military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (01/04/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, 3 January, 1940 Finland reports the encirclement of the Soviet 44th Mechanized division east of Suomussalmi, where it became bogged down in its attempt to relieve the now-destroyed 163rd division. Meanwhile, Finnish aircraft drop 3 million leaflets over Leningrad. The Irish government introduces emergency legislation to allow the imprisonment of IRA members without trial. (The measures pass into law on 9 February) London hints that, while it would prefer to avoid a confrontation with the USSR, it would not be balked by Soviet threats, and was considering the possibilities of a Scandinavian campaign. The US Treasury department reports a national debt of nearly 42 billion dollars. The US Navy department requests that the President be vested with the power to commandeer factories and ships, and breech established contracts, in the event of a national emergency. Such power had been granted to President Wilson during WWI. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Think of the possibilities of a Bremen or Europa loaded with mines and bombs, fitted to carry planes, and slipping to sea ! Certainly it would be a menace to the convoy system, or to the many ships entering or leaving our principle ports..." - Admiral William V. Pratt, USN Retired.