75 years ago today… January 3, 1940 Finnish units continue attacking Soviet 44th Motorized Rifle Division of 9th Army in the Suomussalmi sector. Soviet 44th division stubbornly resists further attacks and the Finns do not manage to cut the stationary column. The immobilized Soviet troops desperately try to stay warm in sub-zero temperatures, flocking to field kitchens for warm food and huddling around log fires cut from the expansive forests. In simple but stunningly effective tactics, the Finns target the kitchens & fires to wear down the Soviet soldiers with cold & hunger and Finnish snipers select Red Army officers. Colonel Siilasvuo prepares for coordinated attacks on 44th division’s extended flanks. He sends two regiment-size Task Forces (TF Kari and TF Fagernas) skiing along his ice road as far as 20 miles to the Soviet border, just south of Raate. Asserting that fantastic anti-Soviet Inventions concerning the progress of the war in Finland are being circulated from Helsinki and other Scandinavian capitals, the Soviet embassys press bureau tonight warned against hasty conclusions based on doubtful evidence. Finnish aircraft drop leaflets over Leningrad depicting starving and freezing Soviet troops in Finland. Hitler receives letter from Mussolini trying to avert war in the west. Augusto Rosso, Italian ambassador to Soviet Russia, took a train for Rome tonight, apparently ignored by Soviet officials, none of whom was seen to bid him goodbye. Unity Mitford returns from Germany via Switzerland and France on a stretcher with a bullet lodged in her skull from suicide attempt in Munich. She will remain an invalid and never fully recover from her wounds. She will die shortly after the war. Floods ravage areas already devastated by earthquakes in Turkey. The German Kriegsmarine R boat minesweeper R-5 was wrecked by ice off Stolpmünde, Germany. U-58 sank Swedish steamer Svartön (2574grt) from convoy HN.6 northeast of the Firth of Forth in 57-48N, 1-47W. Twenty crew were lost, but minesweeping trawler HMT Oak (357grt) picked up 11 survivors who were later transferred to the Fraserburgh lifeboat. The 2,475 ton Svartön was carrying iron ore and was bound for Middlesbrough, England. Swedish steamer Kiruna (5484grt) was lost to unknown cause in the Bay of Biscay at 45 20N, 25 10W. The U-25 became the first Axis submarine to take advantage of Spains offer to allow reprovisioning and refueling in its ports. It secretly moored along the German freighter SS Thalia in Cadiz. After four hours of taking supplies off the merchant ship, the U-25 returned to sea. The Greek tanker Motorina ran aground on Chios and was wrecked. Latvian steamer Iris Faulbaums (1675grt) was seized in a German port, and renamed Wally Faulbaum in German service. Paddle minesweeper Brighton Queen was in collision with tug Gannet in the Imperial Dock at Rosyth at 0855. Convoy OA 65G departs Southend. Convoy OB 65 departs Liverpool. U.S. freighter Mormacsun is intercepted by British naval vessel and diverted to Kirkwall, Scotland, into the zone designated as a combat area Freighter Nashaba is detained by British authorities at Gibraltar U.S. freighter Executive, detained at Gibraltar since 20 December 1939, is released to proceed on her voyage to Greece, Turkey, and Rumania. U.S. President Roosevelt delivers his State of the Union address tonight, saying, “There is a vast difference between keeping out of war and pretending that this war is none of our business.” The Washington Post comments on FDR’s address: It is already impossible to dissociate analysis of the state of the union from consideration of the state of the world. And Mr. Roosevelt is wholly justified in intimating that it will become increasingly difficult to do so. A Gallup poll shows that 78% of registered Democrats favor a third term for President Roosevelt. In his annual budget message, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt asked Congress to provide $1.8 billion for national defense, new appropriations of almost $1.2 billion, and the development of an annual production program of 50,000 aircraft. At least 20 people perished today in a fire that swept tip from the furnace through the halls and stairways of the Marlborough apartment hotel in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Scores of the hotels 200 residents were trapped when flames blocked every stairway. Fire Capt. Larry Buck said 20 persons either ware burned to death or died of injuries. Screaming women and children jumped from second and third story windows into the icy streets. Many were trapped in their beds. Others ran into the flaming hallways where firemen found their charred bodies. The Dies committee in a unanimous report to congress today exonerated John L. Lewis and the majority of members of the Congress of Industrial Organizations of charges that they are Communists or Communist sympathizers, but charged that the leadership of 11 of the 48 CIO unions is more than tinged with Communism. Chinese Winter Offensive: The Japanese relief force is heavily engaged with 40th Army and 27th Army of Chinese 2nd War Area around Changze and Tunliu. Chinese 4th War Area is attacking Yingteh north of Canton. U-143, U-753 laid down The Royal Navy submarine HMS Taku (N 38) was commissioned. Her first commander was Lt. Commander Walter S, Hall. Photograph: His Majestys Submarine Taku, at the Grand Harbour of Malta, in January 1943. Roper, F G (Lt), photographer. Imperial War Museum, Admiralty Official Collection, Photograph # A 14383.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 15:04:10 +0000
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