Air Operations, Europe
AA fire drives away German reconnaissance planes from Paris.
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]Diplomatic Relations
US envoy Sumner Welles, with the offer of US mediation, begins his series of meetings with European leaders. Among those he will be meeting with are Mussolini, Hitler, Chamberlain, Daladier, Reynaud, the Kings of England and Italy, and the Pope. His tour ends Mar 20.
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Finland - Winter War
Day 89
Marshal Timoshenko orders his troops to take Viipuri. They are to surround and totally destroy the Finnish defenders. The plan of attack includes an assault by 2 army corps across Viipurinlahti Bay to encircle the city from the southwest. Further east 2 more army corps will attack to the north along the banks of the Vuoksi. Col Oinonen, the new commander of the Finnish 23rd Div, decides to launch a counterattack on the Soviet troops that have overrun the Honkaniemi area. The attack has problems and delayed for about an hour because they cannot make contact with their own artillery. Then when the preliminary bombardment begins the first shells fall on the Finns themselves killing or wounding about 30 men. When the troops on the Isthmus at Lake Näykkijärvi move into battle between 6:15 and 10:00a.m., a fierce tank battle ensues around Honkaniemi station. The Finns lose 5 of the 6 old Vickers tanks used in the attack. The attacking troops are finally forced to withdraw to their starting positions. The Russians bring up more men to support the breakthrough. 2 strongholds are initially lost in the Terenttilä area in Taipale, but are retaken in the counterattack. After the failure of counterattacks against the Soviet penetrations, the Finnish command orders their forces to retreat to their third, final line of defense. Koivisto, the coastal fortress on the right flank of the Mannerheim Line, is evacuated.
80 Soviet bombers pound the marshalling yard and surrounding district in Kouvola, causing a temporary break in traffic to the east and south. 8 Finnish aircraft bomb the Lontinanpelto airfield near the mouth of the Syväri River and the Murmansk railway line.
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Foreign Minister Tanner arrives in the evening in Stockholm and meets Professor T.M. Kivimäki, who has just returned from a fact-finding mission to Germany and urges the acceptance of even harsh peace terms. Tanner sends the peace terms to Finland's diplomatic representatives in Paris and London.
[ | ]Germany, Planning
In view of the attack on the Altmark, Hitler sees Norwegian neutrality as too unreliable. Preparations for Operation Weserübung against Norway and Denmark are therefore accelerated and the Führer signs the first Directive to get it under way. Germany is interested in Norwegian iron ore as well as in the strategic position of the two Scandinavian countries.
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