Posted on 02/11/2010 4:27:11 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
News of the Week in Review
Twenty News Question – 9
Japan’s Army Meeting with Heavy Resistance – 10-12
Our Aircraft Industry is Expanding Rapidly – 13-15
Answers to Twenty News Questions - 14
Dissing our future Russian allies? heh heh
There’s a sale on fur coats at Nelson-Hickson!
Yeah. Now, if I just had a spare $850 I could get my wife a nice mink.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f11feb40.htm
Soviets break Mannerheim Line
Sunday, February 11, 1940 www.onwar.com
The Winter War... Intense fighting on the Karelian front begins as the Red Army launches what is to become the decisive assault on the Mannerheim Line. About 120,000 Soviet troops attack along a 12-mile front, a massive concentration of seven men per yard. The Soviet 123rd Division (an element of the Soviet 7th Army) succeeds in breaking into the Finnish defenses near Summa. Finns launch desperate counterattacks.
In Berlin... The Germans and Soviets sign further trade and economic agreement. The Soviets will supply raw materials, especially oil and food, in return for manufactured products of all kinds, including arms.
In Montreal... The Governor-General of Canada, Lord Tweedsmuir (well-known as the author John Buchan) dies after surgery for a head injury at age 64.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/11.htm
February 11th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Immingham, Lincolnshire. Flt-Lt John Noel Dowland (1914-42) and Leonard Henry Harrison (1906-89) defused a bomb aboard the grain ship SS Kildare in Immingham. For that they will both receive the George Cross but not until 1941.
UNITED KINGDOM: NORTHERN IRELAND: The IRA carries out a successful raid on a company store of the I.T.C of the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Ballykinlar.
GERMANY: The Germans and Soviets sign further trade and economic agreements in Berlin. The Soviets will supply raw materials, especially oil and food, in return for manufactured products of all kinds, including arms. (Jack McKillop)
SWEDEN: Intense Cold still grips Europe, with 58 degrees of frost in Stockholm.
FINLAND: The Red Army breaches the Mannerheim Line at Summa.
(Mikko Härmeinen adds):
After more than a week of fighting, the Red Army finally breaches the Mannerheim line. So far the Finnish troops had been able to stop the Soviet advances and conquer back the lost territory, but this brutal trench warfare has badly worn the Finnish Army units. Outside Finland, the best known battles of the Winter War are usually those of Suomussalmi, and people often think of Finnish troops skiing through snow-covered forests, hitting the enemy and then disappearing back to the woods. But at the Karelian Isthmus, which is the most important front of the war, there’s no room for such manoeuvres. The troops had to stand or die. The Finnish tactics reveal there one bad flaw: the lost territory is always tried to win back with immediate counter-attacks, when in fact a more flexible defence could perhaps save men and be more successful in the longer run. But the war is fought in Finnish territory, and the men and officers alike think in similar terms: not an inch backwards. Many of the men in the front are hastily trained replenishment troops (contrary to what is commonly believed, the Finnish Army did not run out of men in the Winter War, but of *trained* men - there were about two divisions worth of untrained manpower when the war started), and there are more and more instances of panic at the front when the men are faced by the reality of Soviet superiority of firepower.
In Summa, at the Lähde sector defended by the battered 3rd Division (Col. Paavo Paalu), the Soviet 123rd (sic; Col. Filipp Aljabushev) Division breaks through the Mannerheim line. It is defended by the newly arrived and badly understrength IInd battalion (Capt. Arthur Lindman) of the Infantry Regiment 9, now subordinated to the war-worn IR 8 (Maj. Sulo Laaksonen; such switching of battalions between regiments was common in the Finnish Army, esp. during the Winter War). Lindman’s battalion has less than 400 men and only one AT-gun, and the Finnish artillery, as usual, is badly short of ammunition. The Soviet attack is planned well, and the defender is literally buried under the strength of the assault. The desperate Finnish counter-attacks fail to push the Soviets back, but the breakthrough is contained for the time being. This day is the beginning of the end.
CANADA: The Governor-General of Canada, Sir John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir of Elsfield, (well-known as the author John Buchan) dies in Montreal, Quebec, after surgery for head injuries suffered during a stroke five days ago. He was 64. His suspense novel “Thirty-Nine Steps” later became famous when Alfred Hitchcock made it into a movie released in 1935. New versions of the film were made in 1959 and 1978. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
Steam trawler Togimo sunk by U-37 at 50.40N, 11.02W.
At 2354, the Orania was hit by one torpedo from U-50 and sank within three minutes 65 miles NNE of Flugga lightvessel, Shetlands. The U-boat had spotted the vessel at 2240, but was not able to identify her as neutral. The wife of the master was also aboard.
The unescorted Imperial Transport was torpedoed and damaged by U-53 (Grosse) in 59°N/12°W (grid AM 1490). Two crewmembers were lost.
At 1820, the Linda was hit by one torpedo from U-9 and broke in two. The forepart sank immediately and the stern followed four minutes later.
At 1100, the neutral Snestad was torpedoed and sunk by U-53 about 100 miles west of the Hebrides. The survivors were picked up after 22 hours by Albert L. Ellsworth and landed at Bergen. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
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).
An interesting episode when the Communist front youth groups were invited to the White House at the behest of Eleanor Roosevelt.
Stalin thinks he holds all the cards in his game with Hitler. Hitler is pre-occupied with France and Britain while Stalin is cleaning up in Eastern Europe. He wants to put the squeeze on Hitler for as much as he can.
Of course, I wonder how Stalin’s tune would change if France were to somehow drop out of the war quickly. After all, it should be pretty obvious to the entire world that the Winter War has exposed some serious weaknesses in the Red Army....
I’ve said before, France falling so quickly was a blessing in disguise, because had it been a long fight, the Soviets may very well have wound up with ALL of Europe.
And I agree with you 100%. It was the great irony of WW2. Stalin made his cynical pact with Hitler because he suspected Britain and France expected to beat Germany by having Stalin spend copious amounts of Russian blood. Instead, he thought, he’d cut a deal with Hitler, and watch the western democracies bleed themselves. Then when they were exhausted, he’d clean up. However, France caved in quickly, and Hitler turned on him. Meanwhile, Britain was isolated and the U.S. needed time to mobilize and deploy it’s armed forces.
So Germany was defeated...by having Stalin spend copious amounts of Russian blood. Don’t you just love irony?
The defending Finnish forces take out 72 enemy assault tanks.
Photo: SA-KUVA
50,000 Russian troops attack in Summa
Here’s that speech I was referring too a few days ago. I’m not sure where FDR got that 98% number, but it was pretty clear that the general public was really turned off by the Russians when they invaded Finland.
I did find it rather amusing that along with the American Youth Conference article there is another article discussing a conference on “How to Get a Job”. I really don’t think that is a coincidence.
Was there an audio link to go with this post?
Not of OTR-1940. Let me take a quick look and see if I can find it under the category of FDR speeches
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
