75 years ago today… December 29, 1939 Soviet 163rd Division, trapped in the Finnish village of Suomussalmi for the past 22 days, began evacuating on an ice road over Lake Kiantajärvi; troops of the Finnish 9th Division attacked the rearguard. Meanwhile, in Moscow, Russia, Stalin endorsed Chief of Staff Shaposhnikovs plan for a major attack on Finnish forces on the Karelian Isthmus; Semyon Timoshenko volunteered to lead the offensive as the disgraced Kirill Meretskov was demoted to the commander of the Soviet 7th Army. Soviet soldiers suffer terribly. Daylight lasts only two hours and even the slightly wounded freeze to death. Norway bars military aid to Finland. Spanish Falangists publish The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as a prelude to a New Years denunciation of Jews and Freemasons by Franco. The Pope visits the Italian King Vittorio Emmanuel III and solidifies ties. He will also receive Premier Mussolini. The Spanish cargo liner Cabo San Antonio caught fire in the Atlantic Ocean 400 nautical miles (740 km) west of Conakry, French Guinea and was abandoned with the loss of five passengers. Survivors were rescued by a French ship. Cabo San Antonio was scuttled by a French warship as she was a danger to navigation. The German coaster Neptun ran aground in the Kattegat off Varberg, Halland County, Sweden and was wrecked. Convoy HG 13F departs Gibraltar for Liverpool. Convoy HX 14 departs Halifax for Liverpool. Submarine HMS Narwhal departed Halifax as escort for Convoy HX-14. U.S. steamship President Adams is detained at Port Said, Egypt, by British authorities. Cargo suspected of being contraband is discharged at Alexandria, Egypt. American Baptists protest the U.S. link to the Vatican. Leaders of 10,250,000 members approve a letter to be sent to President Roosevelt today. The prototype Consolidated XB-24 Liberator heavy (four-engine) bomber makes a 17-minute first flight from Lindbergh Field in San Diego, Calif., with company pilot Bill Wheatley at the controls. More than 18,100 B-24s will be built in the next five and a half years, the largest military production run in U.S. history. https://youtube/watch?v=hBuDXA439N8
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 15:08:57 +0000
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