military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (01/06/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 7 January, 1940 A re-organization of Soviet forces in Finland is underway. Marshal Kliment Yefremovich Voroshilov assumes overall command, while General Semyon Konstantinovich Timoshenko is placed in command of the 7th and 13th Armies, in the Karelian Isthmus. Meanwhile, the fighting continues, as the Finnish 9th division continues to reduce the isolated pockets of the Soviet 44th Mechanized. Over 400,000 Finnish civilians have now been evacuated from cities and combat zones. Under pressure from Germany and the USSR, Sweden and Norway threaten force of arms, if necessary, to prevent any great power from using their territories as bases for attack. Italy urges Hungary not to press her claims on Rumanian territory, in an effort to unite the Balkans against the Soviet threat. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com [referring to the Mannerheim Line] "In those days our tanks were not equipped with heavy guns and could not crush the enemy pillboxes, The best they could do was to block the enbrasures with their hulls." - K. Meretskov, _Serving the People_