75 years ago today… December 31, 1939 Hitler tells a private meeting of his Gauleiter at the end of 1939, The Jews may deceive the world... but they cannot deceive me. I know that they are guilty of starting this war -- they alone and nobody else. The Finnish 9th Division secured the village of Suomussalmi after four days of heavy fighting, capturing 625 rifles, 33 light machine guns, 19 medium and heavy machine guns, 2 anti-aircraft machine guns, 12 anti-tank guns, 27 field and anti-aircraft guns, 26 tanks, 2 armored cars, 350 horses, 181 trucks, 11 tractors, 26 field kitchens, 800,000 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 9,000 artillery shells, a field hospital, and a bakery. Elsewhere, Finnish scouts found troops of the Soviet 44th Division stationary along a 30-kilometer stretch of the Raate Road, including a large concentration of dug-in tanks and artillery. Finnish Army Colonel Siilasvuo received the intelligence and decided to prepare a strike at this concentration. The Soviets conduct air raids against Viipuri and other Finnish targets. Boris Shaposhnikov was awarded his first Order of Lenin. Hermann Goering threatens terror for Britain. Nazis will unleash the worst air raids and smash the blockade, he says. New Year celebrations in London will be restrained. Large gatherings are frowned upon, but the hours are extended at public houses. The neutral and unescorted British steam merchant Luna was torpedoed and sunk by the U-32, commanded by Kapitänleutnant Paul Büchel, in the North Sea. The 959 ton Luna was carrying general cargo, including rubber hose, zinc plates, and hessian cloth and was bound for Trondheim, Norway. The Belgian fishing vessel Adeline was bombed and sunk in the North Sea off the Noordhinder Lightship. The British cargo ship Box Hill struck a mine and sank in the North Sea off the Humber Lightship (53°32′ N, 0°24′ E) with the loss of 20 of her 32 crew. Survivors were rescued by the Royal Navy destroyer HMS Ivanhoe and another ship. For the month of December 1939, German U-boats sank 43 Allied ships (108,347 tons) and damaged 4 ships (73,313 tons). Convoy HG 13 departs Gibraltar for Liverpool. U.S. freighter Excalibur, detained at Gibraltar by British authorities since 17 December, is released. President Roosevelt appoints the son of inventor Thomas Edison as Secretary of the Navy. Changes in taxes for 1939 are reviewed. Remedial legislation is found to have eliminated levies of punitive character. Farmers fear 1940, the Secretary of Agriculture asserts, saying they will watch Congress for any hamstring. Chinese 2nd War Area finish clearing Japanese forces around Peishe on approximately this date. Japanese 21st Army reaches Yingteh in Chinese 4th War Area zone. River North Army of Chinese 5th War Area completes withdrawal back across Han River. Battle of South Kwangsi: Chinese East Route Force captures Kunlunkuan and Tienyin from Japanese 5th Infantry Division. Chinese declared victory at Kunlun Pass 59 kilometers northeast of Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, although the remnants of Japanese troops trapped in the region would not capitulate until mid-January 1940. After heightened tensions between the Soviet and Japanese governments since Summer 1939, the two states signed an accord which renewed fishing rights in adjacent territorial waters and the settlement of Soviet debt claims in Manchukuo. The minesweeping trawler HMT Walnut (T 103) was commissioned. Her first commander was T. Smith. https://youtube/watch?v=G85e2IU2Ky0
Posted on: Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:05:41 +0000
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