Posted on 12/19/2010 5:50:57 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Winston S. Churchill, Their Finest Hour
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/dec40/f19dec40.htm
Finns have new President
Thursday, December 19, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Helsinki... Finnish President Risto Ryti takes office. His predecessor, Dr. Kallio, dies suddenly the same day.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/19.htm
December 19th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
Westminster: Churchill makes a long statement on the general war position. The first task of the government was to protect the people at home and ensure they get a good night’s rest whether at home or in an adequate and sanitary shelter. “The ARP, the Home Office, and the Ministry of Health are just as much in the front lines as are the armoured columns chasing the Italians about the Libyan desert. He also issues a warning about the level of sinkings in the Atlantic.
Destroyer HMS Blankney launched.
Destroyer HMS Legion commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-75, U-111 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
ITALY:
The Italian High Command appeal to the OKW to send a German armoured division to North Africa as soon as possible.
FINLAND:
Risto Ryti takes over as president from Dr. Kallio.
Mikko Härmeinen adds:
Kyösti Kallio had been the President of the Republic since 1937. The Winter War had been an especially hard time for him, even if the more immediate decision making had in practice been in other hands, in civilian affairs with PM Ryti and Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner, and in military matters with Marshal Mannerheim. When Kallio on 12 March 1940 gave the Finnish negotiators the powers to sign the harsh peace treaty, he uttered the famous words “May wither the hand that has signed a paper like this!” The next summer (1940) Kallio suffered a stroke that left his right arm paralysed.
Kallio’s health deteriorated during the summer and autumn of 1940, and finally in December 19th, 1940 he gave up the presidency. The President was normally elected by a chamber of electors elected by popular vote. This time this process was dispensed with and the new President was elected by the electors of 1937. The new President Risto Ryti had been the Prime Minister during the Winter War and the Director of the Bank of Finland before that.
Later on the same day Kyösti Kallio left Helsinki for his estate in Nivala. But at the Helsinki railway station, as he was seen off by the Finnish political and military leadership, he suffered the final fatal stroke and died in the arms of his senior adjutant Colonel Aladar Paasonen.
NORTH AFRICA:
Wavell replies to Churchill asking for more planes, “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above” (James I, 17).
He also telegrams the CIGS:
Italians have decided to hold Bardia and reconnaissance’s have drawn fire from defences... You must not expect rapid progress. Defences are strong, supply situation is difficult and all vehicles are showing signs of hard work. Enemy air force is superior in numbers ... our aircraft want time to establish in advanced aerodromes.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA: Submarine FS Sfax sunk off Cape Juby, Morocco by U-37. (Dave Shirlaw)
TURKEY:
In a report from Istanbul, the newspaper ‘Tan’ states that Hitler “has either already recommended or will recommend to Premier Mussolini that he withdraw altogether from Albania.
CANADA: Fairmile B-class HMC ML 066, 067, 068, ML 069, ML 070, ML 071 ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)
U.S.A.:
Washington: At five o’ clock this morning, the British Purchasing Commission finished a $750 million shopping list of war orders. The list has been prepared at President Roosevelt’s request, but contracts will not be signed until Congress has been consulted. The first contract, the US Treasury Secretary, Henry Morgenthau, said today, will be for 60 merchant ships, to be completed within 12 months. The biggest single item will be 12,000 aircraft, costing about $300 million. Guns, tanks and other war supplied for Britain will total $425 million.
The motion picture “One Night in the Tropics” opens at the Roxy Theater in New York City. Directed by Edward Stutherland, this comedy based on an Earl Derr Biggers novel, stars Allan Jones, Nancy Kelly, Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Robert Cummings and Leo Carrillo. This was Abbott and Costello’s film debut. (Jack McKillop)
CLEARWATER - Maj. George Hatji Stavris, officer in the Greek army, told members of Turner-Brandon post of the American Legion last night that the Greeks are looking to the United States for aid in their struggle against Italy more than to any other nation.
Major Stavris, speaking with the assistance of interpreter Spyros Bossen, extended the thanks of the Greeks for help given by America. The Greeks, he said, are outnumbered 12 to 1 by the Italians but will win the war if the United States will aid them with supplies and equipment. Albania, the general said, is a land of little more than “sheep and mountains.”
The Greek officer arrived in the United States 36 days ago for the purpose of seeking volunteers for army duty. He will leave soon, proceeding by clipper to England and then to Crete.
The Clearwater post voted to join with Tarpon Springs on Jan. 18. Mayor-elect George Seavy will proclaim that day Greek Relief Fund Day, and Greek girls from Tarpon Springs will come here to solicit funds.
At the invitation of Charles Criticos of Clearwater, the post will send a color guard and delegation to Greek Cross Day in Tarpon Springs on Jan. 6. The ceremonies will include public prayers for the Greek army and British navy.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: U-37 sank SS Sfax and Rhône. (Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 476 December 19, 1940
Overnight, British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Warspite shell Italian positions at Valona, Albania, in support of Greek advances.
7 miles North of Cape Juby, Morocco, U-37 mistakenly torpedoes and sinks submarine Sfax (4 killed, 69 survivors) and the support ship Rhône (11 dead) belonging to her ally Vichy France. U-37’s log does not record this incident, stating “Nothing to see”.
Operation Compass. Gunboat HMS Aphis continues the bombardment of Bardia. General O’Connor reports that Western Desert Force’s casualties in the first 10 days of the campaign are 141 killed and missing plus 387 wounded.
200 miles West of Ireland, Italian submarine Bagnolini sinks British SS Amicus (all hands lost). British convoy escort destroyers HMS Veteran and HMS Verity collide in Lough Foyle near the Royal Navy base at Londonderry, flooding HMS Verity’s engine room (under repair at Londonderry and Belfast until March 5 1941).
Translation: HELP!!
Result: Rommel
Hope the Greek appeal to the US meets with better success than the Finns got. Need more than panties and broomsticks to fight invaders.
Poor Dr. Kallio. The stroke that finally did him in was just as likely a broken heart.
Result: British pain in the a$$.
Enter:Afrika Korps -Hitler has little choice but to aid his ally or lose the entire south coast of the Mediterranean Sea and with it a staggering number of Italian troops. He was just starting to focus on the unimaginable logistical nightmare of 'Barbarossa' and the huge increase in Motorized and infantry troops that it would need so I'm sure the prospect of moving a couple of his priceless Panzer units into Libya to save Mussolini must have caused him to wonder just what he had gotten himself into with his buddy, Benito.
One of my favorite “What if” WWII scenarios is how the war plays out if Benito follows Franco’s lead and sits it out.
it was a very good thing for the Allied cause that Mussolini was such a bozo - dragging German forces into the Balkans and North Africa when Hitler is getting ready to invade the USSR.... thanks, Musso!
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