Manstein Plan adopted by German Army High Command
week from February 19 - 25, 1940

MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19, 1940

Diplomacy: King Gustav of Sweden re-affirms his determination to remain neutral in Russo-Finnish conflict: 'from the first hour I informed Finland that she unfortunately could not count on military intervention from Sweden.'

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1940

Winter War, Finland: Finns repulse heavy attacks across frozen river Taipale.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1940

Winter War, Finland: Blizzards hamper Russian offensive in Karelian Isthmus.

Home Front Britain: Government Treasury announces token defence estimates of £100 each for Army, Navy and RAF for 1940 and duration of the war (the actual figures being concealed for security reasons).
Emergency measures to deal with coal shortage (severe winter) include drastic reduction of passenger train services.

Secret War: First successful test of cavity magnetron at Birmingham University gives Britain unbeatable lead in development of short-wave radar.

Picture: the original of the first cavity magnetron for short-wave radar.

Occupied Poland: Inspectorate of Concentration Camps reports to Himmler that Auschwitz Camp, in 'Incorporated Territories' of Poland, is suitable for use as 'quarantine centre'.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1940

Winter War, Finland: 34th Moscow Tank Brigade, encircled near Kitelae, Ladoga Front, eats last of its packhorses (for next few days Russians survive on starvation rations plus biscuits and rusks dropped from aircraft).

Sea War: He111s bomb two German destroyers by mistake off Frisian Islands; they blunder into British minefield and sink.

Home Front Britain: IRA bomb explodes in Oxford Street, London (seven people seriously injured) - the last major incident in an IRA bombing campaign against mainland Britain, begun on January 16, 1939.

Neutrals, Tibet: six-year-old Dalai Lama, Jampel Ngawang Lobsang Yishey Tenzing Gyatso ('Tender Glory, Mighty in Speech, Excellent Intellect, Absolute Wisdom, Holding to the Doctrine, and Ocean­Wide') enthroned at Lhasa.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 1940

Air War: RAF leaflet recce raid on Prague (night February 23-24).

Home Front Britain: 700 officers and men of cruisers Ajax and Exeter march through cheering crowds to London's Guildhall to celebrate River Plate victory.

Picture: HMS Ajax, one of the three British cruiser who fought succesfull against the German pocket-battleship Graf Spee in the Battle of the River Plate.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1940

Western Front: (MAIN EVENT) MANSTEIN PLAN ADOPTED by German Army High Command. Hitler accepts proposal by General von Manstein - backed by Generals von Rundstedt and Guderian - for drastic revision of Fall Gelb (limited offensive repeatedly postponed since October 1939). Five Panzer divisions with motorized infantry and Stukas are to smash through weak points in the Allied line - hilly and 'impassable' Ardennes Forest - then to cross river Meuse at Sedan and drive across North France to the Channel, thereby cutting off main Anglo-French forces (which are to be lured into Belgium by German 6th Army). Preparations for this 'knock-out blow' are to be completed (in great secrecy) by March 7.

Map with the old Schlieffen Plan from 1914, the Allied Dyle Plan to encounter it in WW2 and the new Manstein Plan to create it into a trap.

Home Front Germany: Hitler boasts of his achievements in speech at Munich on 20th anniversary of founding of Nazi Party and claims: 'Germany would not have lost the last war if I had been Reichschancellor in 1918 !'.

Home Front Britain: Chamberlain, in Birmingham, condemns Nazi war aims: 'destruction of this nation (Britain) and domination of the world' but declares his continued willingness to reach a settlement with an alternative German Government.

Diplomacy: Conference of Scandinavian Foreign Ministers at Copenhagen (February 24-25). Ministers re-assert 'absolute neutrality' of Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 1940

Air War: First squadron of Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) reaches Britain.