military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (02/10/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 11 February, 1940 Following nearly two weeks of assault, the Soviet 7th Army breaches the Mannerheim Line near Summa. Finnish troops launch counterattacks to retake the fortifications. The Soviet troops used mobile infantry shields and flamethrower tanks for the final push. US Naval construction reaches an all-time high expenditure; over $255 million this fiscal year. Of that, $148 million goes for battleships, $61 million for destroyers, $21 million for submarines, $10 million for aircraft carriers, and $15 million for cruisers. German military engineers are rumored to be assisting the Soviet Union in fortifying the Black Sea coast and important railways. It is also reported that German soldiers are protecting rail lines in Soviet- occupied Poland against partisan attacks. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Germany claims to have inititated a mass-production program of small submarines. If this be true, and experience crews can be found to man these craft, it may forecast a species of mass attack directed against the convoy system." - Admiral William V. Pratt, USN, Ret.