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- #401
Njaco
The Pop-Tart Whisperer
31 December 1939 Sunday
NORTHERN EUROPE: The Russian 163rd Division on the middle of Finland fails, with the division virtually annihilated by the Finns. Finnish 9th Division secured the village of Suomussalmi after four days of heavy fighting, capturing 625 rifles, 33 light machine guns, 19 medium and heavy machine guns, 2 anti-aircraft machine guns, 12 anti-tank guns, 27 field and anti-aircraft guns, 26 tanks, 2 armored cars, 350 horses, 181 trucks, 11 tractors, 26 field kitchens, 800,000 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 9,000 artillery shells, a field hospital, and a bakery. With Suomussalmi cleared, General Siilsavuo has his men scout out the Raate road from the parallel ice road he has had them build on Lake Voukki. They find Soviet 44th division is now stationary, stretched for 30 km along the Raate road. Captain Mäkinen of Group Kontula is blocking the road at the western end with just two machine companies, which the Soviets believe is a far greater force because they have more than enough firepower to level the Finns there, including artillery. The Soviet armor is bunched up in front of this blockade but is immobile. Finnish scouts find the largest concentration of tanks and artillery entrenched just East of the roadblock set up by Captain Mäkinen's MG companies, which has been holding 44th Division since Dec 23. Siilasvuo decides to begin his attacks here. The commander of the Soviet 44th Rifle Divison, Kombrig Vinogradov, and his commissar Parhomenko both advance to the regimental headquarters (still on Soviet territory) from their position far behind the lines.
Twenty-eight Russian planes flew over Jyväskylä and several residential buildings, the railway station and the plywood factory got hit. Air raid shelters were bombed causing 20 civilian deaths along with 25 civilians injured. Altogether 149 buildings were damaged. It was the second raid in two days.
The British and French inform the League that they will be providing as much assistance to the Finns as they can. Many British volunteers have been sailing to Finland.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0947 hours, U-32 sinks the neutral Norwegian vessel SS "Luna" (cargo of rubber hose and zinc plates from London to Trondheim) with one torpedo. The crew is picked up by the Norwegian steamer "Colombia" and taken to Kopervik.
SS 'Box Hill' (5,677t) steamer, St John, New Brunswick to Hull was sunk by a mine in the North Sea, off the eastern coast. Twenty on board perished.
The German freighter 'Tacoma' complies with the order of the Uruguayan government and moves its anchorage outside of Uruguayan waters.
ASIA: Chinese declared victory at Kunlun Pass 59 kilometers northeast of Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, although the remnants of Japanese troops trapped in the region would not capitulate until mid-Jan 1940.
In the Chinese Winter Offensive, the Chinese East Route Force continues routing the Japanese 5th Infantry Division: it captures Kunlunkuan and Tienyin.
The River North Army of the Chinese 5th War Area retreats across the Han River.
The Japanese 21st Army advances to Yingteh against the Chinese 4th War Area. The Chinese 2d War Area takes possession of Peishe.
UNITED KINGDOM: The blackout has been murder on the highways. For the war months between September - December 1939 there have been 4,130 road deaths. In addition, 15,626 people have registered as conscientious objectors. In some rare acts of defiance, New Year's celebrants shine torches despite the blackout.
NORTH AMERICA: In Canada, the second convoy of Canadian troops arrives at a west coast port.
GERMANY: Adolf Hitler gives a New Year's Proclamation, stating the British are "war-mongers and war-declarers" and that Germany's primary war aim is the defeat of "British tyranny."
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NORTHERN EUROPE: The Russian 163rd Division on the middle of Finland fails, with the division virtually annihilated by the Finns. Finnish 9th Division secured the village of Suomussalmi after four days of heavy fighting, capturing 625 rifles, 33 light machine guns, 19 medium and heavy machine guns, 2 anti-aircraft machine guns, 12 anti-tank guns, 27 field and anti-aircraft guns, 26 tanks, 2 armored cars, 350 horses, 181 trucks, 11 tractors, 26 field kitchens, 800,000 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 9,000 artillery shells, a field hospital, and a bakery. With Suomussalmi cleared, General Siilsavuo has his men scout out the Raate road from the parallel ice road he has had them build on Lake Voukki. They find Soviet 44th division is now stationary, stretched for 30 km along the Raate road. Captain Mäkinen of Group Kontula is blocking the road at the western end with just two machine companies, which the Soviets believe is a far greater force because they have more than enough firepower to level the Finns there, including artillery. The Soviet armor is bunched up in front of this blockade but is immobile. Finnish scouts find the largest concentration of tanks and artillery entrenched just East of the roadblock set up by Captain Mäkinen's MG companies, which has been holding 44th Division since Dec 23. Siilasvuo decides to begin his attacks here. The commander of the Soviet 44th Rifle Divison, Kombrig Vinogradov, and his commissar Parhomenko both advance to the regimental headquarters (still on Soviet territory) from their position far behind the lines.
Twenty-eight Russian planes flew over Jyväskylä and several residential buildings, the railway station and the plywood factory got hit. Air raid shelters were bombed causing 20 civilian deaths along with 25 civilians injured. Altogether 149 buildings were damaged. It was the second raid in two days.
The British and French inform the League that they will be providing as much assistance to the Finns as they can. Many British volunteers have been sailing to Finland.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: At 0947 hours, U-32 sinks the neutral Norwegian vessel SS "Luna" (cargo of rubber hose and zinc plates from London to Trondheim) with one torpedo. The crew is picked up by the Norwegian steamer "Colombia" and taken to Kopervik.
SS 'Box Hill' (5,677t) steamer, St John, New Brunswick to Hull was sunk by a mine in the North Sea, off the eastern coast. Twenty on board perished.
The German freighter 'Tacoma' complies with the order of the Uruguayan government and moves its anchorage outside of Uruguayan waters.
ASIA: Chinese declared victory at Kunlun Pass 59 kilometers northeast of Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, although the remnants of Japanese troops trapped in the region would not capitulate until mid-Jan 1940.
In the Chinese Winter Offensive, the Chinese East Route Force continues routing the Japanese 5th Infantry Division: it captures Kunlunkuan and Tienyin.
The River North Army of the Chinese 5th War Area retreats across the Han River.
The Japanese 21st Army advances to Yingteh against the Chinese 4th War Area. The Chinese 2d War Area takes possession of Peishe.
UNITED KINGDOM: The blackout has been murder on the highways. For the war months between September - December 1939 there have been 4,130 road deaths. In addition, 15,626 people have registered as conscientious objectors. In some rare acts of defiance, New Year's celebrants shine torches despite the blackout.
NORTH AMERICA: In Canada, the second convoy of Canadian troops arrives at a west coast port.
GERMANY: Adolf Hitler gives a New Year's Proclamation, stating the British are "war-mongers and war-declarers" and that Germany's primary war aim is the defeat of "British tyranny."
He also talks about "the existence or non-existence of the German people," which strikes a somewhat equivocal tone that he has maintained since the beginning of the war.
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