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

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

Saturday 23 September 1939

Polish POWs of the Germans, 23 August 1939.

Battle of Poland: At Krasnobród, the Polish cavalry of the Nowogródek Cavalry Brigade has assembled in some nearby forests. Early on the morning of 23 September 1939, they charge the town, which is located on a hill with and surrounded by anti-tank trenches. The German 8th Infantry Division is taken completely by surprise and falls back into the town. The Germans just so happen also to have cavalry at the town, and their cavalry responded but was beat back. The Poles, led by the 25th Greater Poland Uhlan Regiment under Col. Bogdan Stachlewski, take the town and capture the Germans' commanding officer, General Rudolf Koch-Erpach. Both sides take tremendous casualties, but it is a huge boost for Polish morale.

The Germans announce the fall of Lviv.

The surrounded Fortress of Modlin and nearby Warsaw continue to hold out. Morale is high even as rations dwindle.

German radio announces that Germany has taken 450,000 prisoners and destroyed 800 Polish planes.

German Propaganda: The German government issues a statement that proclaims: "The Polish Army of a million men has been defeated, captured, or routed. No single Polish active or reserve division escaped this fate." It states that organized resistance in Poland has ended, but for a few holdouts "in Warsaw, in Modlin and on the Hela Peninsula."

European Peace Efforts: Mussolini, in a speech to fellow fascists in Rome, urges a cease-fire and a peace based on current frontiers. He also somewhat ominously states that the country must "strengthen our army in preparation for any eventualities." He does, however, reiterate Italy's neutrality.

Battle of the Atlantic: Two Finnish steamers carrying cellulose, the Walma, and Martti-Ragnar, are sunk.

Western Front: German forces counter-attack to little purpose.

German/Soviet Relations: German Foreign Minister Ribbentrop tells his ambassador in Moscow, Schulenberg, that the time has come to sign a treaty for "the definitive structure of the Polish area" and that he is willing to fly to Moscow - again - to complete it.

German Navy: U-54 is commissioned.

Kapitän zur See Kurt-Caesar Hoffmann takes command of the Pocket Battleship Scharnhorst.

Holocaust: The Nazis confiscate all radios in the possession of Jews.

British Homefront: Sigmund Freud passes away from cancer of the mouth and jaw in London at age 83.

Latin American Relations: The Panama Conference (held in Panama) begins. It establishes a maritime security zone for 300 miles around the Americas, to be patrolled by a Neutrality Patrol. All hostile submarines are banned from the port.

The conference is formally titled "First Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the American Republics for Consultation Under the Inter-American Agreements of Buenos Aires and Lima.”

Japanese Government: Admiral Kichisaburō Nomura, considered a moderate, becomes a Foreign Minister in the government of General Abe.

American Homefront: Cookie Lavagetto of the Brooklyn Dodgers goes 6 for 6 as the Dodgers get 27 hits and beat the Philadelphia Phillies 22-4.

September 1939

September 1, 1939: Invasion of Poland
September 2, 1939: Danzig Annexed
September 3, 1939: France, Great Britain Declare War
September 4, 1939: First RAF Raid
September 5, 1939: The US Stays Out
September 6, 1939: Battle of Barking Creek
September 7, 1939: Polish HQ Bugs Out
September 8, 1939: War Crimes in Poland
September 9, 1939: The Empire Strikes Back
September 10, 1939: The Germans Break Out
September 11, 1939: Battle of Kałuszyn
September 12, 1939: The French Chicken Out
September 13, 1939: The Battle of Modlin
September 14, 1939: Germany Captures Gdynia
September 15, 1939: Warsaw Surrounded
September 16, 1939: Battle of Jaworów
September 17, 1939: Soviets Invade Poland
September 18, 1939: Lublin Falls
September 19, 1939: Germans, Soviets Hook Up
September 20, 1939: the Kraków Army Surrenders
September 21, 1939: Romania Convulses
September 22, 1939: Joint Soviet-German Military Parade
September 23, 1939: The Panama Conference
September 24, 1939: The Luftwaffe Bombs Warsaw
September 25, 1939: Black Monday for Warsaw
September 26, 1939: Warsaw on the Ropes
September 27, 1939: Hitler Decides to Invade France
September 28, 1939: Warsaw Capitulates
September 29, 1939: Modlin Fortress Falls
September 30, 1939: Graf Spee on the Loose

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