intervene in the Winter War first by sending aircraft and guns to Finland. The tentative plan thereafter is to stage landings at Narvik and other ports about 20 March 1940. After that, the troops would proceed by rail through Sweden to Finland. The Allied troops not only would seize the Norwegian iron ore mines, but also secure the Swedish mines.

This assumes Swedish and Norwegian acquiescence in the plan. Germany, of course, is making similar plans, but they are not relying on the kindness of anyone. The Allied plan makes little sense, envisioning using only two divisions (against the entire Soviet army) that do not even exist yet or would have to be diverted from the BEF in France. It appears calculated more to suppress Norwegian and Swedish iron ore delivers to Germany and to coerce Norway to the Allied side than to aid Finland.

British Chief of Staff General Sir Edmund Ironside writes afterward that everyone is "purring with pleasure" at this chance to go into action. BEF Chief of Staff General Henry Pownall, though, is not so pleased, writing in his own diary:

“For five months we have been struggling to make fit for action in the Spring a force that was dangerously under-equipped and untrained. There were signs that we were getting some reasonable way to our goal. If this business [the invasion of Norway] goes through, we shall be cut by 30%. Of all the harebrained projects I have heard of, this is the most foolish.”

Dutch Military: Commander-in-chief Izaak Reynders resigns effective on 6 February 1940. He is replaced by General Henri Winkelman. Reynders was disgraced by his intemperate reaction to the Mechelen Incident. The reason given is the lack of government support for increased defense expenditures.

British Military: General Percival becomes commander of 43rd Infantry Division.

US Government: The US Maritime Commission announces that Britain and France, in great need of shipping, are purchasing 113,000 tonnes of American cargo ships.

China: In the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese attack Wuning.

The Under-Secretary of State for Air, Captain H H Balfour, questions an Air Commodore about 250-lb GP bombs, which are about to be loaded into a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV of the Advanced Air Striking Force on an airfield in France (Imperial War Museum, official photographer SA Devon).

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

Friday 2 February 1940

Starboard 10.5 cm/65 mounting on Admiral Graf Spee, with 2 cm mounting in the foreground. Photograph was taken on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 50959.

Winter War Army Operations: The Soviets on 2 February 1940 continue their massive bombardment of the Finnish Mannerheim Line, along with probing attacks all along the line. They send a special assault squad against the Millionaire bunker, which captures it. The Soviets affix a 50 kg explosive to the roof and blow a hole in the roof and wall. The squad then retreats back to Soviet lines, suffering 75% killed in action. The Finns then recapture the bunker temporarily.

Otherwise, the Soviet 7th and 13th Armies only mount demonstration attacks, not intended to capture ground but to soften the defenses.

Further north, the Finnish 9th Division maintains its grip on Soviet 54th Division near Kuhmo. A Siberian ski battalion under Colonel Vyatsheslav Dmitrievitsh Dolin attempts to make contact with the trapped men, who otherwise are completely forgotten by the Kremlin as the main effort shifts to the Karelian Isthmus.

Winter War Air Operations: The Soviets continue bombing Finnish cities, including Helsinki and Sortavala. The Finns claim to have shot down at least five Soviet planes.

Battle of the Atlantic: U-59 (Kapitänleutnant Harald Jürst) torpedoes and sinks 839-ton British tanker Creofield 20 miles East of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. All 16 crew perish.

The U-59 also torpedoes and sinks 1,064-ton British freighter Portelet. There are 9 survivors and 2 perish.

British tanker Councillor hits a mine and sinks.

US light cruiser Helena, taking a shakedown cruise at Montevideo, Uruguay, sends a party to board the derelict Admiral Graf Spee and take photographs.

The French auxiliary patrol vessel FS Vaillant stops the US passenger liner Manhattan 25 miles south of Cape Vincent, Portugal. The Manhattan is ordered to proceed to Gibraltar.

Convoy OA 84 departs from Southend, while OB 84 departs from Liverpool.

Balkans: The Balkan Entente Conference officially begins. The ministers of Yugoslavia, Greece, Romania, and Turkey issue a statement expressing their desire for peace.

China: At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese capture Pinyang and Szelung and attack Wuning.

Port 10.5 cm/65 twin mounting on Admiral Graf Spee. At lower right is a 15 cm/55 mounting. The photograph was taken on 2 February 1940 by Ensign Richard D. Sampson, USN. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 50959.

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

Thursday 1 February 1940

Night artillery exchanges and air attacks at Summa, February 1940.

Winter War Army Operations: The Second Battle of Summa begins on 1 February 1940. Dispensing with any attempt at subtlety, the Soviet 7th Army dispatches an army of tanks, quite a few pulling armored infantry in sleds quickly dubbed "Molotov Coffins." They head directly at the center of the Mannerheim Line. It is a 12-mile stretch of open land, good tank terrain absent rivers and lakes, near Summa. Beyond is the key city of Viipuri, the ultimate objective.

The artillery barrage ramps up to 300,000 shells in 24 hours, more than has been fired at Summa since the start of the campaign. The 13th Army joins in, though the main effort is at the 7th Army. Together, the two Soviet armies have 14 divisions and six tank brigades, along with reserves filling the rest of the Karelian Isthmus.

Only regiment probing-style attacks are launched. The idea is to test the Finnish defenses, wear the Finns down and soften the defenses, not a breakthrough - yet.

New tank tactics also are tested. The tanks come in smaller numbers and with more infantry support, making them harder to destroy. A rarity in warfare up to this point, they also use tank flamethrowers. The Soviets escalate their artillery and air bombards, and attacks are screened with smoke. Unconcerned about losses, the Soviet Generals send their troops straight at the fortifications in dense masses in the distinctive attack known as à la russe.

The Finnish defense is complicated due to troop rotations they recently have made. The Finnish 2nd Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment has been brought to the area of the attack. While capable troops, the 9th Infantry Regiment happens to be completely Swedish-speaking. This is not unusual in Finland - some 6% of all Finns speak Swedish - but it creates communications issues.

While the Mannerheim Line has been battered by weeks of artillery barrages, the ruins serve as effective firing positions. The Finns hold the line for the time being. This first day is just an appetizer.

Winter War Air Operations: Aside from supporting the attack at Summa, the Soviets bomb Rovaniemi and Kemi. The Finns have both aircraft now from several nations, including the Americans and the British. Swedish volunteers are flying off of a frozen lake at Kemi.

Battle of the Atlantic: US President Roosevelt writes to his friend, First Lord of the Admiralty, and informs him that the British policy of detaining US freighters was hurting Anglo/US relations. "The general feeling is," Roosevelt writes, "that the net benefit to your people and the French is hardly worth the definite annoyance caused to us."

U-13 (Max-Martin Schulte) torpedoes 2,491-ton Swedish freighter Fram at 13:43 while it is lying at anchor in Aberdour Bay, Scotland. There are 14 survivors, and 9 perish.

U-59 (Oberleutnant zur See Harald Jürst) torpedoes and sinks 498-ton British freighter Ellen M. 20 miles northeast of Lowestoft, England at 20:44. All 9 crew members perish.

The British at Gibraltar detain US freighter Exminster, and they release US freighter Exochorda.

Convoy OB 83 departs from Liverpool, SL 19 departs from Freetown and HG 17 departs from Gibraltar.

Balkan Relations: The foreign ministers of Yugoslavia, Turkey, Romania, and Greece meet Belgrade to discuss issues of mutual concern.

German Military: General Erich von Manstein, chief of staff to Army Group A, is transferred to command of German XXXVIII Korps. This is done by his superiors partly in an effort to get him away from the center of power, as his innovative ideas about Fall Gelb are not appreciated. However, Hitler has heard about them and is intrigued. The Generals' plan backfires when Hitler manages to meet with Manstein at a formal reception honoring his (and other Korps commanders') appointment, where the two chat about how to attack in the West.

British Military: General Claude Auchinleck takes command of IV Corps.

British Government: The Admiralty takes control of merchant shipbuilding and repair.

Japanese Government: The new government embarks upon a five-year rearmament program. It presents a record budget, with almost half devoted to the military.

The government also officially protests the British seizure of 21 German nationals from the Asama Maru Incident of 21 January 1940. It demands the return of the Germans.

British Homefront: The Lord Mayor's Red Cross and St. John's Fund passes the  £1,000,000 level.

China: Communist leader Mao Tse-tung issues an appeal to the American Government to stand firm in its opposition to Japanese aggression.

In the dwindling Winter Offensive, the Chinese 2d War Area halts operations and withdraws from the Japanese-held city of Changtze.

At the Battle of South Kwangsi, the Japanese attack Pinyang.

The Imperial Japanese Air Force attacks Chinese airfields near Chinhua, Yushan, and Chushien.

Holocaust: Italy, which largely keeps its distance from the German holocaust agenda, enacts its own Employment laws imposing constraints upon Jews.

Mao Tse-Tung.

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