Today In the History Of Atlantic and Mediterranean Theaters

March 12, 1940
-Russo-Finnish War ends. Finnish desire to win back territory lost to Soviet encroachment (city of Viborg and areas along Finland's eastern borders) will push them closer toward the Axis.

March 12, 1942
-By executive order President Roosevelt combines duties of Commander in Chief U.S. Fleet and Chief of Naval Operations.
-U.S. tanker John D. Gill is torpedoed and irreparably damaged by German submarine U-158 off Frying Pan Shoals. Four of the seven-man Armed Guard are lost. Coast Guard cutter CG-186 and cutter Agassiz (WPC-126) rescue one group of survivors, tanker Robert H. Colley the remainder. John D. Gill sinks the next morning.
-German submarine U-126 torpedoes unarmed U.S. freighters off the coast of Cuba, sinking Olga off Camaguey and damaging Colabee about 10 miles off Cape Guajaba. Colabee drifts ashore and grounds on a shoal; Cuban ship Oriente rescues one group of survivors (and then tows the damaged ship off the shoal), tanker Cities Service Kansas the other. Cuban Navy vessels later salvage the ship.
-First British armed trawlers sent to augment U.S. Navy patrol force efforts off the German submarine-plagued Eastern Seaboard, HMS Wastwater and HMS Le Tigre, begin patrol operations in Third Naval District waters. They are assigned duties off Atlantic City and Barnegat, New Jersey.
-Convoy PQ-12 arrives unscathed at Murmansk, earning the distinction of being the last PQ convoy to sail without losses.

March 12, 1943
-German submarines begin gathering to attack convoy UGS 6, which is being shepherded by seven U.S. destroyers (Captain Charles Wellborn, Jr.). Champlin (DD-601) sinks U-130 (which had first sighted UGS 6).
-HMS Quadrant rescues ten survivors from sunken U.S. freighter City of Flint after 46 days on a lifeboat. Survivors include 3 Naval Armed Guards.
-Destroyer Belknap (DD-251) rescues seven Armed Guard sailors, survivors from freighter Jonathan Sturges, along with three Dutch seamen from torpedoed motorship Madoera, both merchantmen the victims of U-707 on 23 February 1943.
-Sole survivor of U.S. freighter Puerto Rican, torpedoed and sunk on 9 March by German submarine U-586 as the former straggled from convoy RA 53, is rescued by British trawler HMS St. Elstan.

March 12, 1944
-In the Mediterranean Sea, submarine chaser PC-624 is damaged when she runs aground three miles east of Palermo, Sicily.
-Light cruisers Philadelphia (CL-41) and Brooklyn (CL-40) provide gunfire support off Anzio; they repeat the missions on the 13th. On both occasions they encounter shore battery fire without damage.

 

Actually more like this:

1. The USSR threateninng to start a new attack towards Finland ( like we know Molotov demanded Hitler that chance a couple of times in 1940 and Hitler said No because by the time he was planning Barbarossa. Anyway that saved Finland at the time )

2. I cannot recall getting any help after Winter war from the western allied so actually we were totally helpless in front of the USSR and were forced to find whatever means possbile to survive whether it was Germany or something else.

Of course people were bitter about losing important parts of the country but military wise we were not any match to the Red Army´s might and 1940-41 only hoped we could stay independent. Seeing what happened to the Baltic countries did not help much. Besides Germany had claimed Finland got what it had asked for during the Winter war so before early 1941 we had nothing good to expect from Germany or the Axis side.

 

Sorry about the lack of posts recently....after much consideration due to events with my family I will be away from my computer for extended periods for the forseeable future. Due to this schedule posting the daily events is not possible. I will continue to peek in occasionally and when things settle down at the house here I hope to resume these postings.