February 19th, 1940 (MONDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:
RAF Bomber Command: Daylight reconnaissance - Heligoland area. 102 Sqn. Two aircraft. No ships sighted. Heavy opposition from shore batteries.
Night-time reconnaissance of the Heligoland Bight. Ice-bound German warships bombed by 18
Wellingtons in bad weather.
RAF Fighter Command: Four trawlers were attacked off north-east Scotland by a single
Luftwaffe aircraft. The German bomber was driven off by the trawlers' machine-guns.
GERMANY: Chancellor Adolf
Hitler orders more rapid progress with
Operation Weserubung, the code name for the invasion of Norway and Denmark.
SWEDEN: King Gustav announces his support for his
government's decision to refuse Finland military aid. He says "from the first
hour I informed Finland that she unfortunately could not count on military
intervention from Sweden."
FINLAND: Newly promoted Lt. Gen. Erik Heinrichs relieves Lt. Gen. Hugo Österman as the commander of the Isthmus Army (Kannaksen Armeija). The situation at the Isthmus has considerably worsened since the Soviet breakthrough of Mannerheim line, and now the Red Army has also punctured the second line of defence. Mannerheim, who had expected the second line to hold far longer, refuses all requests for a retreat to the third line of defence (which was, like the second line, in reality more a line on a paper than an actual fortified line). Österman advocates a more flexible approach, and is supported by the forceful commander of IInd Corps, Lt. Gen. Harald Öhquist, whose men bear the brunt of fighting.
These disagreements are exarberated by the desperate situation, and finally Österman has to ask for a sick leave. This is what happened as told by Heinrichs years later:
In morning of 19 February Mannerheim rung to Heinrichs (who was the commander of the IIIrd Corps) and told him to go without delay to Imatra to the HQ of Isthmus Army. "I have nominated the General [Heinrichs] from this day on the commander of Isthmus Army." Heinrichs asked what had happened to Österman. "He's sick and can no more hold the command." answered Mannerheim. In afternoon Heinrichs arrived at Imatra and went to Österman's HQ. Österman sat there behind his table. When Heinrichs asked how he was, Österman answered he's well. No, he wasn't sick. No, he hadn't heard that Heinrichs was to replace him. Heinrichs told him what Manerheim had told him. "Well, I guess I'm sick if the Marshal [Mannerheim] says so." answered Österman and began to write his resignation.
Mannerheim was well known for his reluctance to tell bad news to people in person, and often delegated these responsibilities to others. And he was also notorious for his ability to hold grudges: if Mannerheim felt, fairly or unfairly, that an officer had let him down in one way or other, the officer in question usually found his career stopped dead. Gen. Österman never again held a front command. Gen. Öhquist subsequently was made CO of the Isthmus Group in the Continuation War from January 1942 to March 1944.
On this day also a new Ist Corps is founded to hold the line at the middle Isthmus. Its commander is Maj. Gen. Taavetti Laatikainen.
ATLANTIC OCEAN: The destroyer HMS Daring is torpedoed, with the loss of 157 lives.
SS Tiberton sunk by
U-23.