Posted on 12/14/2009 4:36:22 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
IB4TP! :)
Prey of 3 Cruisers 2-5
The International Situation 3
Ruling on the Spee is Up to Uruguay 6
Liner Columbus Cleared For Transatlantic Dash 7
Incidents in European Conflict 7
North Sea Success 8
Finns Report Gain in Counter-Thrust 9-12
Germanys Jobless Decline to 126,000 12
WOW thanks for posting this...really incredible.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1939/dec39/f14dec39.htm
League of Nations expels USSR
Thursday, December 14, 1939 www.onwar.com
In Geneva... The League of Nations, meeting in emergency debate, expels the Soviet Union after naming the USSR an aggressor in violation of treaties with Finland, the League Covenant and the Pact of Paris. The League also calls on its members to give all possible help to the Finns and agrees to coordinate international aid programs for the Finns..
In Berlin... Hitler order his Armed Forces High Command (OKW) to prepare plans for the invasion of Norway, code named Weserubung (Exercise Weber).
In the Winter War... The Finns continue a series of attacks on the Soviet 8th Army. Soviet forces launch a new drive near Petsamo.
In China... Chinese Nationalist forces occupy the town of Ningxian after a bitter clash with Chinese Communist forces.
In Mexico... The German liner Columbus (33,000 t) leaves Vera Cruz in an attempt to run home. The American cruiser Tuscaloosa shadows the ship, while on neutrality patrol, and broadcast its location on open radio.
Many more pics of the Spee here:
http://www.maritimequest.com/warship_directory/germany/pages/cruisers/admiral_graf_spee_page_7.htm
FYI..one of the absolute best WW II films...and one that hardly ever shows up on the tube, is the 1956 “Pursuit of the Graf Spee” based on the book “Death in the South Atlantic”. In color, with great footage of the Royal Navy..it’s a fact based account of the action, faithful to the book. Both are worth trying to find, and watch/read.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048990/
The Battle of the River Plate
Also Known As: Pursuit of the Graf Spee (USA)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMNZS_Achilles_(70)
In 1956, Achilles played herself in the film The Battle of the River Plate.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_the_River_Plate_(film)
The Battle of the River Plate (film)
Dang. Netflix doesn't have it. I saved it though to my queue so maybe they will get on the ball.
Thanks for the post. Just watched “Sink the Bismarck” a couple of nights ago. Dana Wynters was a major babe. Oh, and the battleship action was good too.
Swedish border: the first foreign volunteers cross the border at Haaparanta and arrive at the reception centre in Tornio.
Photo: SA-KUVA
Utö Fortress sinks Soviet destroyer
Bad flick. Guenther Lutjens was no Nazi, and they got the battle of the Denmark Strait all wrong. The lead ship was PRINZ EUGEN, and his [German ships were referred to in the masculine] shooting was amazing. Scored the first hits on HOOD.
Since her silhouette was the same as BISMARCK’s, and since the British believed the battleship was leading, they engaged EUGEN, giving BISMARCK two minutes to lay her guns, while receiving EUGEN’s firing data. The movie screwed that up.
The movie also left out the fact that the Brits knew the RHINE EXERCISE was underwayearly on. A Swedish cruiser’s captain informed the British Navalattaache in Stockholm that he’d spotted the German warships in the Skaggerak.
I’ve been a member of this organization for about 35 years. Very authoritative on warship design and construction.
War Cabinet 114 (39).
CONCLUSIONS of a meeting of the War Cabinet held at 10 Downing Street, S.W. 1, on Thursday, December 14, 1939, at 10 A.M.
Present:
Neveille Chamberlain, M.P., Prime Minister
Sir John Simon, M.P., Chancellor of the Exchequer
Viscount Halifax, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
Admiral of the Fleet Lord Chatfield, Minister for Co-ordination of Defense
Winston S. Churchill, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty
L. Hore-Belisha, M.P., Secretary of State for War
Sir Kingsley Wood, M.P., Secretary of State for Air
Sir Samuel Hoare, M.P., Lord Privy Seal
Lord Hankey, Minister without Portfolio
Sir John Anderson, M.P., Secretary of State for the Home Department and Minister of Home Security
Anthony Eden, M.P., Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
W.S. Morrison, M.P., Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Minister of Food
John Colville, M.P., Secretary of State for Scotland
Sir Reginald Dorman-Smith, M.P., Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
Sir Horace J. Wilson, Permanent Secretary to the Treasury
Sir Frederick Leith-Ross, Director-General, Ministry of Economic Warfare
Admiral of the Fleet Sir Dudley Pound, First Sea Lord and Chief of Naval Staff
General Sir W. Edmund Ironside, Chief of the Imperial General Staff
Air Marshal R.E.C. Peirse, Deputy Chief of the Air Staff
The First Lord of the Admiralty (Churchill)* said that a naval action had taken place on the previous day between three British cruisers and the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee (six 11-inch, eight 9-inch guns). It now turned out that it wasa this vessel, and not the Admiral Scheer as had been thought, which had been in the South Atlantic. The British force was under the command of Commodore Harwood and consisted of Achilles (eight 6-inch guns), Ajax (eight 6-inch guns) and Exter (six 8-inch guns). The German ship had concentrated her fire on H.M.S. Exter. All H.M.S. Exter's guns except one had been put out of action, her speed reduced to 18 knots, and she had been forced to fall out of the action. H.M.S. Ajax had had two of her four turrets put out of action. The two 6-inch cruisers had only broken off the action when they were running very short of ammunition. They had then kept in touch with the Graf Spee, which had run for the River Plate and had entered neutral territorial waters during the nights. She was now at anchor off Montevideo with our two cruisers watching the entrance of the river.
The First Lord of the Admiralty contrasted the offensive spirit shown by Commodore Harwood with the lack of enterprise shown in somewhat similar circumstances at the beginning of the last was when the Geoben was allowed to escape.
*parenthesis mine
I”m sure that is a mistake, the League of Nations expelling the Soviet Union.
Turner Classic Movies has it in their inventory, but they don’t have it scheduled.
http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title.jsp?stid=87403
YouTube has a ten minute clip from the movie. And looks like a documentary is also available there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z57DZccdnEo
Amazing pictures. Thanks for the link
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