WW2 Weapons, War Games, History, Pictures |
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Battle of the River Plate
week from December 11 - 17, 1939 |
| Battle of the River Plate (on December 13) was the main event of the week ! |
MONDAY, DECEMBER 11, 1939
Diplomacy: League of Nations urges USSR to cease hostilities in Finland within 24 hours and accept mediation (Soviet rejection on December 12).
Home Front Britain: Coventry
Explosion trial: two IRA men, Barnes and Richards, sentenced to death for murdering 5 people in Coventry on August 25, 1939.
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 12, 1939
Winter War Finland: Battle of Tolvaajarvi: Finns destroy two divsions north of Lake Ladoga, killing 4,000 Russians, capturing 30 guns, 60 tanks and 600 PoWs (ends December 24).
Battle of Kitela: Finns halt Russian 18th and 168th Divisions on northern shore of Lake Ladoga. 18th Division surrounded on January 5 and 168th on January 11, 1940.
Sea War: Liner Bremen arrives in Bremerhaven from Murmansk.
Air War: RAF aircraft carry out nightlong 'security patrols' over Frisian Islands, the bases of German minelaying seaplanes (patrols repeated at frequent intervals during winter of 1939-40).
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WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 13, 1939
Sea War Atlantic: (MAIN EVENT) BATTLE OF THE
RIVER PLATE. British cruisers Exeter and Ajax and NZ cruiser Achilles intercept pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee off Plate Estuary, South America. All ships are damaged: Exeter retires to Falkland Islands and is replaced by cruiser Cumberland. Admiral Graf Spee (96 casualties) puts into Montevideo for emergency repairs. Pursuers wait outside Uruguayan territorial waters.
Royal Navy submarine Salmon damages German cruisers Leipzig and Nürnberg in Heligoland Bight (North Sea).
Picture: Pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee enters Montevideo after the Battle of the River Plate.
Winter War Finland: First shipment of French arms leaves for Finland.
Diplomacy: League of Nations adopts resolution condemning Russian aggression and calls upon all member states to assist Finland.
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THURSDAY, DECEMBER 14, 1939
Winter War Finland: Russians launch new drive on Petsamofront (Arctic).
Diplomacy: LEAGUE OF NATIONS EXPELS SOVIET UNION.
Sea War Atlantic: German liner Columbus (33,000 t.) leaves Vera Cruz (Mexico) for home. She is shadowed by US warships, on neutrality patrol, and finally burned by her crew on December 19, 500 km off Cape Hatteras, to avoid capture by British destroyer HMS Hyperion.
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FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1939
Winter War Finland: Battle of Suomussalmi: Finns destroy 163rd (Tula) Division and 44th motorized Division in the 'Waist'. Russian losses: 6,000-plus killed, 1,800 PoWs, 54 guns, 97 tanks, 420 vehicles and 1,170 horses (ends January 5,1940).
Picture: Finnish soldiers are attacking in the 'Waist'.
Western Front: P.M. Chamberlain visits the BEF.
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SATURDAY, DECEMBER 16, 1939
Winter War Finland: First Battle of Summa: waves of Russian infantry and tanks, with air support, attempt to overrun the Summa sector of the Mannerheim Line. Finns repel all attacks (the heaviest on December 19 and 20). Bofors anti-tank guns and special squads armed with 'Molotov cocktails' (petrol bombs) destroy 58 Russian tanks (ends December 22).
Home Front Germany: Repatriation of 51,000 Baltic Germans by sea from Latvia (begun October 14) to the incorporated Territories of Poland completed.
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SUNDAY, DECEMBER 17, 1939
Sea War Atlantic: ADMIRAL GRAF SPEE SCUTTLED in Plate Estuary; her wreck burns for a week. Later the British bought the wreck to examine her radar.
German aircraft bomb and strafe fishing trawlers and coasters in North Sea (repeated on December 19; in all 7 boats sunk).
Picture: the wreck of the German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee is burning in the Plate Estuary.
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