Day 180 February 27, 1940

A bleak day for Finland. Red Army continues its general offensive towards Viipuri with the intention of crushing the withering Finnish resistance in a pincer movement including an assault across frozen Viipuri bay to encircle the city. At 7 PM, commander of the Finnish Army of the Isthmus, Lieutenant-General Erik Heinrichs orders withdrawal from defensive positions in the V-line. An orderly retreat towards Viipuri begins.

Finnish government begs for assistance from its Scandinavian allies, but Norway and Sweden reaffirm their neutrality in fear of Soviet reprisals.

300 Finnish children are evacuated to Stockholm, Sweden.

Day 179 February 26, 1940

Finland. Red Army renews its offensive towards Viipuri. Finnish 23rd Division counterattacks with 8 Vickers Mark E light tanks (Battle of Honkaniemi, the only Finnish tank attack). They destroy 3 Soviet tanks but all 8 Finnish tanks break down or are destroyed and the Finns withdraw. http://www.winterwar.com/Battles/Naykkijaervi.htm

Newly-constructed British liner Queen Elizabeth leaves Clydeside on the Spring tide. Due to her weight, today is one of only two tides this year high enough to float her from dock. Churchill worries that Germany will attempt to sink her. He establishes an elaborate ruse to convince German spies that she is going to Southampton for final fitting. Instead she will head across the Atlantic to New York, where she will remain for 8 months before going to Singapore for refitting as a troopship. During the course of the war she will sail 500,000 miles and carry more than 750,000 troops from Australia and America to various theatres. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Queen_Elizabeth#Maiden_voyage

Day 178 February 25, 1940

At 7.55 AM, British submarine HMS Narwhal (escorting convoy HN-14 from Bergen, Norway to Methil, Scotland) sights U-63 on the surface, which then dives to avoid attack. Destroyers HMS Escapade, Escort, Inglefield & Imogen hunt U-63 for 2 hours, eventually forcing U-63 to the surface with depth charges at 9.50. U-63 is scuttled 100 miles East of Wick, Scotland (1 life lost). 24 survivors are picked up by HMS Inglefield & Imogen and landed at Leith, Scotland on Feb 27. The crew members are taken prisoner and survive the war as POWs. http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/hn14.html

No. 110 Army Co-operation (Auxiliary) Squadron of the Royal Canadian Air Force, which departed Halifax, Nova Scotia on 15 February, arrives in Britain.

Day 177 February 24, 1940

Copenhagen. Norwegian, Danish and Swedish foreign ministers reassert their neutrality. They make a joint declaration not to assist Finland and refuse to allow foreign troops access through their territory. However, British envoy to Finland Sir George Gordon Vereker indicates 20-22,000 Allied soldiers will leave for Finland on March 15, provided the Finns make a formal request by March 5.

At 9 PM, U-63 sinks Swedish MV Santos 70 miles East of the Orkneys (31 lives lost including 6 survivors from SS Liana, rescued by Santos on 16 Feb). Next day, 12 survivors including 2 from Liana will be taken to the Scottish mainland by destroyer HMS Gallant. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/277.html

First flight of Hawker Typhoon prototype, P5212, by Hawker's test pilot Philip Lucas.

Day 176 February 23, 1940

Soviets fear the imminent arrival of foreign aid or troops in Finland. They scale back the Summa offensive towards Viipuri and offer peace terms to Finland. USSR demands the entire Karelian Isthmus (including Viipuri, Finland’s second largest city) and the areas surrounding Lake Ladoga, as well as the islands in the Gulf of Finland and a 30-year lease on the Hanko Peninsula (at the mouth of the Gulf of Finland); they will evacuate Petsamo region in the North of Finland in return. The Soviet offer will expire on march 1.

Increasing the pressure on the Finns, Sweden announces it will not intervene in the conflict or even allow Allied troops to pass through Swedish territory. Strangely, this does not lead to a change in Allied planning to support Finland by just that route.

U-53 is sunk by depth charges from British destroyer HMS Gurkha in the North Sea, 25 miles South of the Faroe Islands (all 42 hands lost).

Day 175 February 22, 1940

The Gulf of Finland is frozen solid. Soviet 43rd Division attacks with trucks and tanks across the ice and captures Lasisaari and Koivisto islands. Finns spike the guns of the coastal battery on Koivisto before withdrawing across Viipuri Bay.

Operation Wikinger. Without informing the Luftwaffe, 6 German destroyers sortie into the North Sea through a narrow lane between minefields, to disrupt scouting of German warships by British fishing boats. In the moonlight, Heinkel 111s from 4/KG26 mistake the destroyers for Allied ships and bomb the rear of the convoy. At 7.45 PM, destroyer Z1 Leberecht Maas is hit by two bombs and sinks (282 lives lost, 60 survivors). Destroyer Z3 Max Schultz takes evasive action, hits a mine and sinks with her crew of 308. http://www.german-navy.de/kriegsmarine/articles/feature4.html

U-50 sinks British tanker SS British Endeavour 125 miles west of Vigo, Spain (5 lives lost). 32 crew members are picked up by British steamer SS Bodnant and landed on the Portuguese island of Maderia.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/274.html

Day 174 February 21, 1940

Hitler gives command of the invasion of Norway, now named Operation Weserübung, to Generalleutnant von Falkenhorst & demands a plan by 5 PM. Demonstrating the speed and flexibility of the German military, von Falkenhorst buys a Baedeker tourist guide to Norway. Working from maps in the book, he has draft operational plans ready for Hitler’s approval at 5.

At 3 AM, U-50 sinks Dutch SS Tara (carrying grain to Rotterdam) with 3 torpedoes 50 miles southwest of Cape Finisterre, Spain. The entire crew takes to the lifeboats. They either land on the Spanish coast or are picked up by Spanish trawler Milin. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/272.html

At 6.09 PM, British steamer SS Loch Maddy is hit by U-57 and abandoned 25 miles southeast of Wick, Scotland (4 lives lost). She will be sunk by U-23 on 22 Feb. 35 survivors are picked up by destroyer HMS Diana and landed at Scapa Flow.

Finland. Finnish V-line on the Karelian Isthmus continues to crumble. Soviet forces penetrate towards Viipuri.

Day 173 February 20, 1940

War comes to the waters of the Americas. 75 miles southwest of Halifax, Nova Scotia, U-96 sinks British MV Empire Seal at midnight (carrying steel from USA to Belfast, 1 dead, 56 survivors picked up by the British CAM ship Empire Flame and landed at Halifax) and neutral American MV Lake Osweya at 04.53 (en route to Iceland, all 39 lives lost). In the Caribbean, U-129 sinks Norwegian SS Nordvangen at 4 AM 25 miles east of Trinidad (all 24 dead) & U-156 hits American SS Delplata with 3 torpedoes at 11.31 AM 60 miles west of Martinique. All 53 crew abandon ship and are picked up the next day by USS Lapwing, which scuttles Delpata with gunfire after finding her unsalvageable. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1353.html

U-54 goes missing in North Sea (all 41 hands lost), probably lost to mine barrages laid by the British destroyers HMS Ivanhoe and HMS Intrepid in early Jan 1940.

Finland, Soviets tanks dragging troops on armoured sleds penetrate the Finnish V-line as far as 1 km in places.

Day 172 February 19, 1940

Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer’s rampage in U-23 continues, after sinking HMS Daring yesterday. At 4.05 AM, British steamer SS Tiberton, carrying iron ore from Norway, is hit with 1 torpedo east of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. She sinks in 30 seconds with all 33 crew. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/271.html

Finland. In a repeat of the battles of late Dec 1939, a Soviet division attacks across the ice of frozen Lake Suvanto (in the Taipale sector, near Lake Lagoda on the Eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus). Again, Finnish defenders punish the Soviets with concentrated artillery fire, leaving 700-1,000 dead on the ice.

Alarmed by the Altmark incident on Feb 16, Hitler increases the pace of planning for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.

Day 171 February 18, 1940

On Hitler’s orders, General Halder reluctantly incorporates Von Manstein’s thrust through the Ardennes Forest into his plans to invade France. Von Manstein, Hitler and even Halder will ultimately take credit for the move.

Finland. Finns destroy the 'regimental motti' north of Lake Ladoga & capture 32 field guns, 30 antitank guns, 1 mortar, 20 tanks, 15 machineguns, 25 trucks & 32 field kitchens. Soviets losses; 1,000 dead, 250 taken prisoner. 166 Finnish troops die in the battle. On the Karelian Isthmus, Soviet tanks break the V-line in two places.

Despite being at war only with France, Britain & the Commonwealth, German U-boats sink 6 merchant vessels from France, Spain, Greece, Panama, Holland & Norway (coal, grain and general cargo, 21,000 tons, 40 lives lost). In addition, U-23 sinks British destroyer HMS Daring with two torpedoes, escorting convoy HN-12 40 miles east of the Orkney Islands, Scotland (156 lives lost, 4-15 survivors reported).

http://www.axfordsabode.org.uk/darfo102.htm

Day 170 February 17, 1940

Hitler learns of the Manstein plan. Protocol dictates that new corps commanders dine with the Führer. Hitler's aide-de-camp Colonel Schmundt arranges for Hitler to hear Von Manstein’s proposal. Hitler, searching for an alternative to Halder’s lame thrust into Belgium, is impressed and notes similarities with his own ideas.

Finland. The Finns are no match for Soviet tanks in the open snow and fall back to the V-line. The Soviet attack again grinds to a halt on prepared defensive positions.

Battle of the Atlantic. At 2 AM, U-10 sinks Norwegian SS Kvernaas off the Dutch coast. All 20 crew abandon ship in two lifeboats and are picked up by Dutch SS Oranjepolder.

At 4 PM, U-37 sinks British SS Pyrrhus 75 miles west of La Coruña, Spain (8 lives lost). 77 survivors are picked up by British merchants Uskside & Sinnington Court and landed at Gibraltar. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/263.html

At 8.36 PM, U-48 sinks Finnish SS Wilja south of Bishop Rock. All 27 crew are picked up by Dutch steamer Maasdam and taken to Havanna, Cuba.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/262.html

Day 169 February 16, 1940

A Lockheed Hudson of No.233 Squadron locates Graf Spee’s support ship the Altmark (suspected of carrying prisoners captured by Graf Spee) in Josing Fjord, Norway. Captain Vian commanding destroyer HNS Cossack intercepts Altmark, which is escorted by Norwegian torpedoboats. Nonetheless, Churchill personally orders Vian to stop Altmark and board her to free the prisoners. 4 German sailors are killed and 5 wounded as 299 prisoners are released. Hitler is convinced the Allied will not respect Norwegian neutrality to send aid to Finland, despite Norway’s repeated protests, and steps up his plans for a Scandinavian invasion.

Finland. Following Mannerheim’s order yesterday to abandon the main defensive line, Finnish troops receive the order to withdraw to intermediate V-line positions at 3.45 PM. Near village of Kuhmo, Finnish 9th division wipes out the remnants of Soviet “Dolin” ski brigade capturing numerous automatic weapons. Of 1,800 Soviets that skied into Finland, there are only 70 survivors.

U-14 sinks 4 neutral ships carrying coal from Britain to Denmark and Sweden.

Around midnight, Danish SS Rhone is hit first (9 dead) then Danish SS Sleipner (13 dead), which stops to help. Sleipner launches her lifeboats with 30 survivors picking up 11 more from Rhone. After 9-12 hours afloat, all 41 survivors are rescued by Swedish trawler Standard and British destroyer HMS Kipling.

At 9.25 PM, U-14 sinks two Swedish coal ships. SS Osmed sinks after being hit with 1 torpedo 20 miles north of Kinnaird Head, (13 dead). 7 survivors were picked up by the British trawler Loch Hope. 10 minutes later, SS Liana is also sunk with 1 torpedo (10 lives lost). 2 survivors are also picked up trawler Loch Hope. 8 others are rescued by Swedish steamer SS Santos. It is a brief reprise for these Jonahs, as Santos will be sunk on 24 February with the loss of six men from SS Liana.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ship.html?shipID=253

Day 168 February 15, 1940

Generalmajor Rommel takes command of 7th Panzer Division. After providing Hitler's personal protection in Poland, Rommel sought a divisional command. After rejecting a specialized mountain division (Rommel’s forte in WWI), he lobbies hard for a Panzer division. With Hitler's tacit support he is given 7th Panzer.

Finland: Finnish Commander-in-Chief decides to abandon his Mannerheim Line. At 8 PM, he orders II Army Corps to withdraw to intermediate defensive positions (the “V-line”) on the Isthmus.

North of Lake Ladoga, Finns destroy the motti around Lavajärvi village taking 2 tanks, 5 field guns, 2 antitank guns, 8 trucks, 3 machineguns, 4 field kitchens, numerous rifles and ammunition. Finnish 9th division surrounds Soviets “Dolin” ski brigade (Colonel Dolin is already dead; his brigade is reduced to 800 men).

Neutral shipping suffers the German blockade of Britain. 4 steam merchant (carrying ore, oil cake, oil and fruit) are sunk for a total of 16,600 tons.

At 02.07, U-50 sinks Danish SS Maryland, carrying oil cake, west of Scotland (all 34 hands lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/256.html

At 05.45, U-37 sinks Danish SS Aase carrying Spanish fruit to Bristol (15 lives lost). 1 survivor is picked up by HMS Verity on 17 Feb.

At 08.37, U-26 sinks Norwegian SS Steinstad 75 miles west of Aran Island, Ireland (13 dead). A lifeboat with 11 survivors makes landfall at Arranmore Island on 20 Feb.

At 14.00, U-48 sinks Dutch tanker MV Den Haag (11800 tons of oil) 150 miles west of Ouessant (26 dead). The U-boat had spotted the tanker about five hours earlier, but waited to evade a flying boat. 13 survivors in one lifeboat are picked up by British MV Glenorchy. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/257.html

Day 167 February 14, 1940

Finland. Finnish troops start pulling out of the Lähde sector of the Mannerheim line, withdrawing to rearguard positions and leaving a gap in the Line 2-3 km wide and 6 km deep. Kirvesmäki stronghold on the Taipale River changes hands for the fourth time in 3 days. Soviets attack with artillery, aircraft and tanks; they retake the Kirvesmäki stronghold. Finns are out of reserves and cannot mount a counterattack.

Graf Spee’s supply ship Altmark, after waiting in the South Atlantic for several weeks, reaches Norwegian territorial waters off Trondheim. Altmark's Captain Heinrich Dau intends to remain in Norwegian neutral waters and avoid attack by the British.

Battle of the Atlantic. German U-boats exact a heavy toll on merchant ships carrying food and fuel in British waters, sinking 4 steam merchant for a total of 29,000 tons.

1.35 AM, U-57 hits British tanker SS Gretafield (13000 tons of fuel oil) with 1 torpedo (10 dead) 20 miles east of Wick, Scotland. Gretafield drifts ashore burning. 31 survivors are picked up by armed trawlers HMS Peggy Nutten & Strathalladale. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/251.html

5 AM, U-53 sinks Danish SS Martin Goldschmidt west of Ireland (15 dead, 5 survivors picked up by Norwegian SS Berto). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/249.html

8 AM, U-26 sinks British steamer Langleeford (6800 tons of wheat) 70 miles northwest of Fastnet, Ireland (4 lives lost). The Germans question the survivors, give them food & dressings and set them on course to Ireland. 30 survivors make landfall at Ross, Co. Clare. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/250.html

5 PM, U-48 sinks British merchant SS Sultan Star (9000 tons of food) 200 miles west of Land’s End (1 dead). Destroyers HMS Whitshed, Vesper and Acasta drop 22 depth charges but U-48 escapes undamaged. 72 survivors in lifeboats and picked up by HMS Whitshed and landed at Plymouth the next day. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/252.html

Day 166 February 13, 1940

Battle of the Atlantic. At 2 AM, U-50 fires several torpedoes at Norwegian tanker Albert L. Ellsworth (all miss) then departs. The crew panic and abandon ship in lifeboats and rafts. However, 2 survivors from MV Snestad (rescued Feb 11 by Albert L. Ellsworth) drown in the scramble. 42 men reboard Ellsworth at dawn and continue on to Bergen. U-25 missed Norwegian SS Chastine Mærsk with the last 2 torpedoes overnight but, at dawn, sinks her with the deck gun in the North Sea. All 30 crew are rescued by Norwegian SS Hilda. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/248.html
U-53 sinks Swedish SS Norna west of Ireland (18 lives lost).

Karelian Isthmus. Finns try to retake the lost main defensive line in the Lähde sector but are pushed back by Soviet tanks. Instead, Red Army enlarges its breakthrough but still does not mount a decisive thrust. Finnish troops retake the Kirvesmäki stronghold on the River Taipale, overrun by Soviet troops yesterday.

In Sweden, Finnish Foreign Minister Tanner asks Swedish Government to send troops to Finland. The Swedes declines, being too concerned with Allied plans to ‘aid Finland’ via the Swedish iron ore fields and likely German intervention to prevent this.

Day 165 February 12, 1940

Finland. 5 AM, Soviet tanks drag explosive-laden sleds up to the Million Fort which is destroyed, killing everyone inside. The Mannerheim Line is truly breached but Soviet 7th Army does not pour through. Soviets capture the Kirvesmäki stronghold in Taipale and resist Finnish attempts to retake it. This is the beginning of the end for the Finns.

U-33 & Kapitänleutnant von Dresky’s inglorious war ends. At 2.50 AM, Royal Navy minesweeper HMS Gleaner locates U-33 laying mines in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland, and drops depth charges. U-33 is badly damaged and forced to the surface at 5.22 AM and then sinks rapidly (25 lives lost, including von Dresky). Despite orders to remove the rotors from the secret Enigma code machine and throw them into the sea, one man among the 17 survivors has 3 rotors in his pockets. These are sent to Alan Turing’s naval cryptanalysis section of Government Code and Cypher School (2 of the rotors are only used by the Kriegsmarine). http://www.mikekemble.com/ww2/u33.html

Battle of the Atlantic. U-53 sinks Swedish SS Dalarö west of Scotland (captain lost, 29 survivors picked up by Belgian trawler Jan de Waele). U-26 sinks Norwegian Nidarholm west of Ireland (all 25 crew picked up 10 hours later by the Norwegian SS Berto).

British also enforce their blockade of Germany. Royal Navy destroyer HMS Hasty intercepts and captures German blockade runner SS, 300 miles west of Porto, Portugal. Morea is en route from Vigo, Spain to Germany, cargo unknown. 12 miles off Cabo Frio, Brazil, aircraft from British cruiser HMS Dorsetshire spot German freighter SS Wakama. HMS Dorsetshire stops Wakama but her crew set her on fire, so that Wakama will not fall into British hands, and take to the lifeboats. 46 survivors are picked up by HMS Dorsetshire.

Day 164 February 11, 1940

With the Mannerheim Line weakening, Timoshenko opens his main attack. 9.30 – noon massive artillery barrage (heard 100 miles away), then 120,000 Soviet troops attack into the 12 mile Summa gap. 123rd division penetrates the Lähde sector and 245th Rifle Regiment under Colonel Rosly takes Fort Poppius at 1.30 PM by parking armored cars in front of the machinegun ports. Finns try to plug the gap but are cut down by Soviet tanks. Strangely, Soviets do not send in reinforcements to exploit this gap. Fighting goes on around Million Fort all night. http://www.mannerheim-line.com/summa/summa20000eng.jpg

North Sea. U-53 sinks Norwegian MV Snestad with 2 torpedoes (all 36 crew rescued by Norwegian tanker Albert L. Ellsworth) and damages British tanker MV Imperial Transport (2 lives lost). U-9 sinks Estonian SS Linda (1 dead). U-50 sinks Swedish SS Orania 65 miles (14 lives lost). 10 survivors are rescued the next day by HMS Faulknor. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/243.html
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/242.html

U-37 sinks British trawler Togimo off Milford Haven with the deck gun (1 dead).

Day 163 February 10, 1940

Finland. A crack opens in the Mannerheim Line. Red Army attacks again across the Karelian Isthmus from Summa to Taipale. The Mannerheim Line holds in most places but the Soviets wade across the Munasuo swamp and through several rows of barbed wire to achieve a breakthrough in the swampy but poorly fortified Merkki sector.

Two wooden British ships HMS Salve and HMS Servitor successfully sweep for magnetic mines on the sea bed, dragging a long charged electrical cable which detonates the mines in their wake.

From 5-7 PM, U-48 stops, inspects and then sinks Dutch steamer Burgerdijk (carrying grain from USA to Rotterdam) 40 miles from Land’s End, England. The crew and passengers abandon ship in lifeboats and are picked up 12 hours later by Dutch steamer Edam and taken to England. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/239.html

At 9 PM, U-37 sinks Nowegian steamer Silja (carrying salt from Gibraltar to Bergen) with 1 torpedo southwest of Ireland (all 16 lives lost).

Day 162 February 9, 1940

Finland. Mannerheim Line starts to crack in the Summa sector. Soviet troops take a bunker near the village of Karhula, north of Marjapellonmäki (Hill 38). Finns are unable to retake the position despite bringing up reserves. North of Lake Ladoga, Finnish troops surround Soviet JR 203 creating the 'regimental motti'.

German destroyers Z3, Z4 and Z16 lay 110 mines in The Shipwash, a busy sea lane in the North Sea east of Harwich, England. Mines laid near Liverpool by U-30 on Jan 6 claim another victim. British steamer SS Chagres (1500 tons Cameroonian bananas) sinks 10 miles from her destination (2 lives lost). 62 crew members are taken to Liverpool by anti-submarine trawler HMS Loch Montreith.

Germany. OKH Chief of Staff Halder tires of von Manstein’s criticism of Case Yellow, his invasion plan for France, Belgium and Holland. Halder promotes Manstein to command an army corps garrisoning Poland, well away from planning forthcoming campaigns.

Day 161 February 8, 1940

Finland. To spur diplomatic moves towards peace, USSR asks Finland to choose an island in the Gulf of Finland to give up as a Soviet military base. To press home their case for a settlement, Soviets continue their daily shelling and aerial bombing of Mannerheim Line fortifications and launch attacks around Summa with tanks pulling armored sleds. The sleds contain explosives to be dragged up to the Finnish concrete bunkers and detonated.
In addition, at 10.15 AM, two Soviet divisions shell the Kirvesmäki Cape and attack across the River Taipale which has been quiet for a week. They take two Finnish strongholds at Terenttilä at the extreme East end of the Mannerheim Line where the River Taipale empties into Lake Ladoga (Finnish casualties 219 men, with 32 killed).

There is no relief for the Soviet divisions abandoned North of Lake Ladoga by Timoshenko’s plan. Finnish 9th division annihilates 1500 Soviet soldiers in mottis from 54th division around Kuhmo.

Day 160 February 7, 1940

With alarming lack of security, British and French newspapers publish Allied Supreme War Council’s decision to send aid to Finland. Naturally, this raises Finnish expectations of reinforcement, alarms Norway and Sweden (both reaffirm their neutrality) and further alerts Germany to threats to vital Swedish iron ore supplies. However, popular support for action to save Finland grows in Britain and especially France.

Finland. Red Army attacks the Summa gap for the 7th consecutive day. The daily artillery bombardment and tank/infantry attacks, followed by Finnish counterattacks, weakens the Mannerheim Line fortifications, exhausts the defenders and sucks in the Finnish reserves.

At 6 AM, Belfast-Liverpool ferry MV Munster (carrying general cargo, 45 crew, 190 passengers) hits a mine (laid Jan 6 by U-30) and sinks a few miles from Liverpool. Everyone on board is taken to Liverpool by British steamer SS Ringwall.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/236.html

Day 159 February 6, 1940

Finland. Soviet shelling of the Mannerheim Line fortifications continues on the Karelian Isthmus, but probing infantry and tank attacks are restricted to Summa village and Marjapellonmäki in the nearby Karhula sector (Hill 38). http://www.mannerheim-line.com/hill38.htm Further North, above Lake Ladoga, Finnish 9th division completes the encirclement Soviet 54th division and start cutting it into mottis.

Estonian steamer Anu hits a mine and sinks 30 miles East of its destination of Dundee, Scotland (en route from Gothenburg via Aberdeen). The captain, his wife and four crew drown and the cook later dies of burns. This minefield in the mouth of River Tay was laid on Dec 12 1939 by U-13 and also caused damage to British steamer SS City of Marseilles on Jan 6 1940 (1 life lost).

In Britain, the iconic "Careless Talk Costs Lives" slogan debuts, designed to prevent war gossip. http://www.fulltable.com/VTS/aoi/f/fougasse/fp.htm

Day 158 February 5, 1940

U-41 damages Dutch tanker Ceronia (3.30 AM, no casualties) and sinks British SS Beaverburn 150 miles south of Ireland (1.10 PM, 1 killed, 76 crew rescued by British tanker Narragansett and landed at Falmouth). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/234.html However, U-41 is sunk with depth charges by HMS Antelope (all 49 hands lost). Antelope's Captain, Lt. Cdr. White wins the DSO for the first U-boat sinking by a lone destroyer.

Allied Supreme War Council meets in Paris. France enthusiastic agrees to send British troops to Finland via landings at Narvik, seizing Swedish iron ore mines and the port of Luleå en route, despite the declared neutrality of Norway and Sweden! However, the operation is assigned only 2 British divisions, which only exist on paper and will have to be diverted from BEF in France. British Chief of Staff General Sir Edmund Ironside notes in his diary “everyone purring with pleasure”, unaware of detailed German plans to invade Norway with much larger forces.

BEF’s Chief of Staff General Henry Pownall is furious, recording in his 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.”

Day 157 February 4, 1940

Finland. Consistent with Timoshenko’s small unit tactics, Soviet artillery, aircraft and tanks bombard Finnish positions in the Summa gap but Red infantry only advance on Summa village. Above Lake Lagoda, Colonel Dolin’s Siberian ski battalion arrives near the village of Kuhmo and counterattacks Finnish 9th division. After a week of pressure, Finnish IV Corps completes the destruction of West Lemetti motti, capturing 4 field guns, 2 antitank guns, 1 mortar, 32 tanks, 6 machineguns, 120 rifles and 26 trucks. Orders for the attack are notable for the first official use of the term “motti”.

At 4.17 AM, U-37 torpedoes Norwegian steamer SS Hop 100 miles South of the Shetland Islands (all 17 hands lost). About the same time 100 further miles South in the mouth of Moray Firth, HMS Sphinx finally sinks in heavy seas after being damaged by bombs on Feb 3.

At 9.25 PM, U-37 sinks British steamer SS Leo Dawson 15 miles east of Bressay, Shetlands, after missing with the first torpedo (all 35 hands lost).

Day 156 February 3, 1940

British minesweepers HMS Sphinx, Speedwell and Skipjack, sweeping the mouth of Moray Firth, are attacked by German bombers. About 9.30 AM, a bomb destroys the aft deck of HMS Sphinx, killing many below decks as well as the Captain on the bridge. Sphinx is crippled but not taking water, so the crew remains on board as she is taken in tow by HMS Speedwell. However, Sphinx capsizes and sinks in very heavy seas 19 hours later. Frigate HMS Boreas, summoned along with other Royal Navy vessels to provide assistance, rescues crewmembers from the foundering ship and from the sea but a total 54 lives are lost. http://www.halcyon-class.co.uk/sphinx/hms_sphinx.htm
http://www.halcyon-class.co.uk/sphinx/wreck_details.htm

At 9.36 AM, U-58 spends 13 hours and 3 torpedoes chasing and sinking tiny Estonian vessel SS Reet in the North Sea halfway between Stavanger, Norway & Aberdeen, Scotland (18 lives lost).

At 2.32 PM, U-25 torpedoes and sinks British steamer SS Armanistan 100 mile West of Lisbon, Portugal. The entire crew is rescued by Spanish vessel SS Monte Abril and landed on the Spanish island of Tenerife off the West coast of Africa.

Day 155 February 2, 1940

U-59 sinks British steamers SS Creofield (6.24 AM, all 9 lives lost) and SS Portelet (8.40 PM, 2 lives lost) with 1 torpedo each, 20 miles East of Lowestoft, Suffolk, England. 9 survivors from Portelet are picked up by the Finnish steamer SS Oscar Midling and landed 100 miles North at Immingham, England.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/226.html

Finland. Soviet shelling, aerial bombing and small unit combined infantry/armour attacks continue on the Karelian Isthmus, designed to wear down the Finnish defenders rather than penetrate the fortified defensive line. Further North, above Lake Lagoda, Finnish 9th division continues to surround Soviet 54th division near Kuhmo. In a rare example of reinforcing the trapped Red Army units, Siberian ski battalion under Colonel Vyatsheslav Dmitrievitsh Dolin is sent in to help 54th division.

Day 154 February 1, 1940

After weeks of artillery bombardment, Red Army begins the first phase of its renewed attack on the Summa sector of the Karelian Isthmus, where Timoshenko has concentrated most of his forces. This 12 mile stretch of open land, unencumbered by lakes and rivers, leads directly to Viipuri, Finland’s second city. A massive artillery barrage drops 300,000 shells in 24 hours on the Mannerheim Line around Summa. However, only regiment-sized probing forces are sent forward to test the effectiveness of new Soviet tank/infantry close-support tactics. This is only a dress-rehearsal of the expected main assault by the Soviets. http://www.winterwar.com/Maps/Frontline2.htm

At 1.43 AM, U-13 sinks Swedish steamer SS Fram, at anchor in Aberdour Bay, Scotland, with 1 torpedo (9 lives lost). 14 survivors are picked up by destroyer HMS Khartoum and armed trawler HMS Viking Deeps.

At 8.44 PM, U-59 sinks British coaler MV Ellen M. (1 torpedo) 20 miles East of Southwold, Suffolk, England (all 9 lives lost).

Day 153 January 31, 1940

Just after midnight, U-13 sinks Norwegian steamer SS Start (carrying coal from Sunderland) with 1 torpedo halfway between Stavanger, Norway & Aberdeen, Scotland (all 16 lives lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/222.html

U-21 has torpedo troubles. 2 torpedoes fired at Danish SS Vidar (carrying steel from Grimsby) malfunction but the third strikes Vidar (16 lives lost), immobilizing her 25 miles East of Aberdeen. Danish steamer SS Disko stops to pick up 18 survivors; U-21 fires another dud torpedo at her. SS Vidar finally sinks the next day. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/223.html

Commander Timoshenko has spent 3 weeks preparing to assault the Mannerheim Line. He has 12 fresh divisions on the Karelian Isthmus & artillery lined up side by each. Opposite the Summa gap alone, he has 400 heavy artillery pieces (200 mm calibre or more) and innumerable smaller 75 & 45 mm guns, which are not camouflaged due to the Finns lack or artillery & attack aircraft. Soviet artillery has been pulverizing Finnish forts all month. Timoshenko is ready.

Day 152 January 30, 1940

German planes again bomb shipping in the English Channel and North Sea. British cargo steamers SS Highwave, Giralda and Bancrest are sunk off the Orkney Islands, Scotland. SS Voreda is badly damaged and beached off the East Anglian Coast on Winterton Shoal.

At 7 AM, U-55 attacks convoy OA-80G, sinking British tanker SS Vaclite about 50 miles off Land’s End, England. The crew of 35 is picked up by the Italian steamer SS Pollenzo and landed at Barry. At 11 AM, U-55 attacks again, sinking Greek SS Keramiai. U-55 is sunk by depth charges from the escorts HMS Whitshed, HMS Fowey and French destroyers Valmy and Guépard, and a RAF Short Sunderland from No. 228 Squadron (41 survivors are rescued but Kapitänleutnant Werner Heidel goes down with his ship).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/221.html
http://www.aukevisser.nl/others/id705.htm

German torpedo boat Iltis mistakes U-15 for an enemy submarine and rams her 50 miles North of Wilhelmshaven, Germany. U-15 sinks with all 25 hands lost.

Day 151 January 29, 1940

At 5 AM, Colonel Siilasvuo's 9th division attacks Soviet 54th division, which has been moving slowly towards the road junction at Kuhmo. 54th division is stopped dead in its tracks, to be cut into mottis.

German planes attack vessels off the British coast. Unarmed lightship East Dudgeon is strafed and bombed. 8 crew take to the lifeboat which capsizes near shore drowning 7. Several other British and neutral ships are destroyed.

At 3.30 PM, Norwegian SS Eika carrying salt from Spain is sunk by a torpedo from U-51 (14 lives lost). Harald Støle (age 16) and Alfred Johansen are rescued by U-51. Støle turns 17 on the voyage to Wilhelmshaven, arriving 8 February. Both men will be home in Norway soon after.
http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/eika.html

USSR suggests negotiations to the Finns via a diplomatic note to Sweden. "Soviet Union has no objection in principle to a possible agreement with the Ryti (Finnish) government." Simultaneously, Red Army is preparing a massive assault on Finnish defenses.

Day 150 January 28, 1940

Finland. Soviet shelling of Finnish defensive positions on the Karelian Isthmus continues, with increasing intensity. Fort Poppius and Million Fort in the Lähde sector near Summa are badly damaged by the bombardment, leading to defensive weakness in the Mannerheim Line. On the North shore of Lake Lagoda, Finns destroy the Pieni-Kelivaara motti in one day, capturing 2 field guns, 2 antitank guns, 9 mortars, 9 machineguns and 100 rifles. Dug in Soviet troops in the nearby West Lemetti motti resist a similar attack, leading to new tactics to gradually reduce mottis.

German submarines sink 2 neutral Greek ships. At 2.52 AM 100 miles West of Brest, steam merchant SS Eleni Stathatou is hit but not sunk by a torpedo from U-34. Having only one torpedo left, U-34 waits for Eleni Stathatou to sink. When she starts moving again, U-34 sinks her at 4.21 with the last torpedo (12 lives lost).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/217.html

At 8 PM 200 miles off Portugal, U-44 sinks coal carrier SS Flora with one torpedo (all 25 hands lost).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/218.html

Day 149 January 27, 1940

Finland. At the "Motti meeting", General Hägglund orders Finnish IV Corps to attack the "Pieni-Kelivaara" and "Lemetti West" mottis to test various tactics.

U-20 destroys 4 small, empty, neutral steamers off the Orkneys. At 8 PM, Norwegian SS Faro is damaged by a torpedo explosion 20m away but does not sink. The crew of 15 takes to the lifeboats. 7 men in one boat reboard Faro at dawn and drift ashore in Taracliff Bay. The other lifeboat drifts away, coming ashore on Copinsay the following day with 1 man still alive (7 lives lost). U-20 torpedoes Danish SS Fredensborg (20 lives lost) and SS England (another 20 dead) coming to the rescue of Faro at 8.52 and 9.24.

http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/212.html
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/214.html

At 11.13 PM, U-20 torpedoes Norwegian SS Hosanger (17 lives lost). The sole survivor, Magnus Sandvik, floats on a raft for 15 hours until he is rescued by HMS Northern Reward. Sandvik is too frozen to attach a line to himself, so a sailor from HMS Northern Reward jumps overboard to fasten it to him. He is transferred to HMS Maori and hospitalised at Kirkwall.

Day 148 January 26, 1940

HMS Durham Castle hits a mine, laid by U-57 on 21 Jan, and sinks 11 miles off the Northeast coast of Scotland. Durham Castle, an 8,000 ton former passenger ship with Union-Castle Mail SS Co. and recently requisitioned by the Admiralty, is being towed to Scapa Flow for use as a stores and accommodation ship.

Finland. Fighting continues along the Taipale River at the eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus. Finnish 7th Division defending Taipale announces overall losses of 816 men killed and 2020 wounded, since the start of the war. Soviet losses are unknown but likely 10 times this, given the WWI-like slaughter that has taken place. Further North, the last units of Finnish 9th division arrive in the village of Kuhmo for the assault on Soviet 54th division.

Phoney war. About half the 750,000 children evacuated from London since Sept 1939 have now returned. Many people in England believe that war with Germany has been averted.

Day 147 January 25, 1940

Germany tests Norwegian, Belgian and Dutch neutrality. U-14 sinks Norwegian SS Biarritz, sailing from Antwerp (Belgium) to Oslo, 36 miles off the coast of Holland. 26 crew and 11 passengers (including women and several Norwegian sailors returning home) die. 21 survivors are picked up by Norwegian steamer Borgholm. Despite this provocation, Norway remains steadfastly neutral, paralysed by fear of German aggression.

At 04.11 AM, U-44 sinks French SS Tourny in convoy 56-KS with one torpedo 20 miles off Porto, Portugal (8 lives lost, 9 survivors rescued by Spanish steamer Castillo Monforte). U-44 hunts another steamer all night but is depth charged and chased off by an escort vessel.

5 miles off the east coast of England near Newcastle, U-19 sinks Latvian SS Everene at 9.12 PM (1 killed, 30 survivors picked up by British fishing boats Dole and Evesham), and Norwegian SS Gudveig at 9.30 (10 lives lost, 8 survivors).
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/210.html

Day 146 January 24, 1940

At 11.40 AM, U-44 sinks French steamer SS Alsacien (cargo of phosphate from Africa to France) with one torpedo 5 miles off the Portuguese coast, near Lisbon (4 lives lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/206.html

U-23 has been hunting Norwegian steamer SS Varild (in ballast between Norway and England) since 8 PM the day before. U-23, fires 2 torpedoes but the first jams in the tube the second runs off course, becoming a kreisläufer (circle runner). U-23’s third torpedo sinks Varild at 7 PM off the East coast of Scotland (all 15 hands lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/197.html

Finland. Force Talvela still holds Soviet 8th Army at Kolla, with attacks and counterattacks along Aittojoki (River Aitto; joki is river in Finnish).

Day 145 January 23, 1940

U-19 spots 20 unescorted steamers off Northumberland and sinks Norwegian SS Pluto (8.43 AM) & British SS Baltanglia (8.55 AM) with one torpedo each. Finnish steamer picks up all SS Pluto’s 22 crewmen. The 27 man crew of SS Baltanglia makes land in two lifeboats.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/204.html

Colonel Siilasvuo‘s Finnish 9th Division arrive in the village of Kuhmo to prepare an attack Soviet 54th division.

New Soviet commander Simyon Timoshenko completely revises plans for the invasion of Finland. He abandons Meretskov’s strategy to fight along the entire frontier. He instead concentrates all his forces in a direct assault on the Karelian Isthmus to wear down the Mannerheim line in a battle of attrition; essentially Chief of Staff Shaposhnikov’s original plan. There is no intention to continue offensives along the Northern frontier or reinforce the divisions already engaged in this region. Thousands of Soviet troops trapped North of Lake Lagoda are left to their fate, although 54th division will be supplied by airdrop.

Day 144 January 22, 1940

Norwegian motor vessel MV Segovia (750 tons of general cargo, including 140 tons of oil, 45 tons of cork, wine and almonds) goes missing in the North Atlantic off the West coast of Scotland, presumed sunk by U-55 (all 23 hands lost).

The speech on Jan 20 by First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churhill, imploring neutral countries to support Finland (a thinly veiled invitation to Norway and Sweden to allow Allied troops passage across their territory to Finland), rebounds on him. He is reprimanded by British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax for interfering with foreign policy. Also, he is ignored by Norway and Sweden, who realize that British access to Finland is a means to choke off supplies of Swedish iron ore to Germany. They rightly suspect that Hitler would react to any Allied presence by intervention of his own. French Prime Minister Daladier favors Churchill’s plan as a way to fight the Germans away from French soil.

Day 143 January 21, 1940

U-22 has a busy morning in the Moray Firth, Scotland. At 5.38 AM, U-22 fires at British MV Cyprian Prince but misses and at 6 AM sinks British destroyer HMS Exmouth with one torpedo (all 189 lives lost). At 7.11 AM Danish SS Tekla is hit by one torpedo killing 4 crew members. 10 men in the starboard lifeboat are hit by the ship’s mast (5 men drowned). 9 survivors are rescued by destroyer HMS Sikh and Norwegian SS Iris.

Swedish steam merchant SS Andalusia goes missing early in the morning off the West coast of Scotland (all 21 hands lost), believed sunk by U-55.

British cruiser HMS Liverpool stops Japanese liner Asama Maru 35 miles from Japan and imprisons 21 German sailors, survivors of the German liner Columbus (scuttled off the US coast on December 19 1939) who are returning to Germany. After Japanese diplomatic protests, 9 Germans will be returned to Japan by the British as "unsuitable for military service".

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/ecagrs/asama%20maru.htm

Day 142 January 20, 1940

At 4.15 AM, U-44 hits Greek steamer Ekatontarchos Dracoulis with one torpedo West of Portugal (6 lives lost). Korvettenkapitän Mathes holds fire as the survivors take to the lifeboats. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/190.html

At 8.26 PM, U-57 sinks Norwegian steamer SS Miranda with one torpedo about 30 miles off the Scottish coast (14 lives lost). 3 survivors are picked up the next day by RRS Discovery II (Antarctic exploration vessel) and taken to Kirkwall.

British tanker MV Caroni River hits a mine laid the day before by U-34 and sinks during sea trials in Falmouth Bay, England. All 43 crew are taken to shore.http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/191.html
http://www.submerged.co.uk/caroni.php

Speaking to Parliament, Churchill supports Finland, criticizes the ‘brutish’ Soviets and compares “Nazidom to Bolshevism”. The Finns (incorrectly) expect material aid from Britain. Hitler (correctly) guesses the Allies will act in Scandinavia. He postpones the invasion of France, Belgium and Holland until the Spring (to draw up a new plan) and turns his eyes on Norway.

Day 141 January 19, 1940

At 1.45 AM U-9 finishes a busy night in the North Sea. U-9 finally catches up with SS Patria again and sinks her with one torpedo (19 lives lost). 4 survivors are picked up by the Swedish merchant SS Frigg.

U-55 sinks Norwegian SS Telnes off the Orkney Islands, Scotland (18 lives lost).

At 12.50 PM, Royal Navy destroyer HMS Grenville hits a mine, capsizes and sinks in the Thames estuary (77 lives lost). Two other destroyers brave the minefield to rescue 118 survivors.
http://www.naval-history.net/xGM-Chrono-10DD-24G-Grenville1.htm

At 9 PM, French steamer SS Quiberon is hit with one torpedo from U-59 and sinks with all hands lost, off Great Yarmouth, England.

At 10 PM U-44 begins stalking Greek steamer Ekatontarchos Dracoulis in the Bay of Biscay. Around midnight, U-44 fires a torpedo that detonates prematurely.

Royal Navy submarine HMS Sunfish fires 4 torpedoes at U-14 off Heligoland, Germany but all miss.

Day 140 January 18, 1940

Having already destroyed Soviet 163rd & 44th divisions, Colonel Siilasvuo is ordered to take Finnish 9th division 30 miles South to Kuhmo to attack 54th division, another part of Red 9th Army (now commanded by V. I. Chuikov).

Bay of Biscay. U-44 torpedoes Danish vessel SS Canadian Reefer carrying fruit to Britain. The crew of 26 is rescued by a Spanish trawler. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/184.html

U-boats hunt neutral Swedish steam merchants in the North Sea. At 4.25 PM, U-25 sinks SS Pajala with 3 torpedoes. HMS Northern Duke, escorting Pajala to Kirkwall for contraband inspection, rescues the crew of 35 and unsuccessfully attacks U-25 with depth charges. At 5.45 PM, U-55 sinks SS Foxen (17 lives lost). 2 survivors are rescued by Norwegian ships, one on Jan 24. At 10.30 PM, U-9 misses SS Patria with 2 torpedoes but sinks another Swedish boat SS Flandria with one torpedo at 11.53 PM (17 dead). 4 survivors will be rescued from a raft 2 days later by Norwegian merchant SS Balzac.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/185.html

Day 139 January 17, 1940

Record cold weather strikes Finland. The mercury drops to −43°C (−45°F) on the Karelian Isthmus and −45°C (−49°F) further North in Summa. Even at noon it is −39°C (−38°F) in Taipale and Lake Lagoda freezes over completely creating new problems for the Finns. Soviet troops freeze to death while Finns stay warm in heated tents and mobile saunas. However, frostbite leads to thousands of casualties on both sides.

The German Enigma code is first broken by Polish and French cipher experts at Poste de Commandement Bruno (Chateau de Vignolles at Gretz-Armainvillers, 40 km northeast of Paris) and Dilly Knox’s team at Government Code and Cypher School (Bletchley Park, England), using a German transmission intercepted by the Poles on 28 October 1939.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptanalysis_of_the_Enigma#Polish_breakthrough
http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation%20history/WW2/Enigma.htm

U-25 torpedo British steamer SS Polzella near the Shetland Isles, Scotland. U-25 shells and torpedoes Norwegian ship SS Enid attempting to rescue Polzella’s crew of 36 (they all perish in the water). Enid’s crew of 16 takes to the lifeboats and are rescued by British trawler SS Granada and Danish merchant SS Kina.

http://www.warsailors.com/singleships/enid.html

Day 138 January 16, 1940

Bitter cold and heavy snow force postponement of the planned German invasion of France, Holland and Belgium scheduled for Jan 17. However, Hitler cancels the attack altogether, fearing that the plans fell into Allied hands following the plane crash at Mechelen-sur-Meuse, Belgium on Jan 10 (the Mechelen incident). Mobilization of Belgian and Dutch troops convince the Germans that the plans have been recovered intact, despite Allied deception that the plans were successfully burned by Luftwaffe Major Reinberger after the crash.

U-44, still in the Bay of Biscay, torpedoes Greek steamer SS Panachrandos at 6.11 AM. Panachrandos sinks within three minutes with all 31 hands lost.

At 4.19 PM, British tanker SS Inverdargle (with a cargo of 12,000 tons of aviation fuel) strikes a mine and sinks in the Bristol Channel (all 49 hands lost) just 30 miles from her destination at Avonmouth Docks.

Day 137 January 15, 1940

Finland. The Finnish & Soviet Armies face each other along the entire frontier but there is little movement. On the Karelian Isthmus, Red Army shells the Mannerheim Line to wear down the Finns & chip away at their defenses. Red Army divisions have been abandoned by Stalin and are freezing all the way North from Lake Lagoda. Held at Salla, Raate & Kollaa, they are isolated and chopped into mottis by the Finns.

Bay of Biscay. At midnight, U-44 sinks Norwegian steamer SS Fagerheim with one torpedo (15 lives lost). 5 survivors are rescued and taken to Vigo, Spain. Later, at 7 AM, Dutch MV freighter Arendskerk tries to outrun U-44 but is stopped with seven shots across her bow. The crew is ordered to abandon ship and Arendskerk is sunk with one torpedo & shells from the deck gun. All 65 crew are picked up by the Italian steamer Fedora, transferred to the Dutch passenger-freighter Poelau Bras and landed at Lisbon, Portugal.

http://www.justinmuseum.com/famjustin/Schryvers1.html

Day 136 January 14, 1940

The Kriegsmarine takes over planning the invasion of Norway and begins revising & expanding Studie Nord. They considerably increase the commitment of troops from one division to a full army corps (mountain division, airborne division, motorized rifle brigade & two infantry divisions) & propose a simultaneous occupation of all strategic targets to reduce the threat of Norwegian resistance (& retaliatory British intervention). To achieve coordinated arrival of troops along the Norwegian coast and increase the element of surprise, they will use German warships as troop transports instead of the much slower merchant ships or air transports with limited range. This bold plan assures operational success but risks exposing ships & troops to attack by the Royal Navy.

Day 135 January 13, 1940

At 4.30 AM, U-20 torpedoes Swedish steamer SS Sylvia northeast of Aberdeen. Sylvia sinks within a minute with all 20 hands lost.

In a rare Soviet submarine attack, ShCh-324 surfaces and fires one torpedo (which misses) at a convoy in the Sea of Åland between Sweden and Finland. Finnish naval escort Aura II (the converted Finnish presidential yacht) drops depth charges damaging ShCh-324. However, one depth charge explodes in its thrower, obliterating the small wooden ship (26 lives lost). Finnish escort vessel Tursas picks up 15 survivors. ShCh-324 escapes back to home port.

http://users.tkk.fi/jaromaa/Navygallery/Background/Wartime/winter.htm

This is the first war in history where metal is more important than men. The ability to build and replace warships and submarines, artillery and tanks, trucks and other vehicles (rather than train and replace soldiers) is paramount. British diplomatic moves to intercept shipping in Norwegian waters threaten Swedish iron ore supplies, upon which German war production depend.

Day 134 January 12, 1940

At 6.50 AM, U-23 hits Danish oil tanker SS Danmark (anchored in Inganess Bay, Orkney Islands, Scotland) with one torpedo. Danmark breaks in two and drifts ashore; her crew of 40 escapes. She is carrying 14000 tons of fuel from Aruba in the Caribbean, depriving the Allies of valuable fuel supplies.

The capture of German invasion plans at Mechelen on Jan 10 has several consequences. France is alerted to the planned attack. French Supreme Commander Gamelin shrewdly uses the invasion scare to pressure neutral Belgium to allow access to Allied troops. Hitler learns of the breach and goes berserk, foaming at the mouth at Luftwaffe incompetence. He blames Luftflotte 2 commander General Hellmuth Felmy and replaces him with General Albert Kesselring. Captured Luftwaffe Majors Reinberger and Hoenmanns are sentenced to death in absentia. Hoenmanns wife dies under interrogation by the Gestapo.

Day 133 January 11, 1940

Finland. Finnish IV Corps surrounds Soviet 168th division in the "Great Motti of Kitilä", North of Lake Lagoda. This does not precipitate a battle of destruction as happened to Soviet 44th division on Raate Road, but 168th division is immobilized, rendered ineffective and gradually broken into smaller mottis by 4th Jaeger battalion led by Major Matti Aarnio. He becomes famous as "Motti-Matti".

At 11 AM, British oil tanker SS El Oso hits a mine and sinks 6 miles west of the Bar Lightship, Liverpool (3 lives lost). Captain and 31 men are taken to Liverpool by British destroyer HMS Walker.

http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/171.html

At 4.32 PM, U-23 torpedoes and sinks Norwegian coal carrier SS Fredville (collecting coal from Methil, Scotland), 100 miles east of the Orkney Islands (11 lives lost). 5 survivors in a lifeboat are taken to Kopervik, Norway by a Swedish ship.

Day 132 January 10, 1940

On the day that Hitler sets the date for the much-postponed invasion of France, Belgium and Holland (for January 17), the Case Yellow plans fall into Allied hands. Two Luftwaffe Majors Reinberger and Hoenmanns fly a complete set of operational plans (contravening standard security procedures) from Loddenheide airfield in Münster to 7th Air Fallschirmjäger (paratrooper) Division in Cologne. They get lost in fog and crash land near Mechelen-sur-Meuse, Belgium. Their attempt to burn the plans before they are captured fails and the Belgians pass the remaining papers to the Allies. The German military attaché to Holland soon learns of the breach and Case Yellow will be cancelled forever.

http://www.powerglidertaifun.de/Taifun_1940/TaifunJan1940.htm

Military training starts for 350 Hungarian men to fight in Finland (out of 25,000 volunteers). They will ultimately become Hungarian Volunteer Detached Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Imre Kémeri Nagy with 24 officers, 52 NCOs, 2 doctors and 2 padres.

Day 131 January 9, 1940

2.21 AM, Norwegian merchant Manx is torpedoed by U-19 off Northeast Scotland and sinks rapidly with 9 hands lost. 8 men escape on an upturned lifeboat but Norwegian steamer Leka rescues only 4 survivors 8 hours later. Norwegian merchant Isis rescues 2 men on a raft.

10 AM, British submarine HMS Starfish attacks German minesweeper M-7 off Heligoland Bight, Germany, but her torpedoes misfire. M-7 attacks Starfish with depth charges all day. Starfish escapes to bottom at 27m but with water pouring in, Lt. Thomas Turner orders Starfish to surface at 6.20 PM. All hands escape & are taken as POWs. Starfish sinks. After losing submarines HMS Seahorse and Undine on Jan 7, Britain suspends operations in Heligoland Bight.

British Liner SS Dunbar Castle hits a mine and sinks off Ramsgate, Southeast England. The Captain, 7 crewmen, 1 passenger and a racehorse are killed. Chief Officer Herbert Robinson wins the OBE for evacuating 189 survivors in the lifeboats.

http://www.maritimequest.com/daily_event_archive/2009/01_jan/09_mv_dunbar_castle.htm
http://www.clydesite.co.uk/clydebuilt/viewship.asp?id=550

Day 130 January 8, 1940

Finnish 9th division takes possession of Raate Road at dawn, as the last dug-in Soviet troops surrender around Lakes Kuivasjarvi and Kuomasjarvi (near Captain Mäkinen’s original roadblock). Mopping up stragglers in the woods will take several days. Finns capture 43 tanks, 70 field guns, 278 trucks and other vehicles, 300 machine guns, 6,000 rifles & 1,170 horses. Another entire Soviet division is gone, estimated at 10-15,000 dead (not even the Soviet know how many men went onto the Raate Road; the Finns do not bother to count the frozen bodies). Finns take only 1000 prisoners and another 700 make it back to USSR. Many of those retreating are shot by NKVD and when Finland returns the prisoners, they are also executed for ‘treason’. Finnish casualties in the Battle of Raate Road are 2,700 dead, missing and wounded.

Rationing is introduced in Britain. Each person is allowed four ounces (112 g) of bacon and 12 ounces (336 g) of sugar per week.

Day 129 January 7, 1940

Battle or Raate Road ends. The day begins with heavy fighting and ends with a complete rout of Soviet 44th division. At 3 AM, the mottis at the Western end (the head) of the Soviet column collapse completely. As the day progresses, Soviet 44th division gradually gives up the entire length of Raate Road with soldiers trying to retreat back to safety in the USSR or scattering into the woods. Finns again hold their positions where Raate Road crosses the destroyed Purasjoki River bridge, limiting the Soviet retreat. Finnish troops at the village of Raate near the border block an attempt to relieve 44th division with fresh troop from USSR. Only a few pockets of Soviet troops remain to be mopped up by the Finns.

In separate incidents near Heligoland, German Minesweepers and A/S trawlers sink Royal Navy submarines HMS Seahorse (all 36 crew lost) and HMS Undine. Undine’s crew of 27 are rescued by their attackers.

Day 128 January 6, 1940

Battle or Raate Road. Starting at 3 AM, Finns make several cuts in the Soviet column up to 5 miles East of Mäkinen’s original roadblock. As the Finns crush this part of the column, Soviet troops start to abandon their positions and flee into the forest where they are hunted down by the Finns or freeze to death. Task Force Fagernas holds the Purasjoki River crossing against NKVD tank counterattack and also manages to cut the road again further East near the border, frustrating the arrival of any reinforcements. As his division is being chopped into ever smaller mottis, 44th’s Commander Vinogradov orders a general retreat but there is nowhere to go.

Sweden and Norway both reassert their neutrality and reject British suggestions to protect shipping in Norway’s waters with Royal Navy ships. They rightly suspect this would lead to aggressive moves by Germany both at sea and on land to protect vital supplies of Swedish iron ore.

Finnish fighter ace, Jorma Sarvanto, flying a Fokker fighters shoots down six German Ilyushin bombers in about 25 minutes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorma_Sarvanto

Day 127 January 5, 1940

Annihilation of Soviet 44th division begins. Colonel Siilasvuo’s Finnish 9th division attacks along the entire 20 mile length of Raate Road. They meet surprisingly strong Soviet resistance and take heavy casualties. Captain Lassila’s battalion, which has been manning a 500 meter roadblock for 3 days, takes 96 casualties (10% of its strength).The Finns only manage to cut the Raate Road once when Task Force Fagernas blows up the strategically important Purasjoki River bridge 5 miles from the border at 10 PM. Equally important, Task Force Fagernas prevents the arrival of NKVD 3rd regiment reinforcements. 44th division is now isolated and cannot move forward or retreat back into USSR.

The first Swedish volunteer troops reach Finland. Given the movement of volunteers from Sweden and Norway, USSR accuses Norway and Sweden of pursuing "unneutral" policies.

Day 126 January 4, 1940

Finland. Finns give Soviet 44th division another day to suffer in the subzero temperatures while they prepare for an assault on Raate Road. They drag guns & munitions into place and Task Force Kari clears Soviet flank forces from the village of Eskola. Many Soviet troops freeze to death or die of starvation & frostbite is widespread. Dry gangrene is common as limbs quickly mortify from frostbite & minor wounds. Amputated limbs pile up.

Britain & France develop plans to send troops to Finland overland via Norway & Sweden (requiring, of course, permission from these two neutral countries). They have a hidden agenda to seize Swedish iron ore mines at Gällivare which supply much of Germany’s war needs. British Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax sends a diplomatic note to sound out Norway (Sweden is cc’d) asking to send Royal Navy vessels into Norwegian waters, citing German sinking of British merchant ships.

The first Norwegian volunteers leave Oslo for Finland.

Day 125 January 3, 1940

Soviet submarine S-2 hits a mine (all 50 crew lost) in the Sea of Åland between Finland and Sweden. Both countries claim the sinking in their waters.

http://www.uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/5087.html
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=158846
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/09/soviet-submarine-that-san_n_213174.html
http://warrelics.eu/forum/battlefield-archeology/soviet-submarine-s-2-lost-1940-discovered-8357/

Battle of Raate Road. Soviet 44th division stubbornly resists further attacks and the Finns do not manage to cut the stationary column. The immobilised Soviet troops desperately try to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures, flocking to field kitchens for warm food and huddling around log fires cut from the expansive forests. In simple but stunningly effective tactics, the Finns target the kitchens & fires to wear down the Soviet soldiers with cold & hunger and Finnish snipers select Red Army officers. Colonel Siilasvuo prepares for coordinated attacks on 44th division’s extended flanks. He sends two regiment-size Task Forces (TF Kari and TF Fagernas) skiing along his ice road as far as 20 miles to the Soviet border, just south of Raate.

Day 124 Jan 2, 1940

Battle of Raate Road. Soviet 44th division now stretches 30 km, resembling a fallen tree. Siilasvuo’s 9th division sets about cutting it into mottis (Finnish word for logs), as they can destroy the column more easily by dividing it into isolated elements. At midnight, Captain Lassila’s battalion attacks a 500 meter section of Soviet artillery (parked 5 km East of Mäkinen’s roadblock). 6 Maxim MGs rake each end of the section, while infantry move up the middle and fan out East and West. Soviet gunners cannot fire back as the field guns face up the road and they cannot level antiaircraft MGs down at the Finnish troops. Lassila creates roadblocks at either end of the cleared section with felled trees and land mines. He brings up 9th Division’s only 2 Bofors antitank guns just in time to repel Soviet counterattack at 7 AM. 7 tanks are destroyed which further deepens the roadblock. While Soviet troop shiver in fear, the Finns relax in warmed tents with hot food.

Day 123 January 1, 1940

At 11 AM, U-58 sinks the neutral Swedish steamer SS Lars Magnus Trozelli with one torpedo, 50 miles northeast of Aberdeen (7 dead). The survivors are picked up Norwegian merchant Ask.

German Dorniers and Junkers bomb RAF Coastal Command (18 Group) at Sullom Voe in the Shetland Islands, Scotland, which flies Catalina and Sunderland flying boats in search of U-boats. Light cruiser HMS Coventry, also in Sullom Voe, is nearly hit by a bomb & damaged. Two Ju 88 dive bombers are engaged by Gloster Gladiators of RAF Shetland Fighter Flight from Sumburgh Aerodrome. One Ju 88 is shot down into the sea.

Battle of Raate Road. Resting most of his troops, Siilasvuo begins the destruction of Soviet 44th division. 1000 men under Captain Eino Lassila ski along the Winter Road, South of Lake Kuivasjarvi. After eating a hot meal, they move three miles north through thick woods and deep snow. At 11 PM, they are in position looking down on the Soviet column on the Raate Road.

Day 122 December 31, 1939

At 9.47 AM, U-32 sinks the neutral Norwegian vessel SS Luna (cargo of rubber hose and zinc plates from London to Trondheim) with one torpedo. The crew is picked up by the Norwegian steamer Colombia and taken to Kopervik.

Battle of Raate Road. Colonel Siilasvuo rests Finnish 9th division but sends scouting parties along his ice road on Lake Voukki, parallel with Raate Road to the South. Soviet 44th division is now stationary, stretched for 30 km along the Raate road. Finnish scouts find the largest concentration of tanks and artillery entrenched just East of the roadblock set up by Captain Mäkinen’s 2 machine gun companies, which has been holding 44th Division since Dec 23. Siilasvuo decides to begin his attacks here.

Day 121 December 30, 1939

Battle of Suomussalmi ends. Finnish 9th division destroys the remnants of Soviet 163rd division retreating over the ice of Lake Kiantajärvi. A platoon led by Capt. Kuistio in 2 trucks (armed with 4 MGs, 1 twin antiaircraft-MG and various sub-MGs) harass the end of the Soviet column at the northern end of Lake Kiantajärvi, killing 500. Finnish artillery and Bristol Blenheim Mk I bombers blast Soviet troops, horses, trucks, guns and tanks through holes in the ice into the freezing water. An entire Soviet division is gone (estimated at 10-15,000 dead). Finnish casualties are 420 dead/missing and 600 wounded but they capture much valuable materiel. Finnish war booty from Suomussalmi include; 625 Rifles, 33 LMG's, 19 MG's, 2 AntiAircraft-MG's (four barrels), 12 AntiTank-guns, 27 Field and AntiAircraft-guns, 26 Tanks, 2 Armored cars, 350Horses, 181 Trucks, 11 Tractors, 26 Field kitchens, 800,000 rounds of 7.62 mm rifle ammo, 9,000 artillery shells, a field hospital, and a bakery. (These figures are items that were counted and transported away from the front. In addition, hundreds of rifles, LMG's and MG's were taken into use immediately and thus never counted.)

9th division commander Colonel Siilasvuo turns his attention to Soviet 44th, stationary on the Raate road. After 6 days of inactivity, their engines are seized and gun-oil in the standard Red Army 1902 model Moisin-Nagant 7.62 mm rifles is frozen. Men and horses huddle for warmth.

Day 120 December 29, 1939

After being trapped and constantly attacked in Suomussalmi for 22 days, Soviet 163rd division evacuates on an ice road ice over Lake Kiantajärvi. 2000 men, 48 trucks, 20 field guns and 6 tanks head 20 km northeast towards their own lines in a 4 km long column. Finnish 9th division moves into Suomussalmi, killing Soviet delaying forces in the deserted village and stragglers on the frozen lake. Overnight, the Finns start to chase the slowly-moving column.

Stalin endorses Chief of the Staff Shaposhnikov’s plan for a massed attack on the Karelian Isthmus towards Viipuri and Helsinki. Commander of Kiev Military District Semyon Timoshenko volunteers to lead the new operation. Kirill Meretskov, his all-frontier plan having failed, is demoted from overall command to lead 7th Army on the Isthmus. Meretskov survives this humiliation and finds glory defending Leningrad and, ironically, fighting Germans in Finland. He will become a Marshal of the Soviet Union.

Day 119 December 28, 1939

The Soviet invasion plans assumed the political & military collapse of Finland in 12 days but they have few gains to show after a month of fighting. Only 14th Army in Lapland has achieved its objectives. Stalin pragmatically & ruthlessly abandons Meretskov’s plan & orders a ‘temporary defensive posture’ prior to concerted attacks on the Mannerheim Line. He similarly abandons the elements of the Red Army currently on the border from Lake Lagoda to Lapland. 14th Army & 9th Army (122 Div) held in Lapland, 9th Army (163 & 44 Div) trapped around Suomussalmi and 8th Army held North of Lake Lagoda are left to the mercy of the Finns. There is no plan to reinforce, resupply or evacuate them; retreat or surrender will be punished by death when they return to the Soviet Union.

Outer Hebrides, Scotland. 4 AM, U-30 sinks the British antisubmarine trawler HMS Barbara Robertson (1 dead) and asks Swedish merchant Hispania to pick up survivors. 3.45 PM, U-30 hits the British battleship HMS Barham with one torpedo (4 dead) and is chased off by her escort destroyers HMS Isis and Nubian. HMS Barham limps to dock in Liverpool but is out of action for 6 months for repairs.

Day 118 December 27, 1939

Finland. Soviet 4th division desperately tries to reinforce it’s bridgehead on the Finnish side of the Suvanto River, at the Eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus. Thousands of Soviet troops cross the ice in bright moonlight and are punished by Finnish artillery & machinegun fire, leaving the ice “littered with piles of bodies”. In response, Finnish artillery shells the dug in Soviet troops on the bridgehead. Finnish 6th separate battalion attacks at 11.45 AM & clears the trenches in several hours of close combat. Battle of Kelja is over at 6 PM with 2000 Soviets dead. Finns have 400 dead and wounded but capture 6 anti-tank guns & hundreds of machineguns & rifles.

In Suomussalmi, Finnish 9th division with artillery support moves in on the trapped Soviet 163rd division. Despite cold, hunger and poor leadership, the Soviet troops hold out in fierce hand to hand combat. 44th division hears the battle but again fails to march to the sound of the guns.

Day 117 December 26, 1939

Pembroke, Wales. Royal Australian Air Force personnel arrive by boat for anti-submarine duty in Sunderland flying boats with No. 10 Squadron.

Finland. Finnish 9th division receives artillery support and begins bombarding the beleaguered Soviet 163rd division trapped in Suomussalmi, in preparation for the final assault.

Taipale sector, near Lake Lagoda, on the Eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus. Soviets and Finns battle over the Soviet foothold on the Finnish side of the Suvanto River near the village of Kelja. Soviet infantry supported by tanks attempt to cross the frozen river but are turned back by shelling from Finnish artillery and shore batteries at the Kekinniemi fort. The Finns attack twice in company strength at 07.30 and 16.15 hrs but fail to dislodge the dug in Soviets.

Day 116 December 25, 1939

After a lull in the fighting since Dec 17, Red Army resumes attacking the Taipale sector of the Isthmus. At 5-7 AM in darkness, snow and mist, Soviet 4th Rifle Division crosses the frozen Suvanto River and gains 3 bridgeheads. Finnish artillery and machineguns take a heavy toll and Soviet troops are pushed back across the ice at Patoniemi and Volossula. The Soviets dig in on the shore near the village of Kelja (now Kelya in USSR) and hold on throughout the night.

Soviet 163rd division attempts another break out but is again penned up in Suomussalmi. Some desperate Soviets try to cross frozen Lake Vuonanlahti to escape West further into Finland. They are rapidly picked off by the Finns due to their dark clothing. The forward elements of 44th division on Raate Road, still with no artillery support, again fail to come to the aid of the trapped 163rd division.

Day 115 December 24, 1939

The Red Army has little to show for 24 days of fighting, only having pushed the Finns back to prepared defenses on the Isthmus. Stavka had planned 12 days to conquer Finland, making political assumptions that the Finnish populace and army would rebel against the Capitalist government and welcome the Soviet liberators. Consequently, the Soviet troops are running out of food, fuel and ammunition. Worse, they do not have winter clothing. Not only do they freeze but their dark uniforms stand out clearly against the snow making easy targets.

Soviet 163rd division tries to break out of Suomussalmi but is pushed back. 44th division, now stationary for miles along the Raate Road, hears the guns but inexplicably does not move out in support. Finnish "Group Talvela" pursues beaten Soviet 75th and 139th divisions back across the Russian border. The Finns are briefly in possession of Soviet soil.

Day 114 December 23, 1939

At 6.30 AM, 4 Finnish divisions counterattack on a 28 mile front on the West side of the Karelian Isthmus, trying to trap resting Soviet forces in a massive encirclement. They immediately run into the Red Army in force and are repulsed. Soviet tanks are brutally effective against Finnish troops without antitank or artillery support. General Öhqvist calls off the attack at 2.40 PM, at a cost of 1300 dead and wounded (+ 200 cases of frostbite).

The Finns have more success further North. Captain Mäkinen’s 2 machine gun companies (9th division) attack the arriving Soviet 44th division, consisting of about 15,000 men, strung out over several km of the Raate road. 44th is back to front; 25th rifle regiment leads, followed by artillery and tanks, with mobile reconnaissance units at the rear. 25th regiment, unsure of Finnish numbers and unable to bring up guns and armor, stops and takes up defensive positions. The whole column grinds to a halt, never to move again.

Day 113 December 22, 1939

Finnish 9th division chips away at Soviet 163rd division entrenched at Suomussalmi. 163rd has put up solid resistance despite having been surrounded for 10 days; however, time is on the Finns side as temperatures drop and Soviet supplies run out. Soviet 44th division is within a few km of Suomussalmi, having struggled 9 days up the road from Raate to relieve 163rd.

Finnish "Group Talvela" overruns Soviet 75th division in hand to hand combat at Ägläjärvi. 75th division retreats pell mell back down the road towards the Russian border. Group Talvela, part of IV Corps, has now put 2 Red Army divisions to flight in 10 days.

As Red Army attacks on the Karelian Isthmus falter, Finnish Commander in Chief Field Marshall Mannerheim takes the initiative. He hastily agrees to Öhqvist and Österman’s plan to counterattack to deal a demoralising blow to the weary Soviet forces.

Day 112 December 21, 1939

Stalin’s 60th birthday (official).
Soviet attacks on the Mannerheim Line weaken. Finns attack at Suomussalmi and Ägläjärvi. In Lapland, Soviet 122nd division is stopped at the villages of Pelkosenniemi and Kemijärvi (having advanced 45 miles since Nov 30) and will gradually be pushed back 20 miles to Salla (Battle of Salla). The Red Army had planned to be in Helsinki by Stalin’s birthday but the Finns clearly have the advantage. General Hugo Österman, Finnish commander on the Karelian Isthmus, boldly presents CiC Field Marshall Mannerheim with a plan for a counterattack on the Isthmus (prepared by II Corp’s commander General Harald Öhqvist).

Between 7.25 and 10.16 AM, U-21 sinks 2 small neutral Swedish merchant ships SS Mars and SS Carl Henckel with one torpedo each. picks up no survivors and 28 men die overnight. 1 survivor from Mars and 7 from Carl Henckel are picked up the next day and taken to Kristiansand.

Day 111 December 20, 1939

Finnish 27th regiment, now reinforced and renamed 9th division, continues finishing off Soviet 163rd division at Suomussalmi and awaits the arrival of Soviet 44th division from Raate.

Finnish "Group Talvela" (16th Infantry Regiment plus four separate infantry battalions and one battalion of Artillery) attacks Soviet 75th division surrounded at Ägläjärvi.

Red Army continues attacking the Mannerheim Line but lose the initiative in the First Battle of Summa. With temperatures as low as -20C (-4F), the engines of tanks and other vehicles have to be run continuously to prevent freezing up. Fuel runs out, tanks are stranded and Red Army infantry goes forward unsupported. Taipale sector of the Line is noticeably quiet after daily WWI-style artillery/infantry attacks abruptly stopped on Dec 17. From Nov 30, Red Army troops have been marched into a terrible slaughter of accurate Finnish machinegun, mortar, field artillery and coastal battery fire on well-plotted ground.

Day 110 December 19, 1939

Finland. Soviet tanks exploit a swampy gap near Summa to get behind the Mannerheim Line. Without infantry support, they are quickly destroyed with satchel charges & Molotov cocktails. As Soviet 44th division advances slowly up the Raate Road to rescue the 163rd division trapped in Suomussalmi, the Finns build a hidden ice road parallel on the lake. Another Soviet division starts to disintegrate as Finns surround 75th div. at Ägläjärvi.

Using the mine recovered by Ouvry & Lewis on Nov 23, British scientists Goodeve & Bullard devise a method demagnetize ships to prevent from detonating magnetic mines (“degaussing”).

Captain Hans Langsdorff shoots himself in Buenos Aires. He symbolically goes down with the Graf Spee (writing in his final letter “for a captain with a sense of honor …. his personal fate cannot be separated from that of his ship”), an honorable death for a man who sunk 9 ships with no lives lost and spared the lives of his crew. History will brand him incompetent for taking on Harwood's cruiser squadron and a coward for failing to fight out of Montevideo.

Day 109 December 18, 1939

Finland. Soviet assaults on the Mannerheim Line around the village of Summa gain no ground with further heavy losses. North of Lake Lagoda, the line at Kollaa holds and Finnish IV Corps pushes Soviet 75th and 139th divisions back to Ägläjärvi. In the far North, 3 Finnish companies under Captain Pennanen (retreating since Nov 30) hold Soviet 52nd division at Höyhenjärvi where they will stay frozen for two months.

Battle of Heligoland Bight. 22 RAF Wellingtons (9, 37, 149 Squadrons) are sent in daylight to bomb ships off the German North Sea coast (site of the famous WWI naval battle). They reach their target safely but find only ships in harbor which they do not bomb find to avoid German civilian casualties. Returning home, they are attacked by about 50 Messerschmitt fighters. 10 bombers are shot down, 2 ditch flying home and 3 crash land. 2 Messerschmitts are also shot down. RAF suspends daytime bombing until April 1940.

Day 108 December 17, 1939

Hitler cables Captain Langsdorff to fight his way out of Montevideo or scuttle Graf Spee instead of internment in Uruguay. As he can only leave port between 5 - 8 PM and cannot outrun the superior British forces, he decides to save his crew and scuttle Graf Spee. Most of the crew transfer to German merchant vessel Tacoma. At 6.15 PM Graf Spee sails 4 miles out and is blown up at sunset in 7 meters of water, her topside protruding above the water for many years. Langsdorff and his crew are taken to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-fornv/germany/gersh-a/grf-sp-l.htm

Finland. Red Army has made little progress on the Karelian Isthmus since the Finns fell back to the Mannerheim Line on Dec 6. Soviets assault the village of Summa, which provides road and rail access North to the centre of Finland (“gateway to Viipuri”). Despite heavy artillery bombardment, the Finns are ready and mow down the advancing Soviet troops. Some Soviet tanks penetrate Finnish defenses but are isolated and destroyed.

Day 107 December 16, 1939

In Montevideo, British diplomats play for time to contain Graf Spee, dispatching another merchant vessel from Montevideo at 5 PM to prevent Graf Spee sailing for another 24 hours. However, Uruguay insists the British cease this ploy as Graf Spee’s stay of 3 days expires at 8 PM tomorrow. Graf Spee continues her rapid repairs. Commodore Harwood refuels his ships in anticipation of renewed battle. Harwood receives news he is promoted to Rear-Admiral and knighted.

A signal from the Admiralty stated Commodore Henry Harwood was promoted Rear Admiral from the 13th. of December, and the King bestowed the Knight Companion of the Bath ( KCB ) on him, and the Companion of the Bath ( CB ) on the three cruiser Captains, C.H.L Woodhouse in Ajax, W.E. Parry in Achilles, and F. S. Bell in Exeter. Much rejoicing in the British ships lying in wait off the River Plate.

http://ahoy.tk-jk.net/macslog/TheBattleoftheRiverPlate..html

In Finland, Soviet ‘road strategy’ fails to get men and equipment in force to the point of contact. Finnish resistance becomes a rout in places. Finnish IV Corps, having scattered Soviet 139th division in Tolvajärvi on Dec 12, meets Soviet 75th division marching to the rescue and puts them to flight also. As the Finnish noose tightens on the surrounded 163rd division in Suomussalmi, Soviet 44th Division advances slowly up the Raate Road to rescue them. Disaster awaits them.

Day 106 December 15, 1939

Graf Spee has 2 days to leave Montevideo. Captain Langsdorff buries his 36 dead sailors; released British prisoners lay wreathes at the funeral. Graf Spee readies to leave, taking on fuel from a German tanker while the crew repairs damage. As only HMS Cumberland and the damaged light cruisers Ajax and Achilles are positioned to prevent a break out, British diplomats spread rumors that several vessels including battleship Renown and aircraft carrier Ark Royal are nearby. British ships start leaving Montevideo at regular intervals to prevent Graf Spee sailing (she is required to give enemy merchant ships 24 hours head start). SS Ashworth sails at 5 PM.

Southwest of Ireland, U48 stops neutral Greek steamer SS Germaine. The crew is ordered into the lifeboats and rescued by Norwegian SS Vinland. As her cargo is destined for Britain, Germaine is torpedoed.

Finland. Entire Soviet divisions are surrounded North of Lake Lagoda near Tolvajärvi and Suomussalmi.

Day 105 December 14, 1939

Battle of the River Plate. Capt. Langsdorff releases 61 prisoners held on Graf Spee. He requests two weeks for repairs in Montevideo. British naval attaché, Henry McCall, presses Uruguay to expel Graf Spee within 24 hours, per international law. Uruguay compromises and gives Graf Spee 3 days. Royal Navy’s Harwood is furious at the prospect of Graf Spee sailing against his depleted cruiser force. Fortunately, heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland arrives at 10 PM to replace the damaged HMS Exeter, sailing directly from the Falkland Islands in 34 hours.

http://www.deutschland-class.dk/admiral_graf_spee/gallery/gallgrafspeemontevideo.html

League of Nations expels USSR for the invasion of Finland in violation of Soviet-Finnish non-aggression pacts (1932 and 1934) and the League of Nations Charter (signed by USSR in 1934).

Hitler orders OKW to plan for an invasion of Norway (codenamed Studie Nord) to protect crucial supplies of iron ore from Sweden.

Day 104 December 13, 1939

Battle of the River Plate. Graf Spee spots British cruisers HMS Exeter, Ajax & Achilles. Intent on battle, Capt. Langsdorff closes rapidly ignoring safer options (pick off the smaller ships with his longer range guns or outrun the warships). At 6.18 AM he opens fire on the heavy cruiser Exeter from 11 miles. Commodore Harwood’s plan is to spread his ships & split Graf Spee’s fire. All three cruisers return fire by 6.23. Ajax & Achilles 6-inch shells rake Graf Spee’s topside but do not penetrate Graf Spee’s armor. Achilles is hit (4 dead) & Exeter is badly damaged by seven 11-inch shells (61 crew killed) but continues firing. At 6.38, 8-inch shell from Exeter penetrates Graf Spee’s armor, wrecking her fuel processing system. With only enough fuel for 16 hours, Graf Spee is forced to flee to the port of Montevideo, Uruguay, pusued by HMS Ajax & Achilles.

In the North Sea, Submarine HMS Salmon torpedoes German cruisers Leipzig & Nürnberg. Both stay afloat and will be repaired. Leipzig is so badly damage that she will never again be fit for combat duty and is only used as a training ship.

Day 103 December 12, 1939

9 miles off the coast of Scotland at 4 AM, battleship HMS Barham collides with an escorting destroyer in dense fog. HMS Duchess is cut in half and sinks (124 lives lost, 25 survivors).

Graf Spee and Royal Navy cruisers converge on the River Plate estuary from different directions. Despite orders to avoid battle, Captain Langsdorff expects escorted convoys. As Graf Spee will return home to refit engines and other systems after 4 months at sea and thousands of miles, he is willing to take minor damage. He strips Graf Spee for battle, removing fake funnels and dumping damaged equipment such as the Arado seaplane’s engine.

Submarine HMS Salmon tries to stop the German liner SS Bremen (which is known to have no passengers) off Norway but an escorting seaplane attacks forcing her to dive. Salmon does not torpedo the liner to comply with existing Anglo-German naval treaties, a decision that likely delays German unrestricted submarine warfare.

Day 102 December 11, 1939

Finland. Soviet 163rd division’s nightmare begins, having advanced 10-30 km since crossing the border. 662nd regiment is held at the North end of Lake Piispajarvi by Finnish 16th battalion. To the South, 81st and 759th regiments are held up in Suomussalmi by a company of 58 Finnish border police, since Dec 7. Suomussalmi village is a critical road junction sitting in a network of lakes. Beyond, easier terrain and a rail junction at Puolanka provide the Red Army access to the Gulf of Bothnia. To prevent this, Finnish 27th regiment (4500 men traveling on skis, no artillery, no anti-tank or anti-aircraft guns) attacks the Soviet supply line along the Raate Road, isolating Soviet troops in Suomussalmi.

http://www.winterwar.com/Battles/Suomussalmi.htm

Battle of the Atlantic. U-38 commits a political blunder, sinking neutral Greek freighter SS Garoufalia (4 lives lost) in neutral territorial waters of Norway. 25 survivors, including 2 Norwegian pilots, are picked up by Norwegian steamer SS Tellus and report the sinking.

http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/142.html

Day 101 December 10, 1939

Finland. Despite primitive construction, the Mannerheim Line is remarkably effective. Cleared paths in the forest funnel Soviet troops into minefields and fields of fire pre-ranged for both machine guns and the limited Finnish artillery. Adjacent pill boxes provide mutually-supporting fire. Granite blocks and other obstacles block the killing fields to prevent tanks advancing on the Line. 7th Army on the Soviet left flank is also shelled by coastal batteries on the island of Saarenpää. Soviet battleship Oktjabrskaja Revolutsija shells Saarenpää but misses the batteries in dense fog. The Finnish batteries on the islands in the Gulf of Finland prevent the Soviet Baltic Fleet from landing troops behind the Mannerheim Line.

Baltic Fleet submarines sink three ships including two German vessels; SS Reinbeck in the Gulf of Finland (off Helsinki) and SS Bolheim in the Gulf of Bothnia. Most ships attacked by Soviet submarines are German although USSR and Germany are allies.

Day 100 December 9, 1939

Battle of the River Plate. Graf Spee sails towards the River Plate estuary (separates Uruguay and Argentina) to attack a convoy of 4 ships tought to be leaving Montevideo. Graf Spee’s Captain Hans Langsdorff is acting on information captured from British steamer SS Streonshalh (sunk on Dec 7).

Meanwhile, Royal Navy Force G (light cruisers HMS Ajax and HMS Achilles) is already heading to River Plate, following Commodore Henry Harwood’s hunch that Graf Spee will try the busy shipping lanes of South America. Harwood makes the wise decision to order the heavy cruiser HMS Exeter (currently refitting in Port Stanley, Falkland Islands) to join them in the River Plate estuary. Another heavy cruiser, HMS Cumberland, remains refitting in Port Stanley.

Western Front. Corporal Thomas Priday (King's Shropshire Light Infantry) becomes the first British soldier killed in action in WWII, a victim of “friendly fire” while on patrol.

Day 99 December 8, 1939

Before dawn, Belgian steamer Louis Scheid (which rescued 62 survivors from Tajandoen on December 7) runs aground in front of the Thurlestone Golf Club, Warren Point, Devon, England. As she breaks up in very heavy seas, all survivors from Tajandoen and Louis Scheid are rescued by the Salcombe lifeboat.

http://www.twothirdsblue.co.uk/Louis_Sheid/History/index.html

At 11.55, U-48 sinks a straggler from convoy OB-48, SS Brandon (9 lives lost). Survivors are picked up by 2 Belgian trawlers and landed at Milford Haven, Wales.

Finland. The Red Army is at a standstill. 7th and 13th Armies are held on the Mannerheim Line, a series of unconnected concrete bunkers and granite/earth/timber forts between the lakes on the Isthmus (meager compared to the mighty Maginot and Seigfreid Lines). 8th army stalls at the River Kollaa. 9th Army’s thrusts across the frozen lakes out of Suomussalmi are repulsed. Only 14th Army makes progress in the far North region of Petsamo, against 3 Finnish companies led by Captain Antti Pennanen.

Day 98 December 7, 1939

800 miles East of Rio de Janeiro, German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee sinks her last victim 3,895-ton British steamer SS Streonshalh (cargo of wheat). Graf Spee stops Streonshalh and takes the crew of 32 on board before sinking her with scuttling charges and 6 inch shells fired at the waterline. Papers captured from Streonshalh tell Graf Spee’s Captain Hans Langsdorff that a convoy of 4 ships is leaving Montevideo on December 10. He heads for the estuary of the River Plate to intercept them.

Captain Langsdorff has followed the rules of sea warfare throughout and no lives have been lost on any of the 9 ships sunk. 61 prisoners now held on Graf Spee (crew of Streonshalh plus the captains and officers of the other 8 ships) are in for a stormy ride. 305 more British Merchant Navy crewmen are held on the Altmark in mid-Atlantic.

5 AM, U-47 mistakes neutral Dutch freighter MV Tajandoen (cargo, cement, iron and steel) for a tanker and sinks her with one torpedo (6 lives lost) 50 miles south of Land’s End. Belgian steamer Louis Scheid rescues 62 survivors and, in fear of being torpedoed, runs for the shallows off the Devon coast in a gale.

5 PM, U-38 sinks British freighter SS Thomas Walton (13 lives lost) 80 miles from Narvik, Norway. U-38 also fires a torpedo at the German ship SS Sebu which rescues 31 survivors, taking them to Bodo, Norway.

Finland. Having advanced 40km in 7 days above Lake Lagoda, Soviet 8th Army (7 divisions) threatens to turn the Mannerheim Line but is held by 2 Finnish divisions at the River Kollaa. Here they will remain until the end of the Winter War; “Kollaa Holds” becomes a rallying cry for the Finns. Further north, Soviet 163rd division (part of Dukhanov’s 9th Army) takes the village of Suomussalmi, sparking the worst Soviet disaster of the Winter War.

Day 97 December 6, 1939

Winter War Finland. Fighting continues in the Karelian Isthmus as the Finnish forward defensive troops fall back to the Mannerheim Line. The Soviets already have a taste of the Finnish defenses as their losses mount attempting to cross the Taipale River at the eastern end of the Mannerheim Line.

Battle of the Atlantic. Before heading to Germany for repairs, Graf Spee goes hunting in shipping routes of the River Plate estuary (South America). However, the Admiralty has learned of Graf Spee’s sinkings near St. Helena, off the coast of Africa (December 2 and 3). Commodore Henry Harwood, Royal Navy’s expert in engagement of a battleship by smaller vessels, guesses correctly that the German raider will head to the River Plate. He sails his cruiser squadron Force G (HMS Exeter, Ajax and Achilles) from the Falkland Islands.

U-47 sinks the neutral Norwegian ship MV Britta 50 miles off Land’s End, England (6 dead). 25 survivors are picked up by the Belgian trawler Memlinc.

Day 96 December 5, 1939

After sinking Royal Oak on their amazing Oct 14 sortie into Scapa Flow, Gunther Prien and U-47 are at sea again. Departing Kiel on November 16, U-47 is now in the Bristol Channel just South of Ireland. U-47 sinks British merchant ship SS Navasota (in ballast from Liverpool to Buenos Aires) in convoy OB-46 with one torpedo (37 lives lost). 37 others are picked up by HMS Escapade. 8 more, rescued by British steamer SS Clan Farquhar, are taken to Capetown, South Africa 22 days later. One survivor, Albert Newbury of Wales was previously torpedoed on board SS Lochavon by U-45 on October 14. Whether Albert stayed in Capetown or returned to sea is unknown.

Day 95 December 4, 1939

Finnish terrain of deep impenetrable forests and long parallel glacial lakes forces Red Army onto the few roads, churned into frozen ruts by heavy tracked vehicles and clogged with horses, men and machines. This road strategy slows their advance everywhere and, worse, forces them into minefields and ranged killing zones in front of the Mannerheim line on the Isthmus. The Soviets grind forward days behind schedule, their hopes for blitzkrieg dashed. North of Lake Lagoda, Soviet 8th Army advances slowly with little resistance but comes in range of Finnish shore batteries at Taipale which pulverise them with higher firing rate and greater accuracy than mobile artillery.

U-36 is two days out of Wilhelmshaven (heading to the Kola Peninsula 25 miles from Mumansk to scout a proposed submarine base) when she is sighted on the surface by British submarine HMS Salmon near Stavanger, Norway. Salmon sinks U-36 with one torpedo (all 40 lives lost).

Day 93 December 2, 1939

Finland. Red Army advances slowly on the Isthmus with massive casualties. In the far North, a handful of Finnish troops (10th Separate Company and 5th Separate Battery, part of the Lapland Group) face 2 Soviet divisions (104th crosses the border on foot while 52nd takes Petsamo by boat). International Olympic Committee cancels the planned 1940 Helsinki Summer Olympic Games.

Battle of the Atlantic. Near St. Helena again, Graf Spee’s Arado seaplane spots British freighter Doric Star (cargo of meat, dairy products and wool). Doric Star is stopped with 2 long distance shells but the crew radios a distress message and sabotages her engines. After transferring her crew, Graf Spee sinks Doric Star with shell fire and a torpedo.
http://www.bluestarline.org/doric.html

German liner Watussi is stopped by battleship HMS Renown and cruiser HMS Sussex and scuttled 80 miles South of Cape Town. Watussi’s crew of 155 and 43 passengers are rescued by HMS Renown and will spend the rest of the war in South Africa.
http://rapidttp.co.za/waratsea/watussi.html

Day 92 December 1, 1939

Finland. Stalemate continues on the Karelian Isthmus as Red Army infantry advance though dense mine fields and are mown down by Finnish crossfire. Soviet tanks operate independently from infantry, occasionally penetrating Finnish defenses (Finnish soldiers have never seen tanks before and often are terrified) but to little effect.

North of Lake Lagoda, Finnish forces panic and retreat, presenting a dangerous opportunity to the Red Army. A Soviet flotilla sails towards Taipale on Lake Lagoda, at the eastern end of the Isthmus. They are to shell Finnish shore batteries and land at Taipale, turning the Mannerheim Line. However, the Finnish guns fire first, forcing the battleship Orangenbaum onto a sandbar (she remains useless for several weeks).

Similarly, Soviet cruiser Kirov is shelled at a range of 24km trying to attack Finnish coastal batteries on the Hanko Peninsula. Damaged by near misses, Kirov returns to Liepāja for the rest of the Winter War.

Day 91 November 30, 1939

USSR invades Finland with 21 divisions, violating three non-aggression pacts.

At 6.50 AM, artillery barrage starts on the Karelian Isthmus. At 8 AM, Soviet 7th Army advances across the entire Isthmus into mine fields pre-ranged by Finnish machine guns and artillery. 9 Soviet infantry divisions plus tanks (250,000 men) are held by Finnish covering forces (21,000 men) in front of the main defensive line (Mannerheim Line). Soviet planes bomb Helsinki.

Initially, Soviet attacks along the 800-mile border from Ladoga to the Arctic Sea meet little resistance. Eighth Army advances north of Lake Ladoga. Ninth Army strikes into central Finland for the Gulf of Bothnia to cut Finland in half. Fourteenth Army aims to capture the Arctic port of Petsamo.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Winterwar-december1939-soviet-attacks.png