Posted on 02/16/2010 4:42:42 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
I love these old newspaper issues. Do you have any idea which issue of the NYT has all the ‘blame the jews’ headlines on the front page? It seems like it was ‘39, but I just cannot remember.
Doesn’t ring any bells.
Northern Finland: the remnants of the Dolin ski brigade are wiped out in Kuhmo by the evening. 1,700 of the 1,800 men in this crack Soviet brigade are killed. The Finnish troops capture a considerable haul of automatic weapons.
Photo: SA-KUVA
Finnish troops withdraw to intermediary positions on the Isthmus
Now a naturalized citizen of Germany he broadcasts on German's English Radio service, spewing propaganda for the Nazi's. This particular broadcast concerns the boarding by the British Navy of the German ship Altmark in Norwegian waters. He takes a jab at Winston Churchill in this broadcast.
Vian’s escapade put the seal on Norway’s fate. From then on, Hitler was determined to take Norway, convinced that the Norwegians were unable [or unwilling] to protect the iron ore coming to the Reich from Sweden via Norwegian waters, and that the Allies would seek to occupy Norway themselves.
http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f16feb40.htm
British intercept German prison ship
Friday, February 16, 1940 www.onwar.com
In Norway... Acting on instructions from Churchill, the British destroyer Cossack (Captain Vian) enters Norwegian territorial waters and removes 299 British prisoners from the German transport Altmark. The ship entered Norwegian waters on February 14th and, according to international law the prisoners should have been released. Altmark’s captain denied that he is carrying prisoners. The Norwegians made no real attempt to search and in fact provided a torpedo boat as escort. The British action is also contrary to international law and although very popular at home, it serves to convince the Germans that the British are contemplating sterner measures against Norway. This gives further impetus to the German plans for an invasion.
In Stockholm... The Swedish government refuses the Finnish appeal for right of passage of foreign troops and direct military assistance.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/16.htm
February 16th, 1940
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Coastal Command reports a German submarine bombed and possibly destroyed.
[AE - there is no German record of any loss this day.]
Minesweeping trawler HMS Wistaria commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)
GERMANY: U-213, U-214, U-215, U-216, U-217, U-218 ordered. (Dave Shirlaw)
SWEDEN: Sweden gives public its refusal to send troops to Finland or allow the passage of British and French troops. On the next day the Soviet government expresses its approval. (Mikko Härmeinen)
GIBRALTAR: The U.S. freighter SS Excalibur is detained for several hours by British authorities at Gibraltar but is released; freighter SS Exermont, detained since 14 February, is allowed to proceed as well. (Jack McKillop)
ATLANTIC OCEAN: In the Altmark incident, the Graf Spee’s supply ship with Merchant Navy prisoners aboard is located off Norway and takes refuge in Jøssingfjord, within territorial waters. In the evening the destroyer HMS Cossack (Capt. Vian) goes alongside, and after a short struggle a boarding party releases the 299 prisoners with the cry: ‘The Navy’s here!’
After the sinking of the Graf Spee, the Altmark sailed for Europe taking a route near the Arctic to avoid detection. Incredibly, the Norwegians who stopped and searched her found neither her concealed guns nor the prisoners. Two British destroyers then chased her into Jøssingfjord. The Cossack lowered two boats, but they could not move through the ice. The Altmark then made two attempts to ram the Cossack. As the two ships scraped together several members of the boarding party leapt aboard the German ship. The Altmark then ran aground and the rest of the Royal Navy party scrambled over the side, opening fire with their rifles and charging with fixed bayonets and cutlasses. Four German crewmen were killed. One prisoner said: “It was a hit and run affair along the decks and round corners, ... more of a rathunt than anything. You can imagine our joy when we heard English voices shouting down at us.
The captain of the Altmark had denied the existence of the prisoners right up to the end. One prisoner told how they had shouted, hammered and blown SOS whistles to attract the attention of the Norwegian search party at Bergen. The Germans turned a fire hose on them to stop them, and to drown the noise they turned on a winch. Even so the prisoners found it difficult to understand why the Norwegians had not noticed something of their presence. Afterwards the Germans told them that their behaviour was mutiny and put out a notice saying: “On account of today’s behaviour of the prisoners, they will get bread and water tomorrow instead of the regular meals.”
To mount the rescue the Cossack had to violate Norwegian territorial waters, but since the Norwegians had failed to find guns or prisoners most Britons will feel that this was justified.
In all seven Germans died in this operation, and were buried at Jøssingfjord, and 6 were wounded.
The dead were: stewards Stender, Bremer, and Steffen, greaser Rothe, a guard Schurmann and Meyer. Hans Berndsen died from exposure after falling through the ice and being rescued by two officers from Cossack, that makes the seven. Most of the Germans killed had been attempting to lower a boat to escape. Afterwards, 18 German seamen were picked up from the water wrapped in blankets and given hot tea. One of them failed to revive (presumably Berndsen).
20 Germans were missing after the boarding, but 19 returned after staying with Norwegian families. The remaining man did not turn up, and it was assumed that he had drowned in the general scramble as men fled across the ice or jumped into the sea. (85)(Alex Gordon)
At 2125, U-14 attacked two ships north of Kinnaird Head and torpedoed first SS Osmed and ten minutes later SS Liana. Liana sank 24 miles north of Kinnaird Head, taking ten crewmen with her. SS Santos picked up the survivors, which was herself sunk by U-63 on 24 February with the loss of six men from the Liana. Osmed sank after one torpedo hit 20 miles north of Kinnaird Head, taking 13 crewmen with her. (Dave Shirlaw)
For the audio deprived, here is a transcript of the bit.
"Germany calling. Germany calling. Germany calling. One would describe as the height of cynicism the message sent by the First Lord of the Admiralty to the Captain of the British destroyer Cossack congratulating him on his gallant rescue efforts. Only a person of Mr. Churchill's mentality could congratulate anybody, first on shooting unarmed men, and secondly, on flagrantly violating Norwegian neutrality."
I happen to know that Scotty Reston is working on an article about Lord Haw Haw for the Sunday New York Times Magazine. It won't be ready for this weekend's edition but look for it on February 25.
That should be interesting. He seems like he was quite a character.
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