Monday 26 February 1940

Soviet soldiers investigate a Finnish Vickers 6-ton tank.

Winter War: The Finns are preparing a new defensive line further west, the T Line, on 26 February 1940. Units already are being ordered to repair it.

Today is the Battle of Honkaniemi, the only Finnish tank attack of the Winter War.

Winter War Army Operations: Finns of the 23rd Division, II Corps have spent the night traveling to the little town of Heponotko, which is about 3 km from the train depot in Honkaniemi. By 04:00, they are in position. The 4th Armoured Company, composed of 13 Vickers 6-ton tanks, has traveled 50 km during the same time and meet them there 30 minutes later. During the journey, the 4th Armoured lost 5 of its 13 tanks due to engine failures and the like.

Captain I. Kunnas is in charge. He orders an artillery barrage and splits his remaining tanks between each flank. The artillery, though, aims short and hits the Finnish troops, causing 30 casualties.

The Finns advance, but are quickly stopped by the Soviet forces. The Finnish tanks prove completely ineffective, being targeted by much larger Soviet T-26 and T-28 tanks as well as 45 mm anti-tank guns. The Finnish tanks did make it to the Soviet line but were quickly knocked out there.

By 10:00, Captain Kunnas received orders to retreat. The Soviets reported to headquarters that they had destroyed six Finnish tanks with no losses to their own tank force.

Winter War Peace Talks: The Finnish Foreign Minister returns to Stockholm for more talks with Madame Kollontai.

Battle of the Atlantic: The 83,700-ton liner Queen Elizabeth departs Clydebank with minimal crew on a top-secret visit to Halifax, Nova Scotia and thence New York. She is one of the few ships to date fitted with a degaussing cable around her waterline to neutralize magnetic mines. Her greatest defense, though, her speed - large liners like her do not travel in convoys.

The British at Gibraltar detain US passenger liner Washington.

Convoy OB 99 departs from Liverpool, Convoy HX 23 departs from Halifax.

European Air Operations: Luftwaffe planes fly over Paris and attract anti-aircraft fire.

British Homefront: Due to naval bases being located in the north of Scotland, the British War Offices announces that commencing 1 March 1940, only those with special passes will be permitted north of the Caledonian Canal.

US Government: Sumner Welles visits with Mussolini and his son-in-law, Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, in Rome.

US Military: The War Department creates the Air Defense Command as a component of the US First Army. Its mission is to defend the continental United States against attack.

A destroyed Finnish Vickers 6-ton tank; behind it is a Soviet T-26.

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

2020

Tuesday 19 December 1939

Germain freighter Arauca runs for Port Everglades.

Battle of the Atlantic: Admiralty scientist on 19 December 1939 figure out an antidote for the German magnetic mines using the one retrieved near Shropshire by Commander John G. D. Ouvry and Doctor Albert Wood on November 23, 1939. Dr. C. F. Goodeve and Dr. E. C. Bullard lead a team that comes up with "degaussing," which creates a magnetic field that de-polarizes the ships so they do not attract mines. The initial solution is to wrap bulky electric cables around ships.

The German crew of the 32,354-ton liner Columbus scuttles it about 300 miles off Cape May, New Jersey. Two crewmen perish. It has been tailed by neutrality patrol ships since leaving Vera Cruz. The US Tuscaloosa has been broadcasting the ship's location in the clear, and the British destroyer HMS Hyperion is approaching. This is another instance of the US openly siding with the British while remaining legal. The Tuscaloosa rescues 567 men and 9 female stewardesses and takes them to New York.

The German refrigerated freighter Arauca is challenged by the British destroyer HMS Orion. The Orion fires a shot across the ship's bow to make it stop, and the shot lands in US territorial waters. The Arauca ignores the warning and makes it to Port Everglades, where it is interned.

US Secretary of State Cordell Hull instructs his Ambassador to the Court of St. James Joseph Kennedy to tell the British that they need to cease hostile acts in the territorial waters of neutral nations such as the United States.

British freighter City of Kobe (4,373 tons) hits a mine and sinks near Cross Sand Buoy, Greater Yarmouth. One crewman perishes.

Kriegsmarine raider Atlantis is commissioned.

Captain Langsdorff of the Admiral Graf Spee commits suicide in Buenos Aires by shooting himself in bed, draped in a German flag. He writes, "for a captain with a sense of honor …. his personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship." An honorable commander, he made irreversible mistakes at crucial junctures that doomed his ship. However, his ship accomplished much more to aid the German war effort than most historians give him credit for.

The French release the US freighter Nishimaha from Marseilles.

Convoy OA 56 departs from Southend, OB 55 from Liverpool, OB 56 from Liverpool, SL 13F from Freetown, and HXF 13 from Halifax.

Winter War Naval Operations: Soviet battleships Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiya and Marat and escorting warships bombard Finnish shore battery at Saarenpaa.

Winter War Air Operations: Ilmari Juutilainen of the Finnish Air Force gets his first victory. He flies a Fokker D.XXI and shoots down an Ilyushin DB-3 bomber. His brother Captain Aarne Juutilainen is fighting with distinction on the ground in the Battle of Kollaa.

Finnish soldiers at the Battle of Summa.

Winter War Army Operations: The Soviets continue their attempt to bypass the Finish fixed defense through the (frozen) swamps near Summa. By this point, they have lost about 20 tanks as the Finns use Molotov Cocktails, satchel charges, and anything else at hand to destroy the isolated Soviet tanks at night.

At Suomussalmi, the Finns are building a hidden ice road parallel to the Ratte road on a nearby lake to ease their hit-and-run attacks on the Soviets stuck on the road.

At Ägläjärvi, the Finns surround the Soviet 75th Division.

At Petsamo in the far north, the Soviet advance to the south reaches Nautsi. They can get no further. Partly as a result of Finnish resistance and partly because of supply difficulties in the extremely cold weather, the Russians retire from Nautsi to a point about twenty miles north. The temperatures take a sudden drop to 25 degrees below zero, Fahrenheit, in mid-December.

Anglo/French Relations: The Supreme War Council holds its fourth meeting in Paris. It decides to send help to Finland if asked, though the neutral Scandinavian nations feel this is dangerous and will widen the conflict there. Prime Minister Chamberlain then returns to London.

German/Japanese Relations: Hitler meets with incoming Japanese ambassador Saburo Kurusu.

Holocaust: Reinhard Heydrich appoints Adolf Eichmann to organize deportations of Jewish civilians in occupied areas.

Chinese Winter Offensive: Chinese forces continue making gains. The Chinese North Route Force recaptures Kaofengyi. The Japanese 33rd and 40th Infantry Divisions withdraw from Shihmen and Shihpihu in the face of Chinese 9th War Area attacks. The Chinese 3rd War Area is interdicting Japanese river traffic on the Yangtze River using anti-tank guns.

Chinese soldiers in the Winter Offensive, 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