HELSINKI BOMBED AS SOVIET PRESSES OFFENSIVE IN AIR (1/14/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 1/14/40 | Harold Denny, Hugh Byas, T.J. Hamilton, Otto D. Tolischus, Harold Callender, Hanson W. Baldwin

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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NEWS OF THE WEEK IN REVIEW

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[Homer_J_Simpson]

Free Republic University, Department of History presents World War II Plus 70 Years: Seminar and Discussion Forum
First session: September 1, 2009. Last date to add: September 2, 2015.
Reading assignment: New York Times articles delivered daily to students on the 70th anniversary of original publication date. (Previously posted articles can be found by searching on keyword “realtime” Or view Homer’s posting history .)
To add this class to or drop it from your schedule notify Admissions and Records (Attn: Homer_J_Simpson) by freepmail. Those on the Realtime +/- 70 Years ping list are automatically enrolled. Course description, prerequisites and tuition information is available at the bottom of Homer’s profile.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

[Homer_J_Simpson]

First Lord to Naval Secretary 14.1.40

Perhaps you will see Mr. Cripps (brother of Sir Stafford Cripps), who had a very good record in the last war and is a brave and able man. There must be many openings in some of our minesweepers.

[Enclosure: Letter from Mr. Frederick Cripps asking “could he be used for minesweeping?”]

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Helsinki Bombed as Soviet Presses Offensive in Air – 2-4
The International Situation – 4
Tokyo Cabinet Out; Premier is Sought Among Generals – 5
Tobin Asks Revolt By Rank and File to End Labor Split – 6
Painters Move to Picket City Hotels in Union Row – 6
France and Spain Agree on Balanced Trade; Pact Covers Big Exchange of Needed Goods – 7
Germany Waging ‘Population War’ – 8
British Sacrifice Vital, Simon Holds – 9
Belgium Recalls Troops on Leave – 10
Chinese Government to Go Into Business To End Scarcity and High Prices of Goods – 10
Visitor Finds Life in Warsaw Easier – 10-11
U.S. Asks Curb on Exports By Commodity Exchange – 11
Plane Every 4 Days is Boeing Production – 11
Incidents in European Conflict – 12

News of the Week in Review
Additional authors that didn’t fit in the header: Henry N. Dorris, Harold B. Hinton

Twenty News Questions – 14
Chamberlain’s Grip Firm After Shake-Up – 15-16
Big Defense Problem is in Lap of Congress – 17-20
Answers to Twenty News Questions – 21
Both Parties Seek Lynch Bill Credit – 22
Trade Pacts Loom as Issue – 23

Rotogravure Section - A New Commander in Chief of the U.S. Fleet (posted for historical significance rather than photo quality. But note the fore-and-aft hats with the admirals’ dress uniforms.) - 24

[abb]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/jan40/f14jan40.htm

A new government formed in Japan
Sunday, January 14, 1940 www.onwar.com

Mitsumasa YonaiIn Tokyo... The Japanese Prime Minister Abe and all his Cabinet resign and Admiral Mitsumasa Yonai is chosen to form a new government.

In Warsaw... Deaths, mainly from starvation, in the Jewish ghetto are estimated to be running at 70 per day.

In the United States... Eighteen members of the pro-Nazi Bund organization are arrested for conspiracy.

In the Winter War... Soviet aircraft drop bombs near Lulea, Sweden and violate Norwegian airspace.

In Moscow... Norway and Sweden issue diplomatic protests over the incidents involving Soviet aircraft engaged in the war against Finland.

[abb]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/14.htm

January 14th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: 4 Grp. 51 Sqn. Two aircraft. ‘Security Patrols’ - Hornum - Borkum. Opposition light. Two enemy aircraft seen, but these did not attack. #

BELGIUM: Belgian troops at the southwest border and in the Ardennes area are forbidden to fire on French or English troops. (Jack McKillop)

GERMANY: The ‘Wehrmacht High Command [OKW]’ announced:

On the night of January 12, several enemy aircraft undertook reconnaissance flights over German territory. During the night an English aircraft tried to attack a North Frisian island; the bombs fells harmlessly into the sea.

U-432 is laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

POLAND: Warsaw: Deaths, mainly from starvation, in the Jewish ghetto are running at 70 a day.

SWEDEN: Soviet aircraft drop bombs near Lulea, Sweden and violate Norwegian airspace. (Jack McKillop)

FINLAND: Mrs. Hella Wuolijoki, the Finnish peace envoy, meets Madame Alexandra Kollontay, the Soviet Ambassador at Stockholm. They have an unofficial talk and Kollontay agrees to send a message to Moscow exploring the possibility of peace. (Mikko Härmeinen)

EUROPE: Leave is cancelled for all Dutch, Belgian and BEF troops.

GIBRALTAR: The US freighter SS Narbo, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities the previous day, is released to continue her voyage to Italy, Yugoslavia, and Greece, but not before some items from her cargo are removed as contraband. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.S.R..: Norway and Sweden issue diplomatic protests over the incidents involving Soviet aircraft engaged in the war against Finland. (Jack McKillop)

JAPAN: The Japanese Prime Minister, General ABE Nobuyki, and all his Cabinet resign and Admiral YONAI Mitsumasa is chosen to form a new government. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: Eighteen members of the pro-Nazi ‘Bund’ organisation are arrested for conspiracy.

PANAMA: The British Minister in Panama, Charles Dodd, transmits the response of the British government to a note sent by the President of Panama on behalf of the 21 American Republics concerning the violation of American neutrality that occurred in the Battle of the River Plate. The British “reserve their full belligerent rights in order to fight the menace presented by German action and policy and to defend that conception of law and that way of life, which they believe to be as dear to the peoples and Governments of America as they are to the peoples and Governments of the British Commonwealth of Nations.” (Jack McKillop)

ANTARCTICA: USN auxiliary USS Bear (AG-29) reaches Bay of Whales. Along with Interior Department motorship USMS North Star, USS Bear will establish the two bases to be used in the U.S. Antarctic Service’s 1939-1941 expedition under Rear Admiral Richard E. Byrd, USN (Retired). (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The German auxiliary cruiser HK Pinquin captures a Norwegian whale factory ship and 13 whalers. (Jack McKillop)

[PzLdr]

I think it’s spelled “Pinguin”.

[abb]

Not only that, the action they refer to didn’t happen until 1941.

[CougarGA7]

Day 46 of the Winter War, January 14, 1940

Helsinki: an ambulance donated by the French Red Cross arrives from Stockholm with four nurses.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Soviet 122nd Division withdraws to Märkäjärvi

• Ladoga Karelia: the Soviet 122nd Division is ordered to take Uomaa village and push the Finnish detachments out of the terrain between Uomaa and Lavajärvi.

• Northern Finland: the Soviet 122nd Division disengages from Vuosamonselkä and withdraws to Märkäjärvi.

• Detachment Roininen and the 40th Infantry Regiment are ordered to prepare themselves to pursue the enemy.

• At the same time word comes through that the Soviet 88th Division is concentrating troops at Salla.

• The submarine Iku-Turso returns from patrol without having sighted the enemy.

• Viipuri: Soviet aircraft begin to bomb the city.

• Vaasa: 10 people die in air-raids, among them women and children.

• Enemy bombers hit Rauma, Pori, Uusikaupunki, Sottunga in the Åland archipelago, Hanko, Karjaa, Salo, Tammisaari, Helsinki and Kauniainen.

• In the Gulf of Bothnia, Soviet aircraft also bomb the Swedish coastline.

• At Haparanda the air-raid warning lasts 1½ hours.

• Helsinki: an ambulance donated by the French Red Cross arrives from Stockholm with four nurses.

[CougarGA7]

So four days later the first rumors leak out of a German plane crash landing in Belgium with important documents on it. I think some might be able to read between the lines on the sudden recall of Belgium soldiers and this small report on the plane.

I wonder how and when the plane crash was reported in the Belgium press.

[henkster]

“Helsinki: an ambulance donated by the French Red Cross arrives from Stockholm with four nurses.”

Swedish nurses? I find myself feeling unwell...

[abb]

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

The Pinguin was a German auxiliary cruiser (Hilfskreuzer) which served as a commerce raider in World War II. The Pinguin was known to the German Navy as Schiff 33, and designated HSK 5. The most successful commerce raider of the war, she was known to the British Royal Navy as Raider F. The name Pinguin means penguin in German language.

Pinguin was one of the first wave of raiders sent out by the German navy, sailing on the 15 June 1940 under the command of FK (later KzS) Ernst-Felix Krüder.

Slipping through the Denmark Straits, Pinguin made for her patrol area in the Southern Ocean.

In 10 ½ months at sea she accounted for 28 ships, totalling 136,000 tons (GRT).

Her most successful coup was the capture, on 14 January 1941, of most of the Norwegian whaling fleet in Antarctica, totalling three factory ships and 11 whalers. These were sent back as prizes to Europe, arriving in Bordeaux, occupied France, in March 1941. One of the whalers was retained as an auxiliary raider, being re-named Adjutant

[CougarGA7]

They better not tell the boys on the line about the Swedish nurses. There will be a sudden epidemic of trench foot.