Posted on 03/22/2010 4:19:28 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
Soviets occupy ceded port
Friday, March 22, 1940 www.onwar.com
In the Soviet Union... The Soviets occupy the formerly Finnish port of Hango.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/22.htm
March 22nd, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: 4 Group. Leaflets and Reconnaissance - Ruhr. 10 Sqn. Six aircraft. Two returned early due to icing. Opposition heavy. One aircraft shadowed by enemy aircraft but was not attacked.
RAF Fighter Command: Cromer Knoll lightship is attacked by a lone Luftwaffe aircraft.
The Times..
It might be news to many of you that London streets are now regularly filled with body-snatchers in a flap. Or that, if they were body-snatchers from north of the border, they might cool off with some bottled sunshine.
These are just a couple of the phrases coined by the men in Britain’s armed services. The body-snatchers are first-aid workers, and when in a flap they are working in an air raid. The bottled sunshine is beer.
Parachuting is an activity that has fired the men’s imaginations. The ‘chute itself is known as bag by some, and is used for a brolly hop by pilots, or bus drivers, as bomber pilots are called. Unlucky pilots ditch in the herring pond or the gravy (the Atlantic) or in the drink (the Channel).
Amorous activities have produced one of the richest sources of servicemen’s slang. Girlfriends are known as charmers, lush bints, popsies or pushers. Those who are seeing a girl regularly are said to be nibbling.
On an evening off men get into their swanks (civilian clothes) and take the liberty bus into town to pitch a woo. Those separated from their lovers receive yum yum by post if they’re lucky. An amorous couple may be described as kittens in a basket.
Friends, too, are described in a variety of inventive ways. A sailor’s chum is his brassy or sprog. When they have a disagreement they part brassrags, each taking his cleaning rags back to his own quarters.
During time off, bottled sunshine (alternatively known as brown food) gets you horizontal, stitched, shot up or shot to ribbons. Char (tea) the next morning can be accompanied by gunfire - biscuits so-called because they crackle loudly when bitten.
FRANCE: The French airborne units, the “groupes francs” are disbanded and the men returned to their infanterie de l’air companies. (Stuart Millis)
TURKEY: Ankara: All large Turkish steamers in foreign waters are ordered to return home as soon as possible.
JAPAN: Foreign Minister ARITA Hachiro announces that the Japanese government will keep out of European affairs. (Jack McKillop)
U.S.A.: The USN initiates the development of guided missiles at the Naval Aircraft Factory in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with the establishment of a project for adapting radio controls to a torpedo-carrying Great Lakes TG-2 torpedo bomber. (Jack McKillop)
Let’s take a look at our new French government, which looks a lot like the old French government. You have a government dominated by left of center types (typical European social democrats) with a sprinkling of socialists (just a shade right of the communists, who have been repressed). There is no participation from the right-of-center parties.
The French far left gets it’s marching orders from Moscow. Because of the Non-Aggression Pact, those orders no longer include strong support of the war. In fact, they undermine the war effort. The far right has been sympathetic to National Socialism, and thus aren’t inclined to support the war effort either. The center-left government hasn’t looked like they really support an aggressive prosecution of the war, probably because they are naturally squishy compromisers to begin with. And the military is run by a bunch of overage cowards. The Senate is making noise about wanting more vigorous prosecution of the war, but it looks a lot like posturing. I suspect they want the phoney war over with, but without the bloodshed of 1914-1918. All French politicians suspect that long casualty lists is political poison in the next election.
On the outside, France has the facade of a powerful military machine. Those willing to look below the surface would suspect that it’s a hollow shell.
They really were a paper tiger. When the Germans begin their assault they will be coming up against a French force with more troops, more tanks, and better tanks than the German bring to bear. Yet the French command structure and tactics are so out dated that they can do little more than fold to the on coming Germans. I’ll go into more detail on some of these inadequacies here in a couple of months.
I also see where the House of Commons is stepping up criticism of Chamberlain’s government. If his government is shaky, and in France a new government led by a guy who was previously an “outsider.” Reynaud is an independent, which tells me he really has no political base of his own. I suspect he’s a guy who is all about himself first. But, with the new French government and the British government appearing somewhat shaky, and fine spring weather about to arrive, I suspect there is a window of opportunity here for the Germans.
I suspect that if the Germans have a plan for attacking France, the time is getting very ripe to do so. Disorganization on the part of the Allies seems to be at an all time high.
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 204 March 22, 1940
French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud keeps his predecessor Édouard Daladier as Minister of War. Due to their opposite political views and personal animosity, Reynaud and Daladier cannot agree or cooperate on any plan, which hampers French war planning and especially complicates the alliance with the British.
Soviet Union begins the occupation the Finnish port of Hanko and the rest of the Hanko peninsula, under the lease agreed in the Moscow Peace Treaty of March 12/13. The area is renamed Hangö by the Soviets. http://www.saunalahti.fi/ility/Bengtskar/Bengtskar.html
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