Posted on 2/15/2010, 1:25:57 PM by Homer_J_Simpson
Thanks.
thanks
In taking Lavajärvi village the Finnish troops capture several pieces of artillery, three armoured cars, eight lorries, four field kitchens and a large number of guns and ammunition.
Photo: SA-KUVA
Enemy bombers pound Lappeenranta
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f15feb40.htm
Armed merchant ships treated as warships
Thursday, February 15, 1940 www.onwar.com
From Berlin... In reply to the British governments announcement that British merchant ships in the North Sea will be armed, the German government announces that all such ships will be treated as warships. U-boat commanders are ordered attack without warning any ship which is likely to come under British control. This directive means that any neutral ship sailing towards a British-controlled war zone — such as the English Channel, can be attacked without warning. Any ship following a zig-zag course is also liable to be sunk without warning.
In Norway... The German prison ship Altmark is sighted in Norwegian waters.
The Winter War... The Soviets capture Summa. Finnish forces are ordered to retire from the Mannerheim Line to their intermediate position.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/15.htm
February 15th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM: London: The BBC’s Forces Programme, which takes the air on 18 February, will broadcast dance music on Sundays, removing a ban which has been in force since the BBC was set up in 1922. The service has been brought in because troops in France were bored with the Home Service. They tuned into ‘Radio Fecamp’, the French commercial station, before it closed down on 4 January. Home listeners can also hear the new service, from 11am to 11pm.
Submarine HMS Tetrarch commissioned.
Minesweeping trawler HMS Mangrove launched. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-65 commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
DENMARK: Copenhagen: Danish newpapers are full of protests against the sinking of the 5,177 ton ‘Chastine Maersk’ by a U-boat. U-boat commanders have been ordered by Hitler to torpedo any ship under British control without warning in order to stop the supply of food and war materials reaching Britain. This directive means that any ship sailing towards a British-controlled war zone, such as the English Channel, the world’s busiest shipping lane, can be attacked without warning. Any ship which is following a zig-zag course is also to be sunk without warning.
The policy is already in effect as evidenced by the sinking of Danish, Dutch, Norwegian and Swedish ships in the last few days.
Danish, Norwegian and Swedish ship owners have been meeting here and have decided to press for urgent action by their governments; one possibility is that neutral ships should henceforth travel in convoys protected by naval vessels.
Last night the British Admiralty announced the sinking of two more U-boats, including the one which sank a 12,000 ton meat ship in the Bay of Biscay. Any joy at the sinkings needs to be countered by the news that German ship yards are now building U-boats faster than Britain can sink them.
FINLAND: Summa falls to the Soviet army, and the Finns are forced to retreat to the second of the Mannerheim Line defences.
U.S.A.: President Franklin D. Roosevelt embarks in heavy cruiser USS Tuscaloosa (CA-37) at Pensacola, Florida, for a cruise to Panama and the west coast of Central America to discuss Pan-American defence and to inspect the Panama Canal. (Jack McKillop)
The Commander in Chief, U.S. Fleet, noting that reports on air operations in the European War stressed the need of reducing aircraft vulnerability, recommended that naval aircraft be equipped with leak-proof or self-sealing fuel tanks and with armour for pilots and observers. Although the Bureaus of Aeronautics and Ordnance had been investigating these forms of protection for two years, this formal statement of need gave added impetus and accelerated procurement and installation of both armour and self-sealing fuel tanks. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 2315, U-14 spotted two steamers in a line and an escort and fired at 2340 a torpedo at the second ship that detonated prematurely. This ship was the Sleipner, which sank after being hit in the bow by a second torpedo at 2355. The other steamer, the Rhone stopped to rescue survivors and send distress signals, but was also hit by a torpedo at midnight and sank.
At 0837, the unescorted and neutral Steinstad was hit amidships by a G7a torpedo from U-26 and sank within 5 seconds about 75 miles west of Aran Island, Ireland. The U-boat had sighted the ship at 1912 the evening before, noticed the Norwegian flag and followed her during the night to stop the vessel according to the prize rules at the first daylight. At 0750, the Germans fired a shot across the bow of Steinstad, which did not react apart from turning towards the U-boat after the third shot was fired. So the following shots were aimed more closely to the ship without actually hitting her and shortly thereafter the crew abandoned ship in two lifeboats. The master and 12 crewmembers in one of the lifeboats were never seen again, despite of an aircraft search in the area. The other lifeboat with 11 survivors made landfall at Arranmore Island on 20 February.
SS Aase sunk by U-37 at 49.17N, 08.15W.
At 1400, the Den Haag was torpedoed and sunk by U-48. The 13 survivors in one lifeboat were picked up by the British SS Glen Orchy. The other lifeboats with bodies were later found adrift; some bodies washed ashore on the French Coast.
At 0207, the Maryland was hit by one torpedo from U-50, broke in two and sank within seven minutes. A first torpedo fired at 0154 had detonated prematurely. The ship was reported missing after sending her position the last time on 10 February, only a wrecked lifeboat was later found at North Uist.
(Dave Shirlaw)
http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/
Day 168 February 15, 1940
Generalmajor Rommel takes command of 7th Panzer Division. After providing Hitler’s personal protection in Poland, Rommel sought a divisional command. After rejecting a specialized mountain division (Rommel’s forte in WWI), he lobbies hard for a Panzer division. With Hitler’s tacit support he is given 7th Panzer.
Finland: Finnish Commander-in-Chief decides to abandon his Mannerheim Line. At 8 PM, he orders II Army Corps to withdraw to intermediate defensive positions (the “V-line”) on the Isthmus.
North of Lake Ladoga, Finns destroy the motti around Lavajärvi village taking 2 tanks, 5 field guns, 2 antitank guns, 8 trucks, 3 machineguns, 4 field kitchens, numerous rifles and ammunition. Finnish 9th division surrounds Soviets “Dolin” ski brigade (Colonel Dolin is already dead; his brigade is reduced to 800 men).
Neutral shipping suffers the German blockade of Britain. 4 steam merchant (carrying ore, oil cake, oil and fruit) are sunk for a total of 16,600 tons.
At 02.07, U-50 sinks Danish SS Maryland, carrying oil cake, west of Scotland (all 34 hands lost). http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/256.html
At 05.45, U-37 sinks Danish SS Aase carrying Spanish fruit to Bristol (15 lives lost). 1 survivor is picked up by HMS Verity on 17 Feb.
At 08.37, U-26 sinks Norwegian SS Steinstad 75 miles west of Aran Island, Ireland (13 dead). A lifeboat with 11 survivors makes landfall at Arranmore Island on 20 Feb.
At 14.00, U-48 sinks Dutch tanker MV Den Haag (11800 tons of oil) 150 miles west of Ouessant (26 dead). The U-boat had spotted the tanker about five hours earlier, but waited to evade a flying boat. 13 survivors in one lifeboat are picked up by British MV Glenorchy.
http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/257.html
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