6TH BRITISH DESTROYER SUNK, 157 LOST; FINNS CRUSH LADOGA SOVIET DIVISION (2/20/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 2/20/40 | Raymond Daniell, Harold Denny, James B. “Scotty” Reston

[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]

Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm

[Homer_J_Simpson]

(Continued from Reply #3 on the February 17 thread)

Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

(To be continued.)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Ship is Torpedoed – 2-3
The International Situation – 3
Forebodings Stir Italy on Altmark (incomplete) – 3
Defeat of 18,000 Russians Halts Red Drive to Flank Isthmus Line – 4-5
Viborg Under Fire of Advancing Reds – 5-6
Finns Again Ask for Military Aid – 6
Captured Red Battle Flag Shows Norway as Target – 6
Lodz ‘Germanized’; 8,000 Poles Ousted – 8-9
Reich Confiscates Polish Properties – 9
Incidents in European Conflict – 9

Editorials – 10-11
Submarine Warfare
Unification in Sight
Republican Policy
“Taking Over” Our Stocks
The Unsolved Relief Problem
Gamble in Weather

[abb]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f20feb40.htm

Finns repulse Soviet crossing
Tuesday, February 20, 1940 www.onwar.com

The Winter War... Finnish forces defeat Soviet forces attacking across the frozen Taipale River.

From Moscow... The Soviet government offers fresh peace talks to Finland.

[abb]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/20.htm

February 20th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Fighter Command: North Sea shipping is again attacked by the Luftwaffe. ASW trawler HMS Fifeshire bombed and sunk by German aircraft east of Copinsay, Scotland. (Dave Shirlaw)
RAF Bomber Command: Reconnaissance of Heligoland Bight; one aircraft is lost.

NORTH SEA: U-54 believed sunk by mine in North Sea. No survivors. (Dave Shirlaw)

GERMANY: General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, who commanded XXI Corps in the invasion of Poland, is given command of the invasion force for Norway.

U-111 laid down. (Dave Shirlaw)

FINLAND: British Brigadier Christopher Ling and French Colonel Jean Ganéval visit Mannerheim’s GHQ. They give vague promises of future aid, but can give no concrete information.

The 8000 Swedish volunteers of Lt. Gen. Ernst Linder’s Svenska Frivilligkåren become officially a part of the Finnish field army.

Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner asks his Swedish collague Christian Günther to mediate between Finland and Soviet Union.

(Mikko Härmeinen)

U.S.S.R.: Moscow: Russia offers fresh peace talks to Finland.

CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Chambly, HMS Trillium and Mayflower laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec. (Dave Shirlaw)

U.S.A.: 300 Douglas Boston Mk IIIs (Douglas Model DB-7B) attack bombers are ordered for the RAF. These are essentially the same as the USAAF Havocs but equipped with British instrumentation, bomb racks, radio equipment and machine guns. (Jack McKillop)

[abb]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Thursday, February 18, 2010
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.

[Jacquerie]

The U-Boats at this time did not have French bases. The Battle of The Atlantic was a close run thing.

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain still sought to appease Hitler up to the moment of the German invasion of the low countries and France.

Hussein appeases Iran at our peril.

[abb]

Has any of the group been watching “The World at War” on the Military Channel? Some very good footage and interviews in the show.

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

I had first seen the series back in the mid ‘70s when it ran on WTBS. It is good to see it being aired again.

[Jacquerie]

“Owing to political complications. . . “

IIRC part of the reason for delay was fear that mining would impair appeasement of Hitler. The other had to do with mining the waters of a nonbelligerent nation.

[Vigilantcitizen]

Yep. I brought that up yesterday. Excellent series.

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Reading about the treatment of Poles and Jews in Lodz makes one infuriated when thinking about a carelessly people through the word Nazi around. Likewise the tendency of people to whine about minor inconveniences in comparison with the actual horrors of Nazism. I know, the Russians were worse.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

IIRC part of the reason for delay was fear that mining would impair appeasement of Hitler. The other had to do with mining the waters of a nonbelligerent nation.

According to Churchill (in Chapter XXXII as he says in the footnote) the political considerations involved concern over the reactions of Norway and Sweden, and acting in concert with France. My impression is that Chamberlain was through with appeasement after Hitler took Czechoslovakia in March '39 .

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Has any of the group been watching “The World at War” on the Military Channel?

Yep. I brought that up yesterday. Excellent series.

I don't get the Military Channel, but after Vigilantcitizen and CougarGA7 recommended it yesterday I added it to my Netflix queue.

[abb]

In last night’s episode, (On Our Way: U.S.A. (1939–1942)), there was an interesting interview with Averell Harriman. He was in on many of the wartime high-level decisions.

[abb]

And again I must beg forgiveness for my recent absence from the threads. My blog took up lots of time this week. Several meetings to cover.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

That's OK. It could be a long war and we all need to get back off the front line now and then for a breather.

I must admit you are making me curious with your mentions of a blog. What kind of issues do you cover?

[married21]

Interesting to read about the Finnish ski soldiers after just seeing the biathlon in the Olympics.

Also, the articles are so long and detailed. You never get that many facts in a newspaper article now.

[CougarGA7]

Day 83 of the Winter War, February 20, 1940

An ambulance sent by the Swedish Red Cross is working close to the front lines in northern Finland.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Finnish counterattack retakes part of front line

• The day begins on the Isthmus with heavy enemy bombing.

• Representatives of the Western Allies are negotiating with Mannerheim over possible military aid for Finland.

• The Russians maintain the heavy pressure in the Taipale sector.

• In Terenttilä they break through the Finnish defences to a depth of 1.5 kilometres.

• Intense enemy bombing hampers Finnish countermeasures.

• By evening, part of the front line has been retaken in a counterattack.

• The situation of the Finnish troops in the intermediary positions on the Isthmus has decisively deteriorated.

• In the Mustalampi area, Soviet tanks dragging sled personnel carriers break through the intermediary defences during the night.

• By the afternoon the breakthrough extends to a depth of one kilometre.

• The defending Finns manage to deal with the enemy infantry, but are unable to destroy the tanks.

• About twenty tanks push through the Finnish positions.

• One of the reasons for the Finnish failure is a lack of artillery shells. Finnish losses are 74 dead and wounded.

• Defence of Viipurinlahti bay is transferred from the navy to the Army of the Isthmus.

• Finnish gunners shoot down nine enemy aircraft today.

• A detachment of Swedish volunteers, Svenska Frivilligkåren, is attached to the Finnish field army. The volunteers prepare to assume responsibility for the front in the far north, taking over from the Lapland Group.

• An ambulance sent by the Swedish Red Cross is working close to the front lines in northern Finland.

• In Sweden, the national collection and the women's fighter aircraft fund are both growing rapidly.

• Back in Finland, the Martha Organization is opening a service centre for veterans of the front in Helsinki.