Battle of the Heliogoland Bight
week from December 18 - 24, 1939

Battle of the Heliogoland Bight (on December 18) was the main event of the week !

MONDAY, DECEMBER 18, 1939

Air War, (MAIN EVENT) Battle of the Heligoland Bight: 50 Bf109s and Bf110s destroy 12 of 22 Wellington bombers despatched on armed recconnaissance to Wilhelmshaven. Four fighters destroyed. RAF Bomber Command abandoned daylight raids until April 1940.

Picture: a formation of early Mk I Wellington bombers. 12 were shot down in the Battle of the Heliogoland Bight.

Winter War, Finland: Renewed bombing of Helsinki and shelling of coastal batteries.

Sea War Atlantic: Commodore Harwood - victor in River Plate action - promoted to Rear-Admiral and knighted.
1,039 officers and men from scuttled pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee interned in Buenos Aires. Captain Langsdorff commits suicide, night December 19-20.

TUESDAY, DECEMBER 19, 1939

Diplomacy: Fourth meeting of Allied Supreme War Council in Paris.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1939

Secret War: British expert examines radar equipment on board the wreck of German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee.

Picture: German pocket-battleship Admiral Graf Spee was still burning. The British bought the wreck to examine her radar.

THURSDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1939

Diplomacy: Hitler sends greetings to Stalin on his 60th birthday.
French government Yellow Book published, equivalent to British Blue Book (see September 21, 1939).

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1939

Sea War: British Ministry of Economic Warfare announces that the Allied Contraband Control has detained 870,000 tons of goods destined for Germany, since September 3.

Home Front France: Chamber of Deputies votes credits of 304,000,000,000 Francs for the production of armaments in 1940.
Prime Minister Daladier announces the strengthening of the Maginot Line and the completion of new fortifications in northern France and the Jura Mountains.

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 23, 1939

Winter War, Finland: Finnish counterattack on Karelian Isthmus. Finns suffer 1,500 casualties and call off attack at nightfall; stalemate ensues.

Picture: Russian infantry in combat on the Karelian Isthmus.

Neutrals, Ireland: In Dublin, IRA gang steal Irish Army's entire reserves of small arms ammunition (1.1 Million rounds); bulk of the haul recovered during massive Army-police searches over next 11 days.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1939

Occupied Poland: Russo-German agreement re-establishes rail links between the two occupied zones.