28 Dec 1939
  • Joseph Stalin ordered the Soviet troops in Finland to hold position as his generals worked on a new offensive plan against the surprisingly resilient Finnish defenses. The Soviet troops enveloped within Finnish lines was thus abandoned and left to be eliminated by the Finnish forces. ww2dbase [The Winter War | Joseph Stalin | CPC]
United Kingdom
  • German submarine U-30 sank British submarine trawler HMS Barbara Robertson in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, United Kingdom at 0400 hours, killing 1; the German submarine radioed Swedish merchant ship Hispania to pick up the survivors. Later on the same day, at 1545 hours, she spotted and damaged British battleship HMS Barham with one torpedo, killing 4; she was chased off by destroyers HMS Isis and HMS Nubian. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | U-30 | Scotland | CPC]
  • The British Ministry of Food announced that sugar would be rationed from 8 Jan 1940 and meat from a date still to be fixed. The Minister of Food William Morrison said this would release foreign exchange and provide shipping space for the importation of armaments and raw materials. ww2dbase [London, England | AC]
Photo(s) dated 28 Dec 1939
Finnish troops gathering captured Soviet weapons, Taipale, Finland, circa 27-28 Dec 1939

Timeline Section Founder: Thomas Houlihan
Contributors: Alan Chanter, C. Peter Chen, Thomas Houlihan, Hugh Martyr, David Stubblebine
Special Thanks: Rory Curtis




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USS Quincy (foreground) and USS Tuscaloosa (background) preparing to enter the Strait of Magellan from the Atlantic Ocean, 14 May 1939

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