BRITISH CALL NORWAY REMISS IN DUTY; DEMAND EXPLANATION ON ALTMARK (2/19/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 2/19/40 | Raymond Daniell, Harold Denny, Ralph Thompson

[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]

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]

William L. Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich

[Homer_J_Simpson]

London Cites ‘Duty’ – 2
The International Situation – 3
I.R.A. Demonstrators Smash Belfast Home – 3
Merchant Ships Sunk in War – 3
New Blow to Finns – 4-6
Pittman Censures Britain and Japan – 6

Books of the Times - 7-8
Reviews - “The New World Order” and “Travels of a Republican Radical in Search of Hot Water,” by H.G. Wells
Best Sellers of the Week Here and Elsewhere *

* Checking this feature once a quarter or so will help us keep tabs on our popular culture as we move along. Here is the list from last October for comparison. (Image #6.)

10/23/39 Thread

“Mein Kampf” was a best seller back in October. I guess everybody is up to speed on Hitler’s trip by now. “The Grapes of Wrath” continues quite popular. I don’t see “Capt. Horatio Hornblower” on any of today’s lists, but it must be doing OK since there was a full-page ad for it in yesterday’s (Sunday’s) book review supplement. Some new best sellers since October: “Kitty Foyle,” by Christopher Morley, is hot all across the fruited plain. “Your Income Tax” is on a few of the non-fiction lists. “The Nazarene,” by Sholem Asch, is big on the fiction lists. And in Atlanta, “How to Play Winning Checkers,” by Millard Hopper, is #2.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/feb40/f19feb40.htm

Soviet tanks break Finnish line

Monday, February 19, 1940 www.onwar.com

The Winter War... The Finnish intermediate defense line is broken in some places by Soviet tank attacks.

From Stockholm... King Gustav announces his support for his government’s decision to refuse Finland military aid. He says: “from the first hour I informed Finland that she unfortunately could not count on military intervention from Sweden.”

In Berlin... Hitler orders more rapid progress with Operation Weserubung, the codename for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/19.htm

February 19th, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: RAF Bomber Command: Daylight reconnaissance - Heligoland area. 102 Sqn. Two aircraft. No ships sighted. Heavy opposition from shore batteries.

Night-time reconnaissance of the Heligoland Bight. Ice-bound German warships bombed by 18 Wellingtons in bad weather.

RAF Fighter Command: Four trawlers were attacked off north-east Scotland by a single Luftwaffe aircraft. The German bomber was driven off by the trawlers’ machine-guns.

GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf Hitler orders more rapid progress with Operation Weserubung, the code name for the invasion of Norway and Denmark. (Jack McKillop)

SWEDEN: King Gustav announces his support for his government’s decision to refuse Finland military aid. He says “from the first hour I informed Finland that she unfortunately could not count on military intervention from Sweden.” (Jack McKillop)

FINLAND: Newly promoted Lt. Gen. Erik Heinrichs relieves Lt. Gen. Hugo Österman as the commander of the Isthmus Army (Kannaksen Armeija). The situation at the Isthmus has considerably worsened since the Soviet breakthrough of Mannerheim line, and now the Red Army has also punctured the second line of defence. Mannerheim, who had expected the second line to hold far longer, refuses all requests for a retreat to the third line of defence (which was, like the second line, in reality more a line on a paper than an actual fortified line). Österman advocates a more flexible approach, and is supported by the forceful commander of IInd Corps, Lt. Gen. Harald Öhquist, whose men bear the brunt of fighting.

These disagreements are exarberated by the desperate situation, and finally Österman has to ask for a sick leave. This is what happened as told by Heinrichs years later:

In morning of 19 February Mannerheim rung to Heinrichs (who was the commander of the IIIrd Corps) and told him to go without delay to Imatra to the HQ of Isthmus Army. “I have nominated the General [Heinrichs] from this day on the commander of Isthmus Army.” Heinrichs asked what had happened to Österman. “He’s sick and can no more hold the command.” answered Mannerheim. In afternoon Heinrichs arrived at Imatra and went to Österman’s HQ. Österman sat there behind his table. When Heinrichs asked how he was, Österman answered he’s well. No, he wasn’t sick. No, he hadn’t heard that Heinrichs was to replace him. Heinrichs told him what Manerheim had told him. “Well, I guess I’m sick if the Marshal [Mannerheim] says so.” answered Österman and began to write his resignation.

Mannerheim was well known for his reluctance to tell bad news to people in person, and often delegated these responsibilities to others. And he was also notorious for his ability to hold grudges: if Mannerheim felt, fairly or unfairly, that an officer had let him down in one way or other, the officer in question usually found his career stopped dead. Gen. Österman never again held a front command. Gen. Öhquist subsequently was made CO of the Isthmus Group in the Continuation War from January 1942 to March 1944.

On this day also a new Ist Corps is founded to hold the line at the middle Isthmus. Its commander is Maj. Gen. Taavetti Laatikainen.

(Mikko Härmeinen)

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The destroyer HMS Daring is torpedoed, with the loss of 157 lives.

SS Tiberton sunk by U-23. (Dave Shirlaw)

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/

Day 172 February 19, 1940

Kapitänleutnant Otto Kretschmer’s rampage in U-23 continues, after sinking HMS Daring yesterday. At 4.05 AM, British steamer SS Tiberton, carrying iron ore from Norway, is hit with 1 torpedo east of the Orkney Islands, Scotland. She sinks in 30 seconds with all 33 crew. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/271.html

Finland. In a repeat of the battles of late Dec 1939, a Soviet division attacks across the ice of frozen Lake Suvanto (in the Taipale sector, near Lake Lagoda on the Eastern end of the Karelian Isthmus). Again, Finnish defenders punish the Soviets with concentrated artillery fire, leaving 700-1,000 dead on the ice.

Alarmed by the Altmark incident on Feb 16, Hitler increases the pace of planning for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.

[CougarGA7]

Day 82 of the Winter War, February 19, 1940

Karelian Isthmus: in Taipale, Finnish troops repulse the strongest enemy assault so far: this particular assault was concentrated on the Terenttilä strongholds. The bodies of 300 Russian soldiers are left lying in the trenches.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Finns beat back strong enemy assault in Taipale

• Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim promotes Jaeger Major-General Erik Heinrichs to Lieutenant-General and names him as the new commander of the Army of the Isthmus.

• A new I Army Corps is established on the Isthmus under the command of Jaeger Major-General Taavetti Laatikainen.

• The commander of Group Talvela, Major-General Paavo Talvela, is appointed commander of III Army Corps. Talvela, too, is a jaeger.

• Karelian Isthmus: in Taipale, Finnish troops repulse the strongest enemy assault so far: this particular assault was concentrated on the Terenttilä strongholds. The bodies of 300 Russian soldiers are left lying in the trenches.

• The Finns have also suffered heavy losses: between 260 and 290 died yesterday in Kirvesmäki.

• The Larkko battalion which had been held in reserve, has lost 41 dead, 57 wounded and 45 missing in action.

• A new Soviet division attacks across Lake Suvanto. The defending Finnish troops repel the assault with concentrated artillery fire.

• The Soviet division suffers heavy losses on the Suvanto ice, which is black with the bodies of fallen Soviet troops. Between 700 and 1,000 dead enemy soldiers are strewn along the shores and the ice of the lake.

• The Finns are forced to withdraw from Revonsaari island.

• Further south the troops on the mainland pull back to Koivisto.

• The volunteer Danish pilot Count Erhard Frijs is killed over Heinjoki when his Fokker fighter bursts into flames during aerial combat.

• 100 enemy bombers pound Uuras and Antrea.

• King Gustav V of Sweden calls a meeting of the Swedish Government in response to the controversy caused by the visit of Finland's foreign minister, Väinö Tanner.

• King Gustav issues a statement confirming Sweden's decision not to help Finland in its struggle against the overwhelmingly superior numerical force of the Soviet invader.

• Despite the King's statement, schoolchildren in Linköping decide to publish an appeal for Sweden to help Finland and organize a collection to buy a fighter aircraft for Finland as a gift from the schoolchildren of Sweden.

• Hungary: leading performers give a concert in Budapest to raise money for the Finnish Red Cross.