75 years ago today… December 17, 1939 The Red Army begins its main assault on the Mannerheim Line around Summa. Despite heavy artillery bombardment, the Finns are ready and mow down the advancing Red Army forces. The Soviets try for the first time their new tanks in the Summa area. Straight from Leningrads factories come the trial versions of the SMK, T-100, and KV-1 tanks. Some Red Army tanks penetrate Finnish defenses but are isolated and destroyed. Unsuccessful attacks by Soviet 7th Army against Mannerheim Line in the Taipale and Viipuri sectors. Moscow ridicules League expulsion and rejects the rights of “aggressors,” such as Britain and France, to champion the Finns. Moscow suffers a food shortage. Demand for vodka continues because of lack of consumer goods. The Soviet 122nd division tries to break the Finnish defenses in Joutsijärvi, but they are stopped. The first Canadian troops to reach Britain, 7,400 men of the First Division, landed at Liverpool. Three months ago Canada was a country with a permanent army of 4,500 men, five mortars and 16 tanks. The Canadians are under the command of Major-General McNaughton and they arrived in five liners. Officers slept in suites and men in first class cabins. German Propaganda Minister, Dr. Josef Goebbels, describes the arrival of Australian destroyers at Malta as a consignment of junk and Australias Scrap Iron Flotilla. British destroyers lay mines off German coast. German aircraft attack shipping off the UK East Coast. A small British motor vessel was sunk. There is damage and casualties in fishing trawlers, before the aircraft driven off. British RFA oiler Olynthus refuels New Zealand light cruiser HMNZS Achilles off Rouen Bank, the southernmost channel of the River Plate estuary. Light cruiser HMS Ajax and heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland cover the evolution. German armored ship Admiral Graf Spee, her allotted time in neutral Uruguayan waters for repair of damage received in the Battle of the River Plate having expired, and her crew transferred to freighter Tacoma, puts to sea from Montevideo, Uruguay. As Allied Hunting Groups converge on the River Plate, Capt. Langsdorff takes the Graf Spee out into the estuary where she is scuttled and blown up. Only HMS Cumberland has actually arrived by this time, but British propaganda on the BBC gave the impression that the most powerful ships in the fleet, including an aircraft carrier, were bearing down on the Plate. Langsdorff had asked for instructions and Hitler himself had said that he had only two, scuttle or fight it out on the open sea. Just before the three-mile limit the ship stopped and the crew took to the lifeboats. Minutes later there is a series of shattering explosions and flames. The ship settled on the riverbed, her upper decks above the water and still burning. The admiralty announces that 61 men of HMS Exeters crew died during the Battle of the River Plate with the Graf Spee. Admiral Graf Spee had sunk nine British merchantmen during her cruise, totaling 50,089 tons of shipping. Not a single life had been lost in the process. In World War I, the famed German raider Emden had sunk 16 ships of 66,146 tons before her demise under the guns of Australian cruiser HMAS Sydney. The destruction of Admiral Graf Spee comes, as First Lord of the Admiralty Winston S. Churchill later declares, like a flash of light and colour on the scene, carrying with it an encouragement to all who are fighting, to ourselves, and to our Allies. The neutral Danish steam merchant Bogø was torpedoed and sunk by the U-59, commanded by Oberleutnant zur See Harald Jürst, 75 miles east of the Isle of May off the coast of Scotland in the North Sea. Of the ship’s complement, 17 died and 3 survivors were picked up by the British trawler River Earn. The 1,214 ton Bogø was carrying ballast and was bound for Methil, Scotland. The neutral Danish steam merchant Jaegersborg was torpedoed and sunk by the U-59 east of the Firth of Forth, Scotland. All of the ship’s complement of 18 died. The 1,245 ton Jaegersborg was carrying agricultural products and was bound for Leith, Scotland. The British fishing vessel Compagnus was bombed and sunk in the North Sea 150 nautical miles (280 km) east by north of the Isle of May by aircraft of X Fliegerkorps, Luftwaffe with the loss of one crew member. Survivors were rescued by the Colleague. The British trawler Eileen Wray was bombed and damaged in the North Sea off Hartlepool, County Durham by aircraft of X Fliegerkorps, Luftwaffe. She was towed into port but sank. The British trawler Isabella Greig was bombed and sunk in the North Sea 145 nautical miles (269 km) east by north of the Isle of May by aircraft of X Fliegerkorps, Luftwaffe. All crew were rescued. The British trawler Pearl was bombed and sunk in the North Sea 65 nautical miles (120 km) east by south of the Inner Dowsing Lightship by aircraft of X Fliegerkorps, Luftwaffe with the loss of one crew member. The British trawler Serenity was bombed and sunk 8 nautical miles (15 km) east north east of Whitby, Yorkshire by Luftwaffe aircraft. All eight crew were rescued by a lifeboat. The British trawler Zelos was bombed and sunk in the North Sea 110 nautical miles (200 km) east by north of the Isle of May by aircraft of X Fliegerkorps, Luftwaffe. Destroyers Ellis (DD-154) and Cole (DD-155) relieve Lea (DD-118) and Philip (DD-76) of shadowing German passenger liner Columbus. U.S. freighters Meanticut and Excalibur are detained by British authorities at Gibraltar. The Ohio governor demands reform of the WPA. He calls the agency, run under the New Deal, a “political racket.” Presidential candidate Thomas Dewey denounces the New Deal “zigzag” in economic policy, charging shifts on budgets, prices, and trust laws. He asks for the end of uncertainty. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt warns about jobless youth; the nation must guide 4 million to careers, she says. The U.S. Army requests $4 million to build five bombers with double the speed and power of the current flying fortresses. Chinese 3rd War Area advancing north toward Yangtze River in Anhwei province. Chinese 5th War Area attacks Japanese 116th Infantry Regiment and captures Hsientao and Szekang. Japanese 104th Infantry Division reaches Yuantan in Kwantung province in effort to pin down Chinese 4th War Area. Battle of South Kwangsi: Elements of Japanese 5th Infantry Division attacking toward Lungchow. Soviet submarine SC-406 launched. https://youtube/watch?v=sHO4OWMT-yc (Note: The date on the video is incorrect; the Graf Spee sank on December 17th, 1939)
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:26:08 +0000
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