Today in World War II History—February 10, 1940 & 1945
Finnish soldiers on skis with reindeer, near Jäniskoski, Finland, 20 Feb 1940 (public domain via WW2 Database)
80 Years Ago—February 10, 1940: Soviets break through Finnish Mannerheim Line on Karelian Isthmus.
Over 4000 members of the American Youth Congress march in Washington to protest US being drawn into imperialistic war; President Roosevelt angrily confronts them.
Hanna-Barbera’s Tom & Jerry make cartoon debut in Puss Gets the Boot.
German passenger ship München, later renamed Steuben, July 1925. (German Federal Archives, N 1572 Bild-1925-079 / Fleischhut, Richard)
75 Years Ago—Feb. 10, 1945: Soviet submarine S-13 sinks German transport Steuben, killing 3800 military personnel and civilians fleeing East Prussia; S-13 also sank Wilhelm Gustloff, making sub commander Alexander Marinesko the most lethal in history and the most successful Soviet commander in tonnage.
A US P-51 deliberately damages a US C-47 to prevent the cargo plane from mistakenly landing at a Japanese airfield in the Philippines; the C-47 ditches at sea and all aboard are rescued the next day—the P-51 pilot was dating one of the flight nurses on board the C-47.
