military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (12/04/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 3 December, 1939 Another merchantman is lost to a German surface raider, this time off the west coast of South Africa. Meanwhile, off that same country, a German freighter is scuttled to prevent capture by the battlecruiser HMS Renown. Britain claims a German cruiser and two destroyers hit during a bombing raid near Helgoland, and a U-boat sunk by aircraft in the North Sea. Helsinki attempts to re-establish negotiations with the USSR, through Swedish intermediaries. It is hoped that the stubborn resistance of Finnish forces, and a condemnation by the League of Nations, will force Russia to accept League arbitration. The USSR, however, refuses to negotiate with the Helsinki government, dealing only with the Communist government they have created, now located in Terijoki on the border. The Scandinavian states begin preparing their defenses, fearing further Soviet aggression in that region. Sweden calls up its reserves, and begins minelaying operations. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Two hundred meters from my shelter a Russian bomber, hit by Finnish antiaircraft shells, crashed, buring the pilot and observer., We dragged their charred bodies from the wreckage, and in the airmen's pockets we found Estonian coins, leavin no doubt where their base was." - unidentified reporter for the Helsinki Politiken.