military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (01/16/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Tuesday, 16 January, 1940 With no break in the weather in sight, Hitler defers the western offensive until spring. The French Chamber of Deputies ejects its 66 Communist members. The French army decides to form two more armored divisions, the 1st and 2nd Division Cuirassees de Reserves (DCR's). Allied high commands begin planning for armed intervention in Finland. In the US, Congress debates Roosevelt's plan for aid to Finland and its effect on US neutrality. Norway and Sweden, in defiance of Soviet threats, continue to facilitate arms shipments to their neighbor. Britain admits that three submarines on "particularly hazardous missions" have been lost, while Germany claims sinking two of them in the Heligoland Bight. The lost boats are HMS Seahorse, Undine, and Starfish. Frank E. Gannett announces his candidacy for the Republican Presidential nomination. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "... the U-boat is not the acute menace it was in the World War. Improved methods of detection and aerial spotting prevent the submarine from inflicting anywhere near the damage of 1917-1918." - Admiral William V. Pratt, USN, Retired