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• German submarine U-50 fired several torpedoes at Norwegian tanker Albert L. Ellsworth at 0200 hours, missing with all of them. The crew of the tanker panicked and abandoned the ship, with 2 survivors of merchant vessel Snestad (rescued on 11 Feb 1940) drowning in the process. After realizing the ship was not harmed, 42 men reboarded Albert L. Ellsworth and continued on with their journey to Bergen, Norway. ww2dbase [CPC]
• German submarine U-53 sank Swedish ship Norna west of Ireland, killing 18. ww2dbase [CPC]
• Finnish troops tried to seal the hole on the Mannerheim Line in the Lähde sector, but Soviet tanks stopped the attack. Elsewhere, Finnish troops retook the Kirvesmäki fort on the Taipale River on the Mannerheim Line. In Stockholm, Finnish Foreign Minister Tanner asked Sweden to send troops to Finland; Sweden declined in fear of invasion by both the United Kingdom and Germany as a response. ww2dbase [The Winter War | CPC]
• The US Senate approved in principle, by a vote of 49 to 27, a loan of US$20,000,000 to be made to Finland, with restriction that none of it to be used fors "arms, ammunition or implements of war". A further two weeks however would elapse before the bill would be passed. ww2dbase [AC]
• 3 Hawk 75 fighters of the Chinese 18th Squadron intercepted 27 Japanese bombers en route to bomb the bridge on the Xi River near Xiaolongtan, Yunnan, China. One bomber was claimed to be destroyed. ww2dbase [Bombing of Shanghai, Chongqing, and other Cities | CPC]

• At 0716 hours in the Norwegian Sea, German submarine U-25 (Korvettenkapitän Viktor Schütze) fired a shot across the bows of the 5,177-ton Danish motor merchant Chastine Mærsk and signalled for the ship to stop. The Danish captain continued and it took two more shots before he stopped and turned off the engines. The Germans ordered the Danish crew to abandon the ship, when they had rowed clear the submarine continued to shell the vessel until she sank. The Norwegian merchant steamer Hilda picked up the 30 Danes. Schütze had fired his last torpedo at the ship but it had detonated prematurely, he had then followed the Chastine Mærsk until the daylight meant that he could attack with his deck gun. ww2dbase [Norwegian Sea | CPC, HM]

• HMS Cumberland resumed interception patrol and trade defence in the South Atlantic. ww2dbase [Cumberland | DS]

• Tsingtau was temporarily made into an anti-aircraft gunnery training, cadet training, and torpedo boat target ship. ww2dbase [Tsingtau | CPC]

13 Feb 1940 Interactive Map