military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (12/15/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Saturday, 16 December, 1939 The USSR launches a major drive in the Summa sector of the Mannerheim line, beginning with an intense artillery barrage. The intial attacks are repelled, and during the night, specially-trained Finns destroy 58 Soviet tanks with gasoline bombs. Latest reports place the French battleship Dunkerque and the British battleship Barham offshore of Montevideo, awaiting the Graf Spee. Count Ciano, Italy's Foreign Minister, defends Germany's actions in the war to date, even excusing its non-aggression pact with Russia. He further admits that Germany had been notified last spring that Italy would not be ready for war for another three years. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "The Finnish people do not intend to lose their independence and their liberty. The Finnish people never can be brought to submit to an alien yoke." - Finnish Foreign Minister Vaino Tanner.