SHIP REPORTS U-BOAT ATTACK IN U.S. ZONE; REDS ENTERING VIBORG, LEFT AFIRE BY FINNS (3/2/40)

Microfiche-New York Times archives, McHenry Library, U.C. Santa Cruz | 3/2/40 | George Axelsson, John W. White, Otto D. Tolischus, James MacDonald, James B. Reston, Hallett Abend

[Homer_J_Simpson]

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

[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
Evolution of Plan Yellow, October 1939-January 1940
The Far East and the Pacific, 1941 – The Imperial Powers, 1 September 1939

[Homer_J_Simpson]

(Continued from Reply #3 on the February 29 thread.) You can follow these links back to Feb. 9 if you want to get the whole story in one shot. There are seven parts, including this one. A note on characters: Marcela is wife of owner Howard. Yummy is Pollard’s agent. And, it would seem, his enabler.

Let’s interrupt the excerpt to listen to Joe Hernandez call the race.

Santa Anita Handicap radio broadcast-March 2, 1940

You may have to scroll down just a little to get to the Audio link.

The winning time was 2 minutes, 1.2 seconds. Finish the excerpt to learn what went on during that brief span.

Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

For anyone interested, Hillenbrand’s book was made into a pretty good movie in 2003 starring Jeff Bridges as Howard, Chris Cooper as trainer Smith, and Toby “Spiderman” Maguire as Red Pollard. Available from Netflix.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

Additional authors not listed in thread header: Felix Belair Jr., G.H. Archambault

Aid Sped to Vessel – 2-3
Five Towns Taken – 4-5
Rumania Increases Army to 1,600,000 – 5
Food Restrictions in Force in France – 5
$600,000 For Finns Raised by Industry – 5
The International Situation – 6
Tass Asserts Lansing Tried to Balk Soviet – 6
Hlinka Guard Rise Disturbs Slovaks – 6
New Italian Bond Issue Called Most Successful – 6
Big Reich Warship and 2 U-Boats Are Reported Off Southern Brazil – 7
Vatican Post Goes to Jew As Italy’s Ban Is Imposed – 7
Legislators Defy Long, Ignore Call to Session – 7
Berlin Bars Peace – 8-9
France Lacks News on Arrival of Welles; Government Gathers War Data for Him – 9
Reich Envoy to Ireland Denies Giving Peace Plan – 9
Nazis Raid Convoy; Say Ships Were Hit – 10
Soviet Reported Planning Convoys – 11
Merchant Ships Sunk in War – 11
Netherlands Finds Nazi Radio Station – 11
British Wool Control Rapped in Australia – 11
British Bare Study of Magnetic Mines – 12
Australia Pledges Sevenfold Air Force – 12
Japan Keeps Rule in Shanghai Pact – 13
Critic of China Policy to Quit Japanese Diet; Saito’s Speech Drew Fire of Army Leaders – 13
Protest to Lothian on Palestine Monday – 13
President’s Train Speeds to capital – 14
Active War Plans Under Way in west – 15
Seabiscuit Heads Santa Anita Field * - 18

* See reply #3 for back story.

[CougarGA7]

Day 94 of the Winter War, March 2, 1940

Tampere is bombed by over a hundred enemy aircraft, including some fighters.
Photo: SA-KUVA

Soviet troops attack delaying positions on the Isthmus

• Three Soviet divisions launch a massive general offensive.

• The fiercest fighting is on the Karelian Isthmus, at Käremäenlahti to the south of Viipuri and in the Lyykylä sector east of the city. The Finns are forced to withdraw from the frontline strongholds.

• Enemy strikes towards the islands of Tuppuransaari and Teikarsaari are supported by a massive artillery bombardment. A Finnish counterattack around midday is unsuccessful and Tuppuransaari runs out of ammunition. Both islands are lost to the enemy.

• The enemy also manages to reach land on the western shore of Viipurinlahti bay.

• In Ladoga Karelia, the Soviet artillery in Kollaa begins an intensive bombardment at 6.30 in the morning, followed by an assault with two divisions across the entire breadth of the Finnish positions.

• Finnish reconnaissance planes have in the past couple of days observed firing stations for approximately 50 enemy artillery batteries in the centre of the Kollaa front. During the course of the day the enemy artillery in Kollaa fires about 30,000 rounds, against less than 1,000 on the Finnish side.

• Despite the enemy's massive numerical superiority, the fighting becomes bogged down in trench warfare with very heavy casualties on both sides.

• The enemy artillery at times reaches a rate of 200 rounds a minute.

• Despite the extremely difficult conditions and the pounding it has taken from the air due to the Soviet Union's aerial superiority, the Finnish defence nevertheless holds firm.

• The Russians also launch assaults with artillery and tank support on the River Aittojoki.

• The Russian assaults are repulsed.

• In the north, the Finns defending the Kuusijoki line in Kuhmo are unable to withstand the Russian assault.

• The assault was preceded by an artillery bombardment of around 3,000 rounds.

• In Salla, nine members of a company of Swedish volunteers are killed when the company is surrounded by the Russians. The enemy loses 200 of its own men.

• Battle is joined at Löytövaara in Kuhmo.

• In Ladoga Karelia, an enemy ski battalion is wiped out between Mustalampi and Lavajärvi.

• Tampere is bombed by over a hundred enemy aircraft, including some fighters.

• Over 70 buildings are destroyed by Soviet bombers in Lahti.

• Foreign Minister Tanner explains to the Parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee why the Government has postponed acceptance of the Soviet Union's peace terms.

• Sweden's Foreign Minister Christian Günther delays passing on Finland's answer to Moscow.

• The Allies ask the Norwegian and Swedish Governments to allow their troops to pass through Norway and Sweden en route to Finland.

• Norway and Sweden refuse permission.

• A battalion of Hungarian volunteers arrives in Finland.

• The office of the Canadian Prime Minister announces there are no legal obstacles to Canadian volunteers participating in the war in Finland. The first batch of volunteers board ship in Ottawa en route for Finland.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://www.onwar.com/chrono/1940/mar40/f02mar40.htm

New Finnish line under attack

Saturday, March 2, 1940 www.onwar.com

The Winter War... The Soviet forces begin major attacks on the new Finnish defense line under the direction of General Timoshenko. Pressure is exerted against all points but is strongest at the north and south ends. Vuosalmi in the north is attacked by Soviet 13th Army forces while the reserve corps of Soviet 7th Army is advancing over the sea ice toward the west side of Viipuri Bay. Soviets reach the southern suburbs of Viipuri. Meanwhile, Finnish fighters foil an attempted raid on Helsinki.

Over Germany... A high-flying RAF Spitefire photographs the entire Ruhr industrial region in one sortie.

In the North Atlantic... The British liner Domala is bombed off the Isle of Wight (100 killed).

From Paris... A formal request is sent to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. (Units are intended to begin arriving by March 20th. Daladier has plans for a force of 50,000 French “volunteers” and 150 aircraft.)

From London... A formal request is sent to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. (The British force is planned to reach a level of 100,000 men eventually.)

In the Denmark Strait... The British cruiser HMS Berwick intercepts the German Wolfsburg, which is scuttled in order to avoid capture.

In the West Indies... The cruiser HMS Dunedin intercepts the Heidelberg which is scuttled.

In France... Army intelligence reveals German preparations for an attack on Scandinavia.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/andrew.etherington/month/thismonth/02.htm

March 2nd, 1940

UNITED KINGDOM: Henley: Cambridge wins the unofficial wartime boat race.

RAF Bomber Command: Leaflet raid on Berlin.

RAF Fighter Command: Luftwaffe attacks on North Sea and Channel shipping. The British India liner SS Domala is bombed by Luftwaffe aircraft off the Isle of Wight, fired and beached; There are heavy casualties with 100 killed on the ship. (Jack McKillop)

A formal request is forwarded to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. The British force is planned to reach a level of 100,000 men eventually. (Jack McKillop)

Rescue tug HMS Fairplay II wrecked on Yorkshire coast. (Dave Shirlaw)

BELGIUM: A Dornier 17, flying over the Ardennes opens fire upon three Belgian fighters which go up to order it out of Belgian airspace, and all three fighters are hit; one catches fire and the pilot is killed. A German statement says that the fighters were Hurricanes and that the German crew mistook them for British aircraft.

FRANCE: Army intelligence reveals German preparations for an attack on Scandinavia.

A formal request is forwarded to Sweden and Norway to allow Allied troops to be sent to Finland through the Scandinavian countries. Units are intended to begin arriving by 20 March. Premier Edouard Daladier has plans for a force of 50,000 French “volunteers” and 150 aircraft. (Jack McKillop)

GERMANY: A high-flying RAF Spitfire photographs the entire Ruhr industrial region in one sortie. (Jack McKillop)

U-123 launched. (Dave Shirlaw)

GIBRALTAR: U.S. passenger liner SS Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar by British authorities, but is released the same day. Some 80 of 200 items of cargo, however, are detained subject to guarantees as to their destinations. (Jack McKillop)

COMMONWEALTH OF THE PHILIPPINES: Naval members on the Joint Army-Navy Board recommended a strong increase in both Army and Navy air strength in the Philippines. Strong then directed his War Plans Division to conduct a study, which found that a proper defence of the islands would require a 12-fold increase in air power (from 37 aircraft to 441), a doubling of the US and Philippine Scout forces assigned, and $22 million in new construction, mainly for airfields. (Marc Small)

U.S.A.: The National Broadcasting Company’s experimental TV station in New York City, W2XBS, televises the first intercollegiate track meeting live from Madison Square Garden. New York University wins the meeting. (Jack McKillop)

Destroyer USS O’Brien commissioned. (Dave Shirlaw)

CARIBBEAN SEA: The cruiser HMS Dunedin intercepts the ‘Heidelberg’. The German ship is scuttled.

ATLANTIC OCEAN: The cruiser HMS Berwick intercepts the German SS Wolfsburg in the Denmark Strait. The German ship is scuttled.

At 2159, U-17 fired a torpedo at a ship reported as a fully loaded tanker of estimated 9000 tons from a distance of 1200 meters. The ship was hit in the bow and sank within five minutes. This must have been MS Rijnstroom, which had been reported missing. Only a capsized lifeboat, some lifebuoys, deckplanks and part of the cargo were later found adrift. A Dutch ship also picked up an empty raft.

At 0810, SS Lagaholm was ordered to stop by U-32 and was shelled with 40 rounds, after the crew had abandoned ship in the lifeboats. The ship caught fire and sank later in 59°42N/05°35W. (Dave Shirlaw)

[henkster]

I see that Herr Ribbentrop has clarified Germany’s war aims to Undersecretary Welles:

1. The end of British “plutocracy” and
2. The end of British naval domination of the seas.

Well, knowing how things turned out, it seems to me that by those definitions, the Germans wound up accomplishing their war aims. In other words, they were really the winners of WW2! (if you can leave out those pesky “unintended consequences” of course).

[CougarGA7]

Kind of falls under “be careful what you wish for” doesn’t it.

[rdl6989]

One step beyond Pyrric victory?

Reading about the sub attack near Puerto Rico makes me wonder why the US and Germany didn’t go to war right then and there.

[CougarGA7]

While the Reich Envoy is communicating with the Irish government, the Abwehr is attempting to communicating with the I.R.A with almost comical results. The sideshow of German Intelligence trying to infiltrate Ireland is a sad showcase of just how incompetent they were which in many respects would cost the German's dearly often during the war. In all there were a total of twelve agents dispatched to Ireland for different reasons. None of them had any significant results. Just to get everyone up to date on the current situation with infiltrating Ireland I'll review some events.

Between 1935 and up to 1937 Hitler forbade the Abwehr from active operations in Ireland since he felt that England would become an ally in due course and Ireland fell under his list of English countries.

By 1937 he started to see that an alliance was unlikely and Admiral Canaris was suddenly straddled with the daunting task of trying to establish an intelligence network on the Emerald Isle. The Abwehr did, however, make contact with the I.R.A. when two members of the German Academic Exchange Service made contact with Tom Barry (I.R.A. Chief of Staff) and Sean MacBride (I.R.A. Director of Intelligence). Not much headway was made from this though since the Germans wanted the I.R.A. to conduct intelligence gathering in the North and in 1937 the I.R.A. was more interested in their latest bombing campaign.

Contact between the I.R.A. and the Abwehr was not re-established unit February of 1939 when Oscar Pfaus, officially representing the Frankfurter Zeitung newspaper, made contact with I.R.A. Chief of Staff Scan Russell while in Dublin. Russell, in need of funding, weaponry, and explosives, agreed to send a representative to Berlin for talks.

The man selected was James O'Donovan, his Director of Chemicals. He spoke some German and was an explosive expert as demonstrated by the three fingers missing from his right hand. He made 3 trips to Germany with the last coming right before the invasion of Poland. In this last trip O'Donovan left without the keyword necessary to decipher the codes provided to the I.R.A. along with the radio they had been set up with for talking to Germany. This really wasn't too significant though since the I.R.A. also used the radio for their internal propaganda broadcasts and it was only a matter of time before Irish Military Intelligence zeroed in on the source. The transmitter was seized on December 24, 1939.

The priority for the Abwehr now became getting a replacement radio to the I.R.A. and thus re-establishing contact. The first attempt to do so involved sending sixty year old Ernst Weber-Drohl with the new radio. Ernst, a former professional wrestler and circus strongman was clearly not the best person for this mission. On January 31, 1940 he was put in a dingy off the coast of Ireland by the submarine U-37. Not long after he had started to row towards shore he capsized his dingy sending the transmitter to the bottom of Sligo Bay. With help from the submarine crew he did make it to shore and eventually met up with Jim O'Donovan. Unfortunately, he also was soon discovered by the Irish Police and arrested for making an illegal landing.

I'll continue this tale when the next attempt is made to land an agent in Erie. We will see if the next person has the Luck of the Irish. In the mean time the I.R.A. and the Abwehr are still not in communication.

Data sourced from The Irish Interlude: German Intelligence in Ireland, 1939-1943. Mark M Hull, The Journal of Military History; Jul 2002, pp 695-717

[CougarGA7]

ping to 11. I know you will appreciate this one and I forgot to put you on the post.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Thanks Coug,

This isn’t the first time continentals tried to stir the pot with the Irish. Look into the Rising of 1798 when they were convinced the French were going to ride to the rescue.

The best book on the subject as a one volume study is “The Year of the French” by Thomas Flanagan (IIRC). I wrote my junior thesis on this, fortunately my school, being ancient had such first order sources as Wolfe Tone’s “Unite Irishmen”.

[CougarGA7]

I remember you telling me about “Unite Irishmen” (Untie Ireeshman after the Pub). I’ll have to go look into “The Year of the French”. At least my wife will take an interest too since it is Irish history.

[henkster]

Cougar

Thank you for the interesting sidelight. Those are the sorts of stories that are plentiful in WW2 and why I’ve always enjoyed studying this period of history.

German human intelligence was...shall we say...less than effective. One wonders who Admiral Canaris was really working for....

[CougarGA7]

One wonders who Admiral Canaris was really working for....

I have wondered that myself. It certainly didn't appear to be the Nazi's though.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

http://worldwar2daybyday.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-184-march-2-1940.html

Day 184 March 2, 1940

Finland. Soviets attack the city of Viipuri from the South & East and also across the ice of Viipuri Bay, again reaching the western shore. However, they are slaughtered by shelling until the coastal batteries at Tuppuransaari run out of ammunition. The islands of Tuppuransaari and Teikarsaari are taken by the Soviets.

Britain and France request Sweden and Norway to allow passage of Allied troops going to Finland. The Allies still expect a formal request for assistance from Finland.

After traveling 3 weeks by train officially classified as “tourists going to ski-camp”, Hungarian Volunteer Detached Battalion arrives in Finland at a training center in Lapua. They learn winter warfare and to ski. However, Soviet/Finnish peace treaty will be signed before they see action. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_support_in_the_Winter_War#Hungary

Liner Queen Elizabeth leaves the Clyde allegedly going to Southampton escorted by destroyers HMS Mohawk, Punjabi, Fortune & Foxhound; in reality she heads to New York.

Battle of the Atlantic. A Heinkel 111H bombs British liner Domala and machineguns survivors escaping by lifeboat (108 lives lost, 183 survivors). The Dutch ship Jong Willem rescues 48 of the survivors and is also attacked.

Cruiser HMS Berwick stops German steamer Wolfsburg, disguised as Norwegian ship Aust, North of Iceland. Wolfsburg is scuttled and Berwick picks up 54 crew, finally sinking Wolfsburg with gunfire.

German steamer Heidelberg which left Aruba Feb 29 is intercepted by British cruiser HMS Dunedin 60 miles west. She is scuttled and Dunedin picks up 25 crew. The crews of Heidelberg and Troja will be detained in a British internment camp in Jamaica.