1874 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Winston Churchill is born at Blenheim Palace, near Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England.
1937 (TUESDAY)
NETHERLANDS: Foreign Minister J. A. N. Patijn again rejects a neutrality pact with Germany stating, "We are not signatories of the Treaty of Locarno; we are not bound unilaterally to France and Great Britain; there is, therefore, no reason why we should seek to bind ourselves in any manner to Germany."
1938 (WEDNESDAY)
ITALY: In Rome, members of the Italian Chamber of Fasces and Corporations demand that the French turn over Corsica and Tunisia to Italy and conduct anti-French demonstrations. The state-controlled newspapers in Italy embrace these demands. These demonstrations mark the beginning of acute tensions between the two countries, which become worse with fascist victories in Spain.
JAPAN: The Japanese Emperor, Advisory Council, Army, Navy, and Privy Council are reported to have decided on a policy regarding "new order in East; Asia."
ROMANIA: Cornlieu Cordeanu and thirteen leaders of the Iron Guard are shot by their guards during a transfer from one prison to another. This explanation raises a number of protests, including the German government, which accuses the Romanian government of cold murder. But the Romanian government continues to implement an intensive anti-fascist program.
November 30th, 1939 (THURSDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM: Spiders are doing their patriotic best to help the war effort. Vice-Admiral Sir Harold Brown of the Ministry of Supply has revealed the existence of special web factories, where spiders are kept in comfortable conditions and fed the choicest rations. Their mission is to weave webs which are used in the making of lens sights.Light cruiser HMS Bermuda laid down.
Anti-Aircraft cruiser HMS Bellona laid down. (DS)
FRANCE: Minesweeper FS La Gracieuse launched. (DS)
FINLAND: Stalin, impatient at the Finns' refusal of his territorial demands, sent the Red Army crashing into Finland this morning. The main Soviet attacks are directed against the fortified Mannerheim Line on either side of Lake Ladoga and in the far north, against Petsamo, west of the naval base of Murmansk. Soviet warships are bombarding Finnish ports and Helsinki city centre has suffered several severe bombing raids. There is no question of these raids being directed at military targets. Stalin is trying to do what Hitler did to Warsaw and bludgeon the capital into surrender with indiscriminate attacks on civilians. The hospitals are filling with casualties, but, rather than destroying Finnish morale, the raids have aroused great anger and the Finns are determined to fight on.
On paper they would seem to have little chance, with only 9 divisions totalling 130,000 men to face the 500,000 men in 26 divisions that the Soviets are using. In the air too, the Finns are hopelessly outnumbered, with only 145 planes of which 114 are ready for action against the Soviets' 900. Finland's most modern fighter plane is the Dutch Fokker D-XXI. The commander of the Finnish Air Force, General J.F. Lundquist, has formed the 21 D-XXI aircraft into 24 Fighter Squadron based at Immola airbase near the important power-station of Immatra, about 30 miles north of Viipuri. It is not just a question of numbers, however. The Red Army's officer corps has been seriously weakened by Stalin' purges which led to the execution or imprisonment of many of the USSR's best officers.
It was noted during the little fighting that the Soviets undertook when they seized their Polish spoils that they were poorly led and that both their tactics and equipment were out of date. The Finns are hardy and well trained, especially in winter warfare, and if they can hold the Soviets until the snow comes they could give the Red Army a lesson in how to fight a winter war.
They are led by Marshal Baron Carl Mannerheim,
(Commander-in-Chief of the
Defence Forces (puolustusvoimien ylipäällikkö), aged 72, a veteran
fighter for Finnish nationhood against the Soviets, who has been appointed "Defender
of Finland" and commander-in-chief. It is he who organised the fortifications that
bear his name and on which the Finns are basing their defence in the south. This line,
although not as sophisticated as France's Maginot Line, consists of anti-tank
"dragon's teeth", pill-boxes sited to cover the few tracks throughout the
forest, and well-camouflaged weapon pits. What the Finns lack in numbers and heavy weapons
they make up in mobility and individual skills. The Russians have not helped their cause
by having made no military Intelligence preparation of the battlefield.
Mikko Härmeinen has a Finnish perspective on this:
The relationship between Mannerheim and the line named after him isn't quite
that straightforward. The line (which had no special name back then) was
begun in early 1930's when Mannerheim was the Chairman of the Defence
Council. He approved the plans to build the line, but that's about the
extent of his involvement with its building. The name 'Mannerheim-line' it
got from foreign war-correspondents during the war. Btw, the Mannerheim-line
can't really be compared with the Maginot-line. The former consisted of
concrete bunkers and some pill-boxes armed with machine-guns and some
AT-guns, but there wasn't enough of them. And the anti-tank dragon's teeth
proved to be to short and puny to stop the Soviet tanks. It resembled
Maginot line only in both Finnish (before it was breached) and Soviet (after
it was breached) propaganda.
The Red Army initiates hostilities against Finland around 8 am all along the front, from the Gulf of Finland to the Arctic Ocean. Finnish Army has only some light border detachments near the border, and they withdraw after offering some resistance. Soviet aircraft bomb Viipuri, Helsinki and Turku killing 110 civilians.
President of the Republic Kyjsti Kallio declares a state of war and appoints Marshal Baron Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. The Parliament hastily gathers to give a symbolic vote of confidence to PM Cajander's cabinet which then resigns. Director of the Bank of Finland Risto Ryti forms a new cabinet. The next night Parliament leaves Helsinki for Kauhava (west-central Finland), where it stays for the rest of the Winter War.
Commander-in-Chief's Daily Order no. 1
President of the Republic has on 30 November 1939 nominated me the Commander-in-Chief of the Finnish Defence Forces.
Gallant Soldiers of Finland!
I assume this duty at a moment when our centuries-old enemy is again invading our country. Confidence in one's chief is the first condition of success. You know me, and I know You, and I know that every one of You is ready to fulfill your duty unto death.
This war is nothing but continuation and closing act of our War of Liberty.
We are fighting for Home, Faith and Fatherland.
BATTLE OF SUOMUSSALMI
Main forces of the Soviet 163rd Rifle Division cross the Fenno-Soviet border east of the hamlet of Juntusranta (about 30 km/20 miles north-northeast of Suomussalmi) at 9 am Finnish time. Their mission is to advance to Palovaara, some 30 km further west, and then turn south and advance 20 km to Suomussalmi. This northern force consists of 81st Mountain Rifle Regiment (on loan from 54th Mountain Rifle Division) and 662nd Rifle Regiment, altogether almost 4400 men supported by 30 76 mm field guns and 12 122 mm field howitzers. The only Finnish troops in their way are 2Lt. M. Elo's roughly platoon-sized Border Guard Detachment II, who withdraw before the enemy and observe it. 2Lt. Elo's reports are met with incredulity -- his superiors can't believe the Soviets are attacking with so much force this north. By the end of the day the Red Army reaches Juntusranta, less than 10km from the border.
There they surprise the hamlet's civilian population, who are fated to endure seven months of Soviet hospitality.
Roughly 40 km south of Juntusranta, the reinforced Soviet 759th Rifle Regiment crosses the border at 8.30 with 3000 men supported by six 76 mm field guns. Their mission is to advance 30 km west along the Raate Road to Suomussalmi. Small Finnish border guard groups delay the advancing Soviets, giving the civilian population time to hastily evacuate their homes. Lt. Col. Leo Kyander's Finnish Detached Battalion 15 starts to move towards the border, preparing to act according to its original orders and attack across the border into Soviet territory. However, it's soon evident that these orders have been rendered obsolete by the events. The battalion's 2nd company settles into defense along the Purasjoki river, some 10 km west of the border, where it stops the advancing 759th Rifle Regiment in early evening. That evening Detached Battalion 15 receives orders from North Finland Group to attack and defeat the enemy on the next day (the 1st of December).
A map of the region (in Finnish) can be found here:
http://heninen.net/raatteentie/kuvia/000.jpgGIBRALTAR: U.S. freighter SS Extavia, with cargo destined for Istanbul, Turkey, and the Piraeus, Greece, is detained by British authorities.
CANADA: Tug HMCS Bally assigned to Halifax , Nova Scotia.