Britain and France promise troops and planes to Finland to fight the Russians.

An Anglo-Italian compromise solution to the "Coal Ships Affair" of 7 March is achieved in London. The Italian colliers detained by the British are released and Italy agrees to find an alternative (overland) supply route from the German coalfields. 

Minesweeping trawlers HMS Hazel and Juniper are commissioned.

NORTH SEA:

At 2330, SS Abbotsford was torpedoed by U-14 north of Zeebrugge. 15 minutes later, the U-boat torpedoed and sank SS Akeld NE of Zeebrugge, which was following the other ship. At 2355, Abbotsford was torpedoed again by U-14 7 sank immediately. The master and 17 crewmembers from the Abbotsford were lost. The master and eleven crewmembers from Akeld were lost

At 0542, the unescorted SS Borthwick was torpedoed and sunk by U-14 north of Zeebrugge. The master and 20 crewmembers were picked up by the Flushing Pilot Boat #9 and landed at Flushing on 10 March 1940

At 2113, steam trawler Leukos was attacked without warning by U-38 about 12 miles NW of Tory Island. At 2000, the U-boat had spotted six trawlers all with their light set near Tory Island and thought that they were forming a patrol line. He decided to give one of them a warning and fired one shot from its deckgun at the Leukos from a distance of 200 meters. The shot hit the trawler in the engine room and she disappeared in a cloud of steam and smoke. The U-boat waited until the trawler sank after one hour and then continued the patrol. Leukos was reported missing on 12 March, when she failed to arrive in Dublin. On 21 March, a lifeboat bearing the logo of the ship was washed ashore on Scarinish Tiree off the West Coast of Scotland.

NETHERLANDS: The government breaks diplomatic relations with Bulgaria. 

GERMANY:  Admiral Erich Raeder, Commander of the German Navy, tells Chancellor Adolf Hitler that the British and French might occupy Norway and Sweden under the pretext of aiding the Finns and he encourages an invasion of Norway at the earliest time. 

U-109 is laid down.

U-124 is launched.

FINLAND: Helsinki: The Finns, in danger of being overwhelmed by a Russian offensive all along the front, have today sued for peace despite the harshness of the Russian terms.

Events took on a certain inevitability after the Russian ultimatum for the acceptance of the final peace terms ran out on 1 March. Two days later Marshal Timoshenko launched another crushing attack and the town of Viipuri came under direct attack. The Finns could not hold out for much longer.

On 6 March a delegation headed by the Prime Minister, Rysto Ryti, travelled to Moscow. Mr. Paasikivi, the minister in charge of the negotiations, hoped to force concessions from the Russians.

Coldly received by the foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, and denigrated in scornful language by the Russian press, the delegation continued to negotiate until he shattering news came that Viipuri had fallen. The Finns asked for an armistice. Molotov said "niet" and Ryti was forced to capitulate.

There are still many details to be settled and Ryti is in constant touch with his government in Helsinki. Meanwhile the fighting continues on all fronts.

One legacy of Finland's war against the USSR is a simple but deadly projectile. It consists of a bottle - empty vodka bottles are preferred - filled with petrol, or paraffin, and tar. Strips of rag are used as stopper for the bottle. The rag is lit, causing the contents of the bottle to ignite on impact with the engine compartment of a tank, the usual target; the flaming tar seeps into the engine. In this way countless Soviet tanks were wrecked, and the Finns sardonically dubbed their new weapon the "Molotov cocktail".

The Finnish cabinet gathers to discuss the Soviet terms, which are: ceding all the Karelian Isthmus, including the historic city of Viipuri (then the second largest city of Finland), northern Karelia, and territory around Salla in northern Finland, plus the western half of the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) peninsula in the far north. (In many non-Finnish histories Petsamo, the Finnish outlet to the Arctic Ocean, is also included to the territories Finland lost in 1940, but that didn't happen until 1944.) Also the Soviets demand leasing the peninsula of Hanko in the northern shore of the Gulf of Finland for 40 years. Only in one respect has the Soviets lessened their demands: there's no more talk of a Soviet-Finnish-Estonian defence pact.

The harshness of the terms delays the decision, and some think war to the bitter end with Allied help preferable to the Soviet terms. They point out that in Karelia the Red Army hasn't been able to conquer all the territory the Soviets now demand (nor were they able before the war ended; nowhere had the Red Army reached the new border in Karelia when the fighting ended), not to mention the fact that 400 000 Finns live in the land to be ceded. The new border is also far harder to defend, and many are afraid that after a pause, the Soviet Union will start another war to finish the job of conquering Finland. It's better to fight now when the Allies are ready to help. But the majority is ready to face the harsh reality. It's better to end the war when the Finnish Army is still intact and able to fight back, the collapse could only be days away. Mannerheim, after consulting with his generals, states that peace has to be made as soon as possible. After hearing Mannerheim's statement, the President of the Republic Kyösti Kallio reluctantly agrees.

On this day the Red Army has consolidated its foothold on the western shore of the Bay of Viipuri, and the fighting there reaches new intensity, as the Red Army tries to break through the Finnish defences to threaten the back of the Army of the Isthmus (Kannaksen Armeija) fighting in the Karelian Isthmus. The Soviet operation crossing the frozen Bay has been a strategic surprise to the Finns, who originally thought such operation impossible. Now the Finnish defences consists of battalions hastily transferred to the area. There are coastal-defence battalions composed of older reservists and infantry battalions transferred from the northern Finland after the Swedish volunteers manned the front there. However, the going is not easy for the Red Army. The Finns fight desperately back, and the lines of supply across the ice are endangered by the coming spring. Already in the battles for the islands on the Bay of Viipuri the Red Army has lost several tanks when the ice cracks under them.

On these last desperate days the local Finnish commanders in the Karelian Isthmus and Bay of Viipuri often ask for permission to retreat to better positions, but are refused. The GHQ, aware that negotiations are going on at Moscow, is playing a desperate gamble. The Finns has to fight firmly as long as the war lasts, so as to put the Finnish negotiators at least in a slightly better position. But the high command is aware that the troops are reaching the end of their endurance. Which comes first, the collapse of the Finnish Army, spring that makes the terrain harder for the Red Army to advance, or peace?