military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (01/05/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Friday, 5 January, 1940 Finnish troops encircle the Soviet 18th division north of Lake Ladoga. The Finnish 9th division begins its assault on the Soviet 44th Mechanized division, encircled east of Suomussalmi. Meanwhile, a contingent of Swedish volunteers arrives in Finland. The USSR accuses Norway and Sweden of breaches of neutrality for these and other activities. Germany also warns Sweden and Norway against allowing British and French aid to Finland through their borders. Ghettoes are being established in occupied Poland for Jews and other minorities. A shakeup of the British cabinet results in the replacement of Leslie Hore-Belisha, Minister of War, with Oliver Stanley. The Minister of Information, Lord Macmillan, is also replaced. Several Army chiefs, including Lord Gort, had disapproved of Hore-Belisha. The State Department warns Britain that she will be held responsible for any damages to the SS Mormacsun, and American steamer detained by Britain on 3 January while en route to Norway. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Early in January, the Soviet Union pointed out to the Swedish and Norwegian Governments that their conduct was in gross violation of their declared neutrality and stressed that `the Swedish and Norwegian Governments are not putting up due resistance to the pressure of powers that seek to draw Sweden and Norway into a war with the USSR'." - _The Russian Version of the Second World War_, Graham Lyons, ed.