NEW RED DIVISION CUT UP BY FINNS, SCANDINAVIA HEARS (2/6/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, Cabrillo College Library | 2/6/40 | K.J. Eskelund, James Aldridge, G.H. Archambault, Felix Belair Jr.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

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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]

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Fun with Winnie! (“The next day” refers to Feb. 6, when the British party is returning from the Feb. 5 meeting in Paris. See yesterday’s reply #3 for Churchill’s description of that.)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Day 69 of the Winter War, February 6, 1940

By 7.30 in the evening the Finnish front line is entirely under Finnish control. The retreating enemy suffers heavy losses from the Finnish artillery and machine-gun fire.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Mannerheim Line holds firm on the Isthmus

• Karelian Isthmus: the Mannerheim Line holds firm. Finnish troops repulse the attempted Soviet breakthrough in Summa village and Marjapellonmäki.

• The first enemy tanks are destroyed in the early morning twilight, with the accompanying infantry also suffering heavy losses.

• By 7.30 in the evening the Finnish front line is entirely under Finnish control. The retreating enemy suffers heavy losses from the Finnish artillery and machine-gun fire.

• Northern Finland: in Kuhmo, the Finnish 9th Division surrounds the Russian 54th Division in a series of 'mottis'.

• Ladoga Karelia: Finnish troops capture an enemy base to the northeast of Lake Ladoga. The enemy loses over 500 men and a considerable amount of war materiel.

• Stockholm: Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner has another meeting with the Soviet Ambassador in Stockholm, Madame Alexandra Kollontai. Madame Kollontai passes on her government's view that Tanner's suggestion of the previous day does not provide a sufficient basis for opening peace talks. Tanner leaves for home.

• Norway: the northern Norwegian province of Ruija announces that there are currently 1,179 Finnish refugees in the province: 381 men, 359 women and 429 children.

• London: a question is asked in the House of Commons on the urgent dispatch of aircraft to Finland. Due to the sensitivity of the issue no detailed information can be provided.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Trap is Described – 2-3
The International Situation – 3
U.S. Finns Fighting North of Ladoga – 4-5
Paris Thinks Reich is Advising Soviet – 5
Says Debt is Less – 6-7
The Day in Washington – 7
Minnie the Elephant at Republican Fete – 7
President Forbids 3D Term Question – 8
Garner Authorized Entry In Wisconsin Primaries – 8
Assembly Passes Toll-Pooling Bill – 9
Murphy Is Sworn In as Supreme Court Justice As Many Friends and Well-Wishers Look On – 9
Incidents in European Conflict - 10

[henkster]

Justice Frank Murphy, former governor of the Philippines, will be the main dissenting Justice in “In Re Yamashita,” the appeal of Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita from his sentence of death imposed by a military tribunal.

Yamashita led the Japanese defense of the Philippines, and during that defense there were a number of atrocities committed against the Filipino people (most of which were not done under Yamashita’s direction). Regardless of the merits of the case, (which I will discuss 6 years hence if we’re still doing this), it’s interesting that the former governor of the Philippines will be the staunchest judicial defender of Yamashita.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f06feb40.htm

In Britain... At Euston Station, in London, a parcel bomb injures 4 people. Members of the IRA are reported to be responsible.

From London... The government produces a white paper on the Asamu Maru incident (January 21st). Also, pressure from the admiralty leads to new guidelines for BBC war reporting being agreed upon at Broadcasting House. From now on, the sinking of a small ship may be mentioned only once in a BBC news bulletin. Larger ships, like the Canadian Pacific freighter Beaverburn, sunk today, can be mentioned in consecutive bulletins. There is concern that the rising effectiveness of German U-boats, combined with zealous reporting, will give the impression that British losses are even greater than they are. Meanwhile, a nationwide campaign is launched to end war gossip, under the slogan “Careless Talk Costs Lives.”

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/06.htm

February 6th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM:
London: An IRA bomb explodes at Euston station injuring four people.
Westminster: Pressure from the admiralty led to new guidelines for BBC war reporting being agreed at Broadcasting House today. From now on the sinking of a small ship may be mentioned only once on a BBC news bulletin. Sinkings of larger ships, like the Canadian Pacific freighter ‘Beaverburn’, sunk today, may still be mentioned in consecutive bulletins. The government is worried by the rising effectiveness of German U-boats, and fears that zealous reporting by the BBC will give the impression that British losses are even greater than they are.

A nationwide campaign to stamp out war gossip has been launched under the slogan “Careless Talk Costs Lives.” The Ministry of Information is distributing 2.5 million posters to offices, hotels, shops, banks and public houses about the dangers of giving information to enemy sympathisers.
‘Punch’ cartoonist “Fougasse” (Kenneth Bird) has been drafted into put humour into the message with a series of cartoons showing Hitler eavesdropping from train luggage racks, telephone kiosks or concealed in framed portraits on the walls. Artist Norman Wilkinson has painted a torpedoed ship sinking with the reminder “A few careless words may end in this” and a seductive siren listening in at an officers club with the caption “Keep mum, she’s not so dumb.” The posters are snappier than an earlier MoI effort which read: “Do not discuss anything which might be of national importance. The consequence of any such indiscretion may be the loss of many lives.”

Women who turned out of their beds at dawn yesterday to help drag a north-east coast lifeboat a mile across land before it could be launched showed the determination and energy which there is to be tapped by war industries.
Talks between Ernest Brown, the Minister of Labour and National Service, and the National Executive of the Amalgamated Engineering Union began yesterday to work out ways of speeding up the supply of women workers to the ammunition factories. Pressure is also growing for equal pay to be given to new recruits.

The government produces a white paper on the SS Asamu Maru incident where the British light cruiser HMS Liverpool stopped the passenger liner on 21 January 35 miles (56 kilometres) off the Japanese coast and removed 21 German citizens from the ship. (Jack McKillop)

SS Anu struck a mine laid on 12 Dec 1939 by U-13 in the entrance to River Tay and sank.
The Government issues new regulations regarding the start of Summer Time. The original Summer Time order stated that the clock would be advanced from 0200 hours Greenwich Mean Time on the day following the third Saturday in April, i.e., 21 April 1940. The new order changes the start date of Summer Time to the day after the fourth Saturday in February, i.e., 24 February 1940. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer HMS Pakenham laid down.

Tug HMS Alligator commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

NORWAY: German freighter SS Konsul Horn, which had departed Aruba, Netherlands West Indies, on 7 January, reaches Norwegian waters having eluded or deceived the U.S. Neutrality Patrol as well as British and French warships. (Jack McKillop)

U.S.A.: The Radio Corporation of America (RCA), the owner of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), demonstrates an electronic color television system to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) but the results are poor and a public demonstration is cancelled. (Jack McKillop)