11-Dec-39: Finns Successfully Cut Off Soviet 163rd Division; League of Nations Agrees to Intervene in Winter War; Hitler Meets Quisling for Second Time; Germans Begin Forced Labor Program in General Gouvernement
Today is 11-Dec-1939, the 72nd day of World War II; there are 2,091 days left in the conflict.
The Finnish Ninth Brigade successfully attacks and cuts off the Soviet 163rd Division at Suomussalmi, surprising the Red Army. The Finns are not going down as quickly and completely as the Soviets expected. Meanwhile in Geneva, the League of Nations agrees to intervene in the Winter War after Finland asks for concrete aid, “not merely words of encouragement.” The League urges the Soviets to halt the war within 24 hours and accept outside mediation. No reply is immediately received.
German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler meets a second time in Berlin with Vidkun Quisling, head of the pro-German National Unity Party of Norway. A Norway operation is becoming increasingly likely. German officials in the General Gouvernement in Polish occupied territory create a forced labor program for all Jews in the region.
9-Dec-39: First British Soldier to Die in WWII Killed on Western Front; Finns Halt Soviet Attacks; Soviet-German Relations Strained by Winter War; Germans Deport 1,800 Jews to Soviet-Occupied Poland, Only 200 Survive Winter Trek
Today is 9-Dec-1939, the 70th day of World War II; there are 2,093 days left in the conflict.
The first British soldier to be killed in World War II dies leading a patrol along the Western Front. He is Corporal Thomas Priday of the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry. His death is the first of some 382,700 British soldiers, sailors and airmen who will die in the war through 1945. The death comes as British King George VI completes his five-day visit to the troops on the line.
The Finns successfully halt Soviet attacks in the Winter War near Suomussalmi and mount a successful night attack on the Soviet Ninth Army near Kollaa. The Soviets claim, via the news agency TASS, that Germany is providing supplies and war materiel to Finland; the reality is that Italy is supplying the arms and shipping them via Germany. Still, the report strains USSR/German relations. The League of Nations meets in Geneva to consider mediation or intervention in the Winter War.
The Germans deport 1,800 Jews from occupied Poland and force march them from their homes in Hrubieszow and Chelm over the new border into the Soviet occupation zone on the other side of the Bug River. Only 200 survive the wintertime trek.
12-Oct-39: Germans Begin Jewish Deportations in Central Europe; Chamberlain Rejects Hitler Peace Move; Finns Meet With Soviets for Border Negotiations
Today is 12-Oct-1939, the 42nd day of World War II; there are 2,151 days left in the conflict.
In a secret move, the German Central Office for Jewish Emigration, under the auspices of the Shutzstaffel (SS) begins to carry out the deportation of Jewish people in the Ostmark (the former Austria) and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (the former Czechoslovakia). Deported Jews are moved by the SS into parts of now-occupied Poland. This first move to render the Greater German Reich Judenrein (Jew-Free) is under the direction of SS-Hauptsturmführer (Captain) Adolf Eichmann.
British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain officially announces that the government has rejected German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler’s 9-Oct Reichstag speech proposal for a European peace conference. Chamberlain declares that to “consider such terms would be to forgive Germany for all aggressions;” he further warns that Germany “must choose between permanent security arrangements in Europe and war to the utmost of our strength … since past experience has shown that no reliance can be placed upon the promises of the present German government.”
As the implications of this announcement are being felt around Europe, the War Office in London reports that the British Expeditionary Force has completed its planned deployment and is occupying its assigned stations along the border between France and Belgium, between the towns of Maulde and Halluin.
After a week of feverish military preparations in Finland for a possible Soviet invasion, representatives of the two countries finally meet to discuss the Soviets’ border proposals. These include the turnover of Finnish territory near Leningrad, control of islands in the Gulf of Finland, use of the port of Hanko and other alterations as far north as Murmansk. In return the Soviets offer some land concessions. However, the Finns inform their neighbors that they will only be able to agree to a limited range of concessions.