February 20th, 1940 (TUESDAY)
UNITED KINGDOM:NORTH SEA: U-54 believed sunk by mine in North Sea. No survivors.
GERMANY: General Nikolaus von Falkenhorst, who commanded XXI Corps in the invasion of Poland, is given command of the invasion force for Norway.
U-111 laid down.
FINLAND: British Brigadier Christopher Ling and French Colonel Jean Ganéval visit Mannerheim's GHQ. They give vague promises of future aid, but can give no concrete information.
The 8000 Swedish volunteers of Lt. Gen. Ernst Linder's Svenska Frivilligkĺren become officially a part of the Finnish field army.
Finnish Foreign Minister Väinö Tanner asks his Swedish collague Christian Günther to mediate between Finland and Soviet Union.
U.S.S.R.:
Moscow: Russia offers fresh peace talks to Finland.
CANADA: Corvettes HMCS Chambly, HMS Trillium and Mayflower laid down Montreal, Province of Quebec.
U.S.A.: 300 Douglas Boston Mk IIIs (Douglas
Model DB-7B) attack bombers are ordered for the RAF. These are essentially the
same as the USAAF Havocs but equipped with British instrumentation, bomb racks,
radio equipment and machine guns.