February 14th, 1940 (WEDNESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
British citizens are given permission to join the Finnish Foreign Legion.The government says that North Sea merchant shipping will be armed.
Birmingham: Five IRA bombs explode.
Destroyer HMS Garth launched.
Corvette USS Saucy (ex-HMS Arabis) launched.
NORTH SEA: A Lockheed Hudson
Mk. III of RAF No. 220 Squadron Coastal Command, based at Thornaby,
Yorkshire, locates the German
supply ship Altmark in Norwegian waters.
FRANCE: The first four "groupes francs" of French airborne troops are today operational. The troops are called "infanterie de l'air" and the original two groupes (GIA) were formed on 1st April, 1937. They are named the 601st and 602nd GIA. (Stuart Millis)
GERMANY:
U-513,
U-514,
U-515,
U-516,
U-517,
U-518,
U-519,
U-520,
U-521,
U-522,
U-523,
U-524 ordered.
VATICAN CITY:
Rationing is introduced.
GIBRALTAR: The U.S. passenger liner
SS Manhattan is detained at Gibraltar for several hours by British authorities
but allowed to proceed; not as fortunate is freighter SS Exermont, which is also
detained there.
CANADA: The RCAF’s No.110 (Army Co-Operation) Squadron sails from Halifax, Nova Scotia, for Britain. This is the first RCAF squadron to be sent to Europe.
Flower-class corvettes HMCS Wetaskiwin (ex-Banff), Agassiz, Chilliwack, Trail, Kamloops, Dawson, Alberni, Nanaimo, Edmunston ordered.
U.S.A.: Submarine USS Grampus laid down.
ATLANTIC OCEAN:
SS Sultan Star sunk by U-48 at 48.54N, 10.03W.
SS Martin Goldschmidt sunk by U-53 at 55.53N, 12.37W.
At 0135, the Gretafield, a straggler from convoy HX-18, was torpedoed and set on fire by U-57 southeast of Noss Head. Ten crewmembers were lost. The master and 30 crewmembers were picked up by armed trawlers HMS Peggy Nutten and Strathalladale and landed at Wick. The burning Gretafield drifted ashore at Dunbeath, Caithnesshire at 58°14´15N 03°25´45W. On 19 March, the tanker broke in two and was declared a total loss.