FINNS PRESSED BACK, ASK WORLD AID; CALL BATTLE WORSE THAN WORLD WAR (2/14/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 2/14/40 | Harold Denny, Walter Duranty, Percival Knauth, Frank L. Kluckhohn, Frederick T. Birchall

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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EDITORIALS

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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]

Selections from West Point Atlas for the Second World War
Finland – The Decisive Offensive, 1-21 February 1940
Evolution of Plan Yellow, October 1939-January 1940
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Helsinki Alarmed – 2-3
War of Liberation Seen by Russians – 4
New Baltic Threat by Germany Seen – 4-5
German ‘Stab in Back’ is Expected by Finn – 5
The International Situation – 5
Washington Hears of Soviet Massing – 6
U-Boats and Mines Sink More Vessels – 6-7
Ottawa Mourns Lord Tweedsmuir – 7
Record Navy Bill, Cut by $111,699,699, Put up to House – 8
Navy Calls Threat Greater than in ’14 – 9
Board Asks Bids for 2 Giant Liners – 9
Finn Hits U.S. Officer For Apology in Russian – 9
Schuschnigg Son Attends A Jesuit College in Italy – 10
President Decides on Vacation at Sea in Air of Mystery – 11
Incidents in European Conflict – 11

Editorials - 12-13
Finland’s Verdun *
Homes at $ 2,500
The State Budget
Civil Service Reform *
Aeronautical Archives
Children of Jimmu Tenno
Two National Weeklies

* A couple lines didn’t print in readable form. Just pretend this is Madlibs and make up your own wording.

[Vaquero]

a cool little clip has General George Marshall inspect the arrival of B-17s to a Puerto Rican Airbase.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

a cool little clip has General George Marshall inspect the arrival of B-17s to a Puerto Rican Airbase.

That's what I get for not reading the caption. I saw "First Flying Fortress" and stopped. I assumed the people standing in front of the plane were the officers of the flight crew.

[Ukiapah Heep]

Looks like the left was getting along famously with real life Nazis, then as now.

[abb]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f14feb40.htm

British merchant ships to be armed
Wednesday, February 14, 1940 www.onwar.com

From London... The British government announces that all British merchant ships in the North Sea will be armed. In addition, it will allow British citizens to volunteer for the Finnish Foreign Legion.

In Britain... IRA operatives plant five bombs in Birmingham. Two shops are damaged.

In the North Sea... A Hudson of Coastal Command locates the German supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters.

In the Vatican... Rationing is introduced.

From Helsinki... The Finnish Note (circularized to many foreign governments) accuses the USSR of adopting illegal methods of warfare, including indiscriminate bombing of unprotected towns, hospitals and railway trains and abuse of the white flag (some Soviet troops having feigned surrender before attacking).

[abb]

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

February 14th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: British citizens are given permission to join the Finnish Foreign Legion.

The government says that North Sea merchant shipping will be armed.

Birmingham: Five IRA bombs explode.

Destroyer HMS Garth launched.

Corvette USS Saucy (ex-HMS Arabis) launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORTH SEA: A Lockheed Hudson Mk. III of RAF No. 220 Squadron Coastal Command, based at Thornaby, Yorkshire, locates the German supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters. (Jack McKillop)

FRANCE: The first four “groupes francs” of French airborne troops are today operational. The troops are called “infanterie de l’air” and the original two groupes (GIA) were formed on 1st April, 1937. They are named the 601st and 602nd GIA. (Stuart Millis)

GERMANY: U-513, U-514, U-515, U-516, U-517, U-518, U-519, U-520, U-521, U-522, U-523, U-524 ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)

VATICAN CITY: Rationing is introduced.

GIBRALTAR: The U.S. passenger liner SS Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar for several hours by British authorities but allowed to proceed; not as fortunate is freighter SS Exermont, which is also detained there. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA: The RCAF’s No.110 (Army Co-Operation) Squadron sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Britain. This is the first RCAF squadron to be sent to Europe. (Jack McKillop)

Flower-class corvettes HMCS Wetaskiwin (ex-Banff), Agassiz, Chilliwack, Trail, Kamloops, Dawson, Alberni, Nanaimo, Edmunston ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: Submarine USS Grampus laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

ATLANTIC OCEAN:
At 0800, the Langleeford, a straggler from convoy HX-18, was torpedoed by U-26 about 70 miles northwest of Fastnet, Ireland and sank after 13 minutes. Four crewmembers were lost. The master and 29 crewmembers were landed at Ross, Co Clare

SS Sultan Star sunk by U-48 at 48.54N, 10.03W.

SS Martin Goldschmidt sunk by U-53 at 55.53N, 12.37W.

At 0135, the Gretafield, a straggler from convoy HX-18, was torpedoed and set on fire by U-57 southeast of Noss Head. Ten crewmembers were lost. The master and 30 crewmembers were picked up by armed trawlers HMS Peggy Nutten and Strathalladale and landed at Wick. The burning Gretafield drifted ashore at Dunbeath, Caithnesshire at 58°14´15N 03°25´45W. On 19 March, the tanker broke in two and was declared a total loss. (Dave Shirlaw)

[abb]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

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

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

Looks like the left was getting along famously with real life Nazis, then as now.

Right up until Hitler attacked the Soviet Union.

Then, as your grandparents will tell you, America was unified (to attack Germany first after Pearl Harbor and save Stalin.)

If Hitler and Stalin were still together through 1941, war with them would have torn America in half and war with Japan-only would even have faced leftist draft resistence at least.

[CougarGA7]

Day 77 of the Winter War, February 14, 1940

Viipuri: enemy bombers damage the castle bridge and Viipuri Castle itself.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Russians lose 30,000-40,000 in Summa

• Eastern Isthmus: fierce fighting in Taipale results in the enemy retaking the Kirvesmäki stronghold which had been recaptured by Finnish troops during the night.

• After a massive artillery barrage lasting two hours the Russians launch an assault in both Terenttilä and Kirvesmäki.

• The attack is supported by both aircraft and tanks.

• Lack of sufficient available strength makes it impossible for the Finnish troops to respond effectively.

• The ferocity of the battle is illustrated by the fact that the commander of the company with responsibility for the front has to be replaced three times within the space of just a few hours due to the death or injury of his predecessor.

• There is a lull in the fighting at 5.35 p.m.

• In compliance with their orders the Finnish troops in Summa pull out of their positions in the Lähde sector.

• Fortunately there is no enemy attack during the withdrawal, reorganization and regrouping of the Finnish defences. The Finns also succeed in reinforcing their troops in the Summa sector.
• In the north, the Finnish 9th Division suspends attacks on the Kuhmo 'mottis'.

• The Russians lose 30,000-40,000 men in Summa.

• The enemy awards an assault tank brigade trapped in a 'motti' 300 roubles to distribute among the troops in honour of the 22nd anniversary of the Red Army.

• Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim, the commanding officer of the Army of the Isthmus, and the commanding officer of II Army Corps meet in Saarela manor house to discuss the situation on the Isthmus.

• Viipuri: enemy bombers damage the castle bridge and Viipuri Castle itself.

• On the home front, Soviet bombers hit Hamina.

• The Finnish Government publishes a note aimed at foreign powers on the Soviet Union's infringements of the customs of war.

• Abroad: British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain informs Finland's diplomatic representative in London, Georg Gripenberg that the United Kingdom is prepared to supply Finland with thirty 84 mm field cannons and 30,000 shells. This is around a third of what Finland had asked for.

[PzLdr]

February 14, 1940: First Birthday of battleship BISMARCK [launched 14 FEB 1939].

[Homer_J_Simpson]

February 14, 1940: First Birthday of battleship BISMARCK [launched 14 FEB 1939].

I bet we hear more from Bismarck when he hits the "terrible twos."

[Lancey Howard]

This is an astounding edition. I start reading these “newspapers” and can’t stop.

That’s a funny story on page 9 about the US major who bumped into a Finn lieutenant and apologized in Russian, whereupon the Finn punched him in the jaw.

Also, the page 6 story about “Soviet massing” is loaded with the kind of information today’s NY Times likes to publish about US tactical schemes and positions.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Also on #6, Did you see the story, "Navy Calls Threat Greater than in '14"? Admiral Stark spoke a mouthful:

"Such conditions render likely the possibilities of a general European war and, in conjunction with Far Eastern conditions, they threaten a world conflagration."

Two new battleships costing $65,000,000 each, which will be launched in the Spring, although equal to craft of other nations, should not be duplicated because they soon may be obsolete.

[Lancey Howard]

My Dad served on the USS Leonard F. Mason, launched 1946. He was on the first crew (and therefore “owned a plank”). The destroyer ended up having a very proud history. Anyway, if you have about 3 minutes to kill, here’s a cool video (with cool music!) of the Mason in the Gulf of Tonkin, 1973.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9fwcnLmq8U