January 12th, 1940 (FRIDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:RAF Bomber Command: 4 Grp. Leaflets and Reconnaissance - Vienna - Prague. 77 Sqn. Three aircraft from Villeneuve. No opposition.
'Security Patrols' - Hornum - Borkum. 102 Sqn. Two aircraft. Opposition light.
Flying Officer T.J. Geach in N1357 and Flying Officer G.E. Saddington in N1347 were tasked with reconnoitoring Vienna and performing a leaflet drop. Flying Officer J.B.J. Boardman in N1348 was detailed to perform a similar sortie over Prague. These were the first RAF aircraft to fly over Austria and Czechoslovakia during the war and achieved the deepest penetration of German airspace so far. They all took off at 17:00 from Villeneuve, crossing the frontier at 14,000 over Karlsruhe. The temperature was minus 20 Fahrenheit, but a clear and starry night with good visibility. The Vienna bound aircraft made for their next pin point at Munich while the Prague ship headed for Nuremburg. The crews reported that black-out precautions at both Vienna and Prague were very poor and that opposition over the routes and the targets was negligible.
At 0650, SS Denmark was hit by one torpedo from U-23 when she was anchored in a Bay in the Shetlands. She exploded, broke in two and drifted ashore. On 21 January, the afterpart sank and the forepart was refloated, taken to Inverkeithing and used as storage hulk.
FRANCE: The government bans the sale of meat (except pork, goat and horseflesh) on Mondays and Tuesdays; Fridays have been meat-free since 10 December 1939.
GERMANY: General Albrecht Kesselring is given command of the Luftwaffe's 2nd Air Fleet.
FINLAND: The Svenska Frivilligkåren (Swedish Volunteer Corps, SFK) ( CO Lt. Gen. Ernst Linder), sees action for the first time when the planes of the Flygflottilj 19 (Gloster Gladiators and Hawker Harts) began to fly combat missions. At the same time SFK's AA-artillery took the responsibility of the aerial defence of northern Finland. (203)
The Battle of Taipale begins. The Soviet Army attempts to break through the Finnish flank and cross the Taipale River.
JAPAN: The government notifies the Netherlands it is terminating their treaty in which each party agreed to settle disputes peacefully.
U.S.A.: A mine explosion in the Pond Creek No. 1 mine in Bartley, West Virginia, kills 91. 47 other men in the mine shaft escape injury. The mine shaft is about 600 feet (183 meters) below ground.
ANTARCTICA: The U.S. Interior Department 1,434 ton wooden ice ship USMS North Star of the U.S. Antarctic Service, reaches Bay of Whales, and immediately begins discharging cargo to establish West Base. Ice conditions prohibit unloading at the original chosen site, King Edward VII Land.