military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (02/22/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Thursday, 22 February, 1940 The Soviet 34th Tank Brigade, which is encircled near Kitelae, north of Lake Ladoga, exhausts the last of its supplies, including pack horses. Attempts to drop supplies from aircraft have been only partly successful. Heavy ice near the Shetland Narrows forces the Scharnhorst, Gneisenau, and Hipper to abandon Operation Nordmark and return to port. The U-boats assigned to the operation, however, eventually account for 12 merchant ships plus the destroyer, HMS Daring. The German 1st Destroyer Flotilla, while attempting to attack a group of British trawlers near Dogger Bank (Operation Wikinger) is mistakenly attacked by a Heinkel 111 bomber, which scores multiple hits on the Leberecht Maass, which sinks. Meanwhile, the Max Schultz strikes a mine and sinks. Rumania calls up 200,000 reserve troops and bans the export of war materials considered important for national defense. Germany is offered certain oil exports, however. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com The Soviet Generalissimo: "These are the new recruits..." The Soviet General: "Good. Shall we send them to the front or shall we shoot them here ?" - caption to a cartoon by "Marc Aurelio" (Rome), in Newsweek magazine.