military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (12/20/89)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, 20 December, 1939 British technicians examine the radar sets aboard the Graf Spee, which wreck Britain has purchased from Uruguay. The French Minister of Marine announces that by their reckoning, between 42 and 47 U-boats have been sunk so far, of the 60 with which Germany began the war. (in actuality, the Allied estimate is inflated by a factor of 5; 9 German subs have been lost so far) Secretary Hull anounces an extension of America's "Moral Embargo", under which the sale of aircraft, aircraft parts, and equipment suitable for bombing civilians is forbidden. The embargo applies only to Japan and the USSR, while Germany and the Allies are covered under the Neutrality Pact, as warring nations. The embargo has been broadened to include plans, plants, and manufacturing rights to high-grade aviation fuel, though outright sale of aviation fuel is not prohibited. A massive Soviet push in Finland includes bombing raids by over 200 aircraft, while "hundreds of tanks" are employed against the Mannerheim line, without success. Extreme cold (-25 degrees F) and snow have halted operations in the far north. Finland calls up another 15,000 reserves, bringing her total forces to some 415,000, while Soviet troops deployed are estimated at about 1.5 million. The USSR prepares to celebrate tomorrow's 60th birthday of Joseph Stalin, and the media blitz dwarfs all other events, including the war in Finland. Five of Pravda's six pages are dedicated to a "short biography of Joseph Vissarionovitch Stalin." -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "We thought it would be over in four or five days. The Finns seem tough guys. It seems they are not all against the White regime as we thought." - unidentified Soviet citizen, reported by G.E.R. Gedye, NY Times.