9^th March 1940

Historical

The Soviets almost surrounded Viipuri.  Finnish aircraft strafed Soviet troops on the ice and shot down three Soviet fighters. In the evening, the Finnish Government in Helsinki considered the Soviet peace demands including Lake Ladoga and the Salla district in Lapland.  Commander-in-Chief Mannerheim suggested that they had no alternative to surrender.  Britain and France promised troops and aircraft to aid the Finns.

Britain released the Italian colliers detained on 7th March.  As a concession to try to prevent further Italian/German alliance, Britain agreed that Italy could continue to import German coal, but by an overland route.

U-14 sank three British ships, SS Borthwick, SS Abbotsford and SS Akeld, off the Belgian coast.

U-38 spotted six trawlers with their lights on to show neutrality north of Aran Island, Ireland.  U-38 fired a warning shot from its deck gun but the Irish trawler Leukos was hit and sank.

U-28 sank the neutral Greek steamer P. Margaronis west of Brest, France.

Game day 191. China

Three Industrial Resource Points were loaded in Sinkiang for delivery to the industrial complex in China.

Five armoured battalions continued towards Shanghai.  The Chinese were unaware that the garrison had been shipped to Peking.

10^th March 1940

Historical

The Finns tried to revise peace terms at a meeting in the Kremlin but with no success.

The German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop met Benito Mussolini in Rome. He informed Mussolini of Hitler’s plan to invade France and assured him of a swift victory, hoping for a commitment to join the war.  Mussolini knew that his forces were not ready to fight a modern war, promised only to intervene as soon as possible.

U.S. envoy Sumner Welles flew to London to meet the British Foreign Minister, Lord Halifax.

Hitler gave a speech at the Berlin Zeughaus on Heroes’ Memorial Day.

Game day 192. USSR

The Soviet Union continued movement of infantry from Moscow to Stalingrad, and from Stalingrad towards the Turkish border.