Finland’s army commander, Field Marshal Mannerheim issues Order of the Day Nr. 34:
Soldiers of the glorious Finnish army!
Peace has been concluded between our country and the Soviet Union, an exacting peace which has ceded to Soviet Russia nearly every battlefield on which you have shed your blood on behalf of everything we hold dear and sacred.
You did not want war; you loved peace, work and progress; but you were forced into a struggle in which you have done great deeds, deeds that will shine for centuries in the pages of history. More than fifteen thousand of you who took the field will never again see your homes, and how many those are who have lost for ever their ability to work. But you have also dealt hard blows, and if two hundred thousand of our enemies now lie on the snowdrifts, gazing with broken eyes at our starry sky, the fault is not yours. You did not hate them or wish them evil; you merely followed the stern law of war: kill or be killed.
Soldiers: I have fought on many battlefields, but never have I seen your like as warriors. I am as proud of you as though you were my own children; l am as proud of the man from the Northern fells as of the son of Ostrobothnia’s plains, of the Karelian forests, the hills of Savo, the fertile fields of Häme and Satakunta, the leafy copses of Uusimaa and Varsinais-Suomi. I am as proud of the sacrifice tendered by the child of a lowly cottage as of those of the wealthy.
I thank all of you, officers, non-commissioned officers and men, but I wish specially to stress the self-sacrificing valour of our officers of the reserve, their sense of duty and the cleverness with which they have fulfilled a task that was not originally theirs. Thus theirs has been the greatest sacrifice in this war in proportion to their numbers, but it was made joyfully and with an unflinching devotion to duty.
I thank the Staff Officers for their skill and untiring labours, and finally I thank my own closest assistants, my Chief Commanders, the Army Corps Commanders and the Divisional Commanders who have often transformed the impossible into the possible.
I thank the Finnish Army in all its branches, which in noble competition have done heroic deeds since the first day of the war. I thank the Army for the courage with which it has faced an overwhelming superior enemy equipped in part with hitherto unknown weapons, and for the stubbornness with which it held on to every inch of our soil. The destruction of over 1,500 Russian tanks and over 700 enemy aircraft speaks of deeds of heroism that were often carried out by single individuals.
With joy and pride my thoughts dwell on the Lottas of Finland — their spirit of self-sacrifice and untiring work in many fields, work which has liberated thousands of men for the fighting line. Their noble spirit has spurred on and supported the Army, whose undivided gratitude and respect they have achieved. Posts of honour have also been those of the thousands of workers who, often as volunteers and during air-raids, have worked beside their machine for the Army’s needs, or laboured unflinchingly under fire, strengthening our positions. On behalf of the Fatherland, I thank them.
In spite of all bravery and spirit of sacrifice, the Government has been compelled to conclude peace on severe terms, which however are explicable. Our Army was small and its reserves and cadres inadequate. We were not prepared for war with a Great Power. While our brave soldiers were defending our frontiers we had by insuperable efforts to procure what we lacked. We had to construct lines of defence where there were none. We had to try to obtain help, which failed to come. We had to find arms and equipment at a time when all the nations were feverishly arming against the storm which sweeps over the world. Your heroic deeds have aroused the admiration of the world, but after three and a half months of war we are still almost alone. We have not obtained more foreign help than two reinforced battalions equipped with artillery and aircraft for our fronts, where our own men, fighting day and night without the possibility of being relieved, have had to meet the attacks of ever fresh enemy forces, straining their physical and moral powers beyond all limits.
When some day the history of this war is written, the world will learn of your efforts.
Without the ready help in arms and equipment which Sweden and the Western Powers have given us, our struggle up to this date would have been inconceivable against the countless guns, tanks and aircraft of the enemy.
Unfortunately, the valuable promise of assistance which the Western Powers have given us, could not be realised when our neighbours, concerned for their own security, refused the right of transit for troops.
After sixteen weeks of bloody battle with no rest by day or by night, our Army still stands unconquered before an enemy which in spite of terrible losses has grown in numbers; nor has our home front, where countless air-raids have spread death and terror among women and children, ever wavered. Burned cities and ruined villages far behind the front, as far even as our western border, are the visible proofs of the nation’s sufferings during the past months. Our fate is hard, now that we are compelled to give up to an alien race, a race with a life philosophy and moral values different from ours, land which for centuries we have cultivated in sweat and labour. Yet, we must put our shoulders to the wheel, in order that we may prepare on the soil left to us a home for those rendered homeless and an improved livelihood for all, and as before we must be ready to defend our diminished Fatherland with the same resolution and the same fire with which we defended our undivided Fatherland.
We are proudly conscious of the historic duty which we shall continue to fulfil; the defence of that Western civilisation which has been our heritage for centuries, but we know also that we have paid to the very last penny any debt we may have owed the West.
[Signed] Mannerheim
Evacuation of Finnish Karelia: The more than 450,000 Finns displaced by the Moscow Peace Treaty began to cross Finland’s new border. Some burned their homes to the ground to leave as little behind for the Russians as possible.
The Finns also evacuate Viipuri. Viipuri Castle is burning.
The Finnish Parliament met and debated over the ratification of Moscow Peace Treaty.
The Soviet rank and file are frustrated and angry at the war and its outcome. They are in no mood to celebrate. One Soviet soldier, Lt. Viktor Iskrov: “Finns walked out of their trenches with vodka bottles, shouting: ‘Russkies, come drink with us!’ But we just sat in our trench.”
British Foreign Minister Lord Halifax began to ask Finland to return some of the supplies that the British had given to Finland for the Winter War. He retracted the request shortly after Finnish Ambassador to London G. A. Gripenberg reminded him that Finland had paid for the relatively small amount of goods that Britain offered.
British General Pownall notes the cynical nature of the “aid” being offered to the Finns: “Of 4 or 5 division that were to be sent, not 1 was meant for Finland- maybe a brigade or 2. A most dishonest business.”
Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles leaves London for Rome.
First “bombe” decipher machine became operational at Bletchley Park in England, United Kingdom.
Resentment against what many regard as the failure of the Allies to give timely and effective aid to Finland led to a sudden decision this afternoon to hold a secret session of the French Senate.
Official French reports today listed fifty-eight German planes shot down from the start of the war on September 3 to March 10.
According to Alfred Jodl’s diary entry for this date, Adolf Hitler was actively searching for excuses that would justify the planned invasion of Norway.
New standards of neutrality demanded by Germany under the new political situation resulting from the RussoFinnish peace may include a stipulation that strict neutrality cannot be observed by nations that retain membership in the League of Nations.
Hermann Göring asked Germans to collect metal objects and donate them to the state as a present to Adolf Hitler for his 51st birthday. Goring decrees that all articles made of copper, bronze, nickel and other useful metals must be given up for the war effort.
The Polish government-in-exile publishes a white paper today giving a general view of Poland’s relations with Germany between May 1933 and October 1939. Among the revelations is that Hitler tried to involve Poland in a plot to attack the Soviet Union. It was proposed by Goring during a visit to Warsaw in February 1935. In a discussion with the Polish leader, Marshal Pilsudski, he suggested that Poland and Germany should mount a joint invasion of the Ukraine. The Poles insist that they gave the Germans no encouragement whatsoever.
Eight hundred Rumanian members of the pro-Nazi Iron Guard accused of responsibility for a wave of terrorism in 1938 will receive an offer of freedom in a royal proclamation tomorrow.
With the endof the Russo-Finnish war, the resumption of Italian-Russian trade negotiations was seen today as a distinct possibility.
The Supreme Soviet of the U.S.S.R., Russia’s Parliament, was convoked today for March 29, and many observers predicted that one of the most important items on its agenda would be formation of a Soviet Socialist republic in the territory ceded by Finland under the new peace treaty.
Three Heinkel 111s attack three fishing trawlers in the North Sea but fail to sink them.
Convoy OG.22F was formed from two convoys — (1) OA.108G, which departed Southend on the 11th escorted by destroyer HMS Witch, and (2) OB.108G, which departed Liverpool on the 11th, escorted by sloops HMS Bideford and HMS Fowey, of thirty ships. Bideford joined the convoy on the 12th and Fowey on the 13th. Destroyer HMS Wrestler joined on the 19th. Both sloops and the destroyer travelled with the convoy to Gibraltar where it arrived on the 19th. The sloops were temporarily assigned to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla to replace sloops HMS Scarborough and HMS Wellington.
Convoy MT.30 of twenty three ships departed Methil escorted by the 3rd Anti-submarine Group, sloop HMS Pelican, destroyers HMS Vivien and HMS Javelin. The convoy arrived in the Tyne later in the day.
Convoy FS.121 departed the Tyne, escorted by sloop HMS Pelican and destroyer HMS Vivien, and arrived at Southend on the 16th.
Destroyer HMS Janus and the 1st Anti-submarine Group escorted convoy TM.26 from the Tyne.
After a steamer reported a periscope one mile southwest of Elie Ness, escort vessel HMS Whitley and sloop HMS Egret were dispatched to investigate. They were joined by destroyer HMS Brazen, escort vessels HMS Vega, HMS Woolston, sloop HMS Stork, and the 19th Anti-submarine Group. Whitley and Stork made attacks but further investigation showed this contact to be non submarine.
Convoy HN.19 of three British, sixteen Norwegian, seven Swedish, four Finnish and five Estonian ships departed Bergen escorted by destroyers HMS Cossack, HMS Nubian, HMS Gurkha, HMS Faulknor and HMS Fortune. The convoy was covered by light cruiser HMS Edinburgh. At 0824/16th, Edinburgh made a submarine contact in 59-07N, 00-57W, southeast of Fair Isle, and she and Cossack attacked the contact. At 1330/16th, Cossack attacked a contact east of Duncansby Head in 58-36N, 1-35W.This contact had been earlier attacked by aircraft. At 2330, Edinburgh made an attack off Tod Head in 56-54N, 2-13W. When the convoy split into two sections, Faulknor and Fortune escorted the west coast section of 15 ships to Cape Wrath where the convoy was dispersed. The destroyers arrived at Scapa Flow on the 17th at 0700. Destroyers Faulknor and Forester anchored in Longhope pending the clearance of Gutter Sound. The convoy of 20 ships arrived at Methil without incident on the 17th. Cossack, Nubian and Gurkha arrived at Rosyth at 1700/17th.
Convoy BC.30 of seven steamers, including Batallinn, Baron Graham (Commodore), Eildon, and Marslew departed Bristol Channel escorted by destroyer HMS Vivacious, and arrived in the Loire on the 16th.
Convoy SL.24 departed Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser HMS Cheshire until 29 March. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 31st.
The War at Sea, Thursday, 14 March 1940 (naval-history.net)
Battlecruiser HOOD departed Scapa Flow at 1515 escorted by destroyers HARDY (D.2), HOTSPUR, and IMOGEN for the Clyde.
Armed merchant cruiser CALIFORNIA departed Greenock on Northern Patrol.
Armed merchant cruisers CILICIA and TRANSYLVANIA arrived at Greenock from Northern Patrol.
Destroyer KELLY departed Scapa Flow at 0400 for Sheerness to repair her collision damage of 9 March at Blackwall.
Destroyers KASHMIR and FORESIGHT departed the Clyde for Scapa Flow.
Destroyer INTREPID arrived at Invergordon from patrol.
Destroyer IVANHOE departed Scapa Flow at 0715 for Moray Firth Patrol.
Minelayer TEVIOTBANK and destroyers ICARUS and IMPULSIVE arrived at the Humber to load mines.
Submarines STERLET and SNAPPER departed Harwich on patrol.
Submarine SEAWOLF arrived at Harwich from patrol.
Polish submarine ORP WILK was undocked at Dundee.
Convoy OG.22F was formed from two convoys – (1) OA.108G, which departed Southend on the 11th escorted by destroyer WITCH, and (2) OB.108G, which departed Liverpool on the 11th, escorted by sloops BIDEFORD and FOWEY, of thirty ships. BIDEFORD joined the convoy on the 12th and FOWEY on the 13th. Destroyer WRESTLER joined on the 19th. Both sloops and the destroyer travelled with the convoy to Gibraltar where it arrived on the 19th. The sloops were temporarily assigned to the 13th Destroyer Flotilla to replace sloops SCARBOROUGH and WELLINGTON.
Convoy MT.30 of twenty-three ships departed Methil escorted by the 3rd Anti-submarine Group, sloop PELICAN, and destroyers VIVIEN and JAVELIN. The convoy arrived in the Tyne later in the day.
Convoy FS.121 departed the Tyne, escorted by sloop PELICAN and destroyer VIVIEN, and arrived at Southend on the 16th.
Destroyer JANUS and the 1st Anti-submarine Group escorted convoy TM.26 from the Tyne.
After a steamer sighted a periscope one mile southwest of Elie Ness, escort vessel WHITLEY and sloop EGRET were dispatched to investigate. They were joined by destroyer BRAZEN, escort vessels VEGA and WOOLSTON, sloop STORK, and the 19th Anti-submarine Group. WHITLEY and STORK made attacks but further investigation showed this contact to be non-submarine.
Convoy HN.19 of three British, sixteen Norwegian, seven Swedish, four Finnish and five Estonian ships departed Bergen escorted by destroyers COSSACK, NUBIAN, GURKHA, FAULKNOR, and FORTUNE. The convoy was covered by light cruiser EDINBURGH. At 0824/16th, EDINBURGH made a submarine contact in 59-07N, 00-57W, southeast of Fair Isle, and she and COSSACK attacked the contact. At 1330/16th, COSSACK attacked a contact east of Duncansby Head in 58-36N, 1-35W.This contact had been earlier attacked by aircraft. At 2330, EDINBURGH made an attack off Tod Head in 56-54N, 2-13W. When the convoy split into two sections, FAULKNOR and FORTUNE escorted the west coast section of 15 ships to Cape Wrath where the convoy was dispersed. The destroyers arrived at Scapa Flow on the 17th at 0700. Destroyers FAULKNOR and FORESTER anchored in Longhope pending the clearance of Gutter Sound. The convoy of 20 ships arrived at Methil without incident on the 17th. COSSACK, NUBIAN, and GURKHA arrived at Rosyth at 1700/17th.
Convoy BC.30 of seven steamers, including BATALLINN, BARON GRAHAM (Commodore), EILDON, and MARSLEW departed Bristol Channel escorted by destroyer VIVACIOUS, and arrived in the Loire on the 16th.
U-BOAT OPERATIONS AGAINST ALLIED SUBMARINES
An unsuccessful operation was mounted by German submarines to hunt down British and French submarines in the North Sea. Submarines deployed were U-7, U-9, U-19, U-20, U-23, U-24, U-56, U-57, and U-59.
U-1, U-2, U-3, and U-4 were positioned off southern Norway. On the 16th, U-1 departed Kiel for operations south of Lindesnes. On the 16th, U-2 departed Kiel for operations off Lister. On the 18th, U-3 departed Wilhelmshaven to operate in the North Sea against British submarines. On the 18th, U-4 departed Wilhelmshaven to operate in the Skagerrak.
On the 20th, U-22 departed Wilhelmshaven to operate off Pentland Firth. On the 20th, U-21 and U-22 were ordered to patrol south of Lindesnes. On the 21st, U-21 departed Wilhelmshaven to operate off Pentland Firth.
On the 22nd, U-1 was moved to a position outside the three-mile limit off Egeroy. On the 22nd, U-2 sighted what was identified as either a heavy cruiser or an aircraft carrier with five destroyers in 57-46N, 07-18E. The submarine was unable to gain a firing position. On the 23rd, U-3 and 4 were ordered to area of Lindesnes and Revingen, respectively, to attack warships and transports. On the 27th, U-4 was moved to area of Lindesnes. U-1, U-2, U-3, and U-4 returned to Wilhelmshaven on the 29th.
Minesweepers PANGBOURNE, ALBURY, and ROSS arrived at Gibraltar from Malta.
Aircraft carrier EAGLE in the Bay of Bengal near the Nicobar Islands was damaged at 0730 when a 250-pound bomb exploded in the bomb room in an operational mishap. One officer, Gunner R.R. Keech, MVO and twelve ratings were killed. Five crew were wounded, one dying of wounds at Singapore. EAGLE proceeded to Singapore for repairs and completed these and a refit on 4 May. She left Singapore on 9 May for the Mediterranean.
Convoy SL.24 departed Freetown escorted by armed merchant cruiser CHESHIRE until 29 March. The convoy arrived at Liverpool on the 31st.
President Roosevelt in Washington conferred with the Governors and representatives of six Southern States on rural housing in the South; discussed veterans’ hospital facilities with General Frank T. Hines, Director of the Veterans Bureau, and sent to the Senate the nomination of Roy M. Green to be Land Bank Commissioner of the Farm Credit Administration.
The Senate completed Congressional action on the Treasury-Post Office Appropriation Bill, considered amendments to the Hatch Act, received the Wagner bill for the regulation of investment trusts, and recessed at 5:52 PM until noon tomorrow. Conferees reached an agreement on the $1,118,000,000 Independent Offices Appropriation Bill.
The House passed a bill creating new Circuit Court and District Court judgeships, adopted the conference report on the Treasury-Post Office Bill, received the Ditter bill to remove penalties for refusal to answer census questions, and adjourned at 5:07 PM until noon on Monday.
U.S. Senate opponents of the Hatch “clean politics” bill today forced adoption of an amendment by Senator Bankhead to limit the campaign contribution of any person or corporation to $5,000 in a year. Any contribution exceeding that amount would be “pernicious political activity,” penalized by a fine of at least $5,000 and a prison term of not less than five years. The amendment was put in the bill by a Democratie bloc acting with the avowed intention of killing the bill by making it thoroughly unpalatable. The result was to strengthen a movement to recommit the bill for committee consideration, an indirect method of putting it aside for an indefinite period.
That motion probably will be made tomorrow by Senator Minton, leader of the dissenting Democratic faction, who counts on the support of members who might hesitate to vote openly against the measure, but who could explain that it required more study. When a vote on recommittal is taken the Senate must accept or reject the whole bill, including this amendment, which no observer believes either major political party would accept. In 1936 the Republican party reported 274 contributions exceeding $5,000 and the Democratic party 175.
Senator Hatch opposed the amendment as not pertinent to his measure, which was designed only to extend to state-jobholders supported wholly or partially by federal funds the same prohibitions against political activity now laid on federal workers. However, he smilingly accepted the result. As in previous tests of strength, the entire Republican membership, except Senator Frazier, joined a minority of Democrats led by Senator Barkley, the majority leader, in opposing the Bankhead amendment. In their first important victory, the insurgents had the assistance of an added handful of Democrats and a Republican who heretofore had stood with Mr. Barkley.
The amendment received 40 votes, of which 36 were Democratic, 1 was Republican, 1 Progressive and 2 Farmer-Laborite. Opposing the amendments were 19 Democrats, 18 Republicans and 1 Independent. Senator O’Mahoney saved the amendment from being lost by switching from “no” to “aye” during a recapitulation demanded by Senator Minton after the Senate discovered that a tle had been caused by a similar switch by Senator Shipstead. Others who voted for the amendment, despite prior votes which had indicated alignment with Senator Barkley, included Senators Thomas of Utah, Tydings, Wheeler, Lundeen and La Follette. No member volunteered to explain his vote.
Secretary of Commerce Harry Hopkins today took cognizance of Congressional and public criticism of income questions in the 1940 census and ordered the Census Bureau to carry out new instructions.
A further and more detailed investigation of charges that Federal Bureau of Investigation agents used improper and abusive tactics in arrests in the so-called Spanish enlistment case in Detroit a few weeks ago was announced today by Attorney General Jackson.
Chairman Dies (D-Texas) of the Committee Investigating Un-American Activities announced that “the head of the Soviet Military Police in the United States” would be called before the committee soon in an expose he said would involve “people in Government circles.” Dies, just returned from a vacation visit to Miami, declined to name the prospective witness or those who might be involved. “The purpose,” Dies asserted, “is to expose the manner in which the O.G.P.U. (Russian Secret Police) operate in the United States.”
The New York Times contributes to the vitriol being launched at the Allied powers for the Finnish capitulation: “Once again a small nation relied on the help of the Western powers and paid dearly for her trust.”
The public will soon have an opportunity to become part owners of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Walt Disney Inc., today filed a registration statement with the SEC covering 150,000 shares of 6 percent preferred stock of $25 value, which will be offered for sale, and 155,000 shares of $5 common stock to be reserved for conversion of the preferred Proceeds from the stock, which will be underwritten by Kidder.
Eight airplanes were destroyed and one man was injured critically when flames swept a hangar at the Patco Airport, one mile east of Norristown, Pennsylvania.
Twenty-five fruit pickers, mostly of Mexican extraction, were killed in their orchard-bound truck which was struck squarely in the center at a grade crossing by a Missouri-Pacific passenger train near McAllen, Texas. Seventeen other pickers were injured; two of those later died. It was the most disastrous wreck in Texas history. The train crashed into the truck at 8:06 AM at a crossing six miles east of this Lower Rio Grande Valley town.
The comedy film “Road to Singapore,” starring Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour was released. It was the first in the series of the popular “Road to …” movies.
The Canadian Government establishes an “Inventions Board” to process “secret weapons” suggestions from the public.
An anti-compromise bloc threatened tonight to split the All-India Nationalist Congress and override Mohandas K. Gandhi’s following in an effort to gain complete independence for India. Subhas Chandra Bose, former Congress President and leader of the anti-compromise bloc, disclosed that he had drafted a three-point program on which he expected to rally a majority of the party members away from Mr. Gandhi, whom he assailed as “weak-kneed in the way he has abandoned the struggle for independence because Britain is at war.” “There are three points,” Mr. Bose said, “on which my group differs with Gandhi:
“First, the fundamental relations between India and Great Britain. We want complete independence, while Gandhi is willing to compromise.
“Second, the present policy. Gandhi wants to postpone the campaign for independence. We want to continue the campaign, despite the international situation.
“Third, conceptions of administration. We want a progressive industrialization, while Gandhi insists on his pet hobbies like prohibition and handicrafts.”
Asked what he meant by “complete independence,” Mr. Bose said: “The same as the United States has. Gandhi would be satisfied with Dominion status, like Canada’s.”
In the Bay of Bengal near the Nicobar Islands, the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle (94), commanded by Captain Arthur R. M. Bridge, was damaged when a major explosion occurred in a bomb room where 250 lb. aircraft bombs were being stowed after being removed from aircraft. One officer, Gunner R.R. Keech, MVO, and twelve ratings were killed. Five crew were wounded, one dying of wounds at Singapore. The HMS Eagle would be repaired and refitted in Singapore (completed May 4) before leaving for the Mediterranean on May 9.
Hong Kong offers to contribute £100,000 to London for the construction of two minesweepers and four harbor defense boats.
Battle of South Kwangsi: Detachment of Japanese 22nd Army attacking toward Yungshun east of Nanning.
Twenty-seven out of 30 Chinese fighter planes are shot down by 12 Japanese Zero fighters over Chengtu. The Japanese suffer no losses.
Australian Prime Minister Menzies forms a new coalition Cabinet to improve the direction of the war effort. Prime Minister Robert G. Menzies today succeeded in forming a coalition Cabinet with the Country party when Attorney General William M. Hughes agreed that he would hold the portfolio of Minister of Industry only as long as the coal strike lasts.
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 148.11 (-0.21)
Born:
Bruce Snyder, American college football coach (Utah State, California, Arizona State), in Santa Monica, California (d. 2009).
The U.S. Navy prototype 173-foot submarine chaser USS PC-452 is laid down by the Defoe Shipbuilding Co. (Bay City, Michigan, U.S.A.)
The Kriegsmarine (German Navy) Type VIIC U-boat U-375 is laid down by Howaldtswerke AG, Kiel (werk 6).
The U.S. Maritime Commission (USMC) type C3 American merchant vessel Rio de Janeiro (USMC hull 62) is laid down by the Sun Shipbuilding (Chester, U.S.A.). She is later transferred to the Royal Navy and converted into the Royal Navy escort carrier HMS Dasher (D 37).
The U.S. Navy prototype 110-foot submarine chaser USS SC-450 is launched by American Car & Foundry (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.).
The Royal Navy destroyer depot ship HMS Hecla (F 20), name ship of her class of 2, is launched by the John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland).
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