RUSSIANS REPORT CAPTURE OF 13 MANNERHEIM FORTS; TURKS SEIZE NAZI SHIPYARD (2/9/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, Cabrillo College Library | 2/9/40 | K.J. Eskelund, Harold Denny

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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]

As a diversion from the increasingly grim news from the Winter War, we’re going to follow the last three weeks of the racing career of the great Seabiscuit. We can do this largely because of the fine book by Laura Hillenbrand, “Seabiscuit: An American Legend.” I will post excerpts periodically to supplement the Times coverage. For those of you not familiar with the story here is the book’s preface:

Regarding the “severe injuries” Hillebrand mentions in the preface: In February 1938 Pollard was riding in the San Carlos Handicap at Santa Anita when his horse, Fair Knightess, somersaulted at 40 mph. She landed on Pollard. A partial list of his injuries included a crushed chest, several broken ribs, a shattered collarbone, internal injuries, a broken shoulder, and a concussion. His survival was in doubt for a day or so. Then in June of that year he was working out a horse named Modern Youth as a favor to a trainer he knew. The horse bolted and crashed into a barn. In that accident Pollards leg was “nearly sheared off below the knee.” In February 1939 George Woolf rode Seabiscuit in the Los Angeles Handicap at Santa Anita. During the race Seabiscuit suffered a ruptured tendon in his ankle. So both horse and rider should have been through. They retired to owner Howard’s ranch at Willits, California and began a long, painful rehab. When we pick up the story Howard has decided to try Seabiscuit one last time in the Santa Anita Handicap, a six-year-old race with a huge $100,000 prize. That race will be run on March 2, but he needs to prep with some earlier races to see if his horse will hold up. He is not at all sure about allowing Pollard to ride, since the jockey’s leg has not recovered as well as Seabiscuit’s ankle. On to chapter 23 - - -

To be continued.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Break is Claimed – 2-3
Russians Renew Attack in Arctic – 3-4
Holland May Force Loan Participation – 4
British to Maintain Nazi Blockade Rights – 4
Soviet Gold Here Viewed as Routine – 5
The International Situation – 5
Many Germans Quitting Turkey; Krupp Plant is Taken by Marines – 6-7
Incidents in European Conflict – 7
Catholic Heirarchy Urges Capital Be Subordinated to Human Welfare – 8
Pronouncement by Catholic Bishops on Church and Social Welfare – 9-11
Santa Anita Entries* – 12

* See reply #4.

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http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f03feb40.htm

German bombers sink shipping
Saturday, February 3, 1940 www.onwar.com

In the North Atlantic... Off the eastern coast of Britain, about 20 German bombers attack shipping, sinking 2 ships and losing 3 aircraft.

The Winter War... Finnish forces continue to hold the Soviet assault on the Mannerheim Line.

[abb]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/09.htm

February 9th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe aircraft attacked shipping off the east coast. Two enemy aircraft were destroyed, 2 naval trawlers were sunk, 3 merchant ships damaged. Two more German aircraft were severely damaged.

FINLAND: Helsinki: Fierce fighting continued today as General Timoshenko pressed his massive and well organised attack on the Mannerheim Line. The offensive opened with a concentrated barrage of 300,000 shells on the Finnish positions near Summa.

The Russian guns are virtually wheel to wheel, at the same time as Red Air Force bombers attack Finnish lines of Communication and reserve bases.

The Russians have assembled 1500 aircraft including the new Ilyushin I16/17 fighter and are using troop-carrying armoured cars mounted on sledges, armed with machine-guns, for the first time. These dash forward, laying smoke screens, dropping off their troops and carrying on. Tanks, each accompanied by a group of soldiers, are then sent forward through the smoke to attack the Finnish positions. In the way the Russians hope to avoid the heavy casualties they suffered in the first round of fighting when massed ranks of infantry were driven into the Finnish machine gun fire.

GIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Scottsburg, detained by British authorities yesterday, is released. (Jack McKillop)

TURKEY: The government dismisses 80 German technical advisers. (Jack McKillop)

CANADA:
AMC conversion for HMCS Prince David awarded to Halifax Shipyard Halifax , Nova Scotia.

AMC conversion for HMCS Prince Robert awarded to Burrard Drydock N. Vancouver , British Columbia. (Dave Shirlaw)

USA: Washington: The under-secretary of State, Sumner Welles, is to be sent to Europe to try to negotiate a peace.

The motion picture “Broadway Melody of 1940” is released. Directed by Norman Taurog, this musical stars Fred Astaire, Eleanor Powell, George Murphy and Frank Morgan. (Jack McKillop)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0105, the Chagres (Master Hugh Roberts) struck a mine, laid on 6 January by U-30 and sank 5.5 miles 270° from the Bar Lightvessel, Liverpool. Two crewmembers were lost. The master and 61 crewmembers were picked up by HMS Loch Montreith and landed at Liverpool. (Dave Shirlaw)

[abb]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 162 February 9, 1940
Finland. Mannerheim Line starts to crack in the Summa sector. Soviet troops take a bunker near the village of Karhula, north of Marjapellonmäki (Hill 38). Finns are unable to retake the position despite bringing up reserves. North of Lake Ladoga, Finnish troops surround Soviet JR 203 creating the ‘regimental motti’.

German destroyers Z3, Z4 and Z16 lay 110 mines in The Shipwash, a busy sea lane in the North Sea east of Harwich, England. Mines laid near Liverpool by U-30 on Jan 6 claim another victim. British steamer SS Chagres (1500 tons Cameroonian bananas) sinks 10 miles from her destination (2 lives lost). 62 crew members are taken to Liverpool by anti-submarine trawler HMS Loch Montreith.

Germany. OKH Chief of Staff Halder tires of von Manstein’s criticism of Case Yellow, his invasion plan for France, Belgium and Holland. Halder promotes Manstein to command an army corps garrisoning Poland, well away from planning forthcoming campaigns.

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

The Mannerheim Line (Finnish: Mannerheim-linja) was a defensive fortification line on the Karelian Isthmus built by Finland against the Soviet Union. During the Winter War it became known as the Mannerheim Line, after Field Marshal Baron Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim. The line was constructed in two phases: 1920–1924 and 1932–1939. By November 1939, when the Winter War began, the line was by no means complete.[1]

[CougarGA7]

Day 72 of the Winter War, February 9, 1940

Helsinki: graduation as a qualified nurse is to be made easier and more courses provided for trainee nurses in the Helsinki area.
Photo: SA-KUVA

10,000 Danes volunteer for work in Finland

• Ladoga Karelia: Finnish troops surround a Red Army regiment in Vorojenkivi, to the east of the great Kitelä 'motti', establishing what was later to become known as the 'regimental motti' to the north of Lake Ladoga. The name came naturally from the fact that an entire Russian regiment (JR 203) was trapped there.

• The Finnish attempt to immediately take the 'motti' grinds to a halt in face of the Soviet tanks trapped inside. A bloody struggle ensues.

• Karelian Isthmus: the commanders of the Soviet northwest front on the Isthmus order a general offensive. Around midday, the Soviet infantry launches a tank-supported assault in the Finnish 4th Division's positions in Marjapellonmäki.

• The assault is repulsed, but Soviet troops manage to take the Karhu stronghold to the north of Marjapellonmäki on the Summa front.

• Finnish attempts to retake the stronghold prove unsuccessful.

• In Summa, a fresh battalion is sent in during the course of the evening to relieve the battalion fighting in the Lähde sector.

• Helsinki: graduation as a qualified nurse is to be made easier and more courses provided for trainee nurses in the Helsinki area.

• The armed forces payment system is to be overhauled by presidential decree. Every soldier is to receive a monthly salary, ranging from 500 markkaa for a private soldier up to 2,500 markkaa for a general. This basic salary will be further supplemented by 150 markkaa for the first child in the family and an additional 100 markkaa for each subsequent child.

• The Government is also to decide on the payment of maintenance benefits to the wife, child or disabled and dependent parents or siblings of a man called up to serve in the armed forces.

• Sweden: more than two out of every hundred Swedish doctors are now in Finland, and the Swedish Medical Association's collection for Finland has already brought in over 100,000 krona.

• A collection organized by a Lutheran priest in Gothenburg has raised 240,000 krona to buy a fighter aircraft for Finland.

• Denmark: 10,000 Danes have volunteered to go and work in Finland.

• London: a credit agreement has been signed to facilitate Finland's purchase of war materiel from the United Kingdom.

[rdl6989]

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