February 9th 1940

Heinkel He111 bombers of KG26 sink RN minesweeping trawlers HMS Fort Royal and HMS Robert Bowen in the North Sea off the Scottish coast. Six other vessels are damaged by the Luftwaffe. In return the RAF shoots down two of the attacking aircraft. One of which is captured almost intact after the pilot makes a near perfect belly landing. This aircraft will be repaired and used by the RAF for evaulation and familiarization.

The British refrigerated cargo ship Chagres, carrying a load of bananas, strikes a submarine-laid mine off the mouth of the Mersey. All but two crew members are picked up safely. The trawler Agnes Ellen leaves Holyhead bound for Workington today. Neither the ship nor any of her crew of seven will be seen again. It is assumed that she also struck a mine.

Tonight German destroyers lay two significant minefields off the north-east coast of England. These fields will claim several vessels over the next month.

February 8th 1940

William Sebold arrives in New York on a ship from Italy. Sebold is a naturalized US citizen who has been blackmailed into spying for the Abweher, the German secret service. He has orders to contact an agent already living in New York - Fritz Joubert Duquesne - and two others. He is carrying micro-photographs with detailed instructions.

Unknown to his controllers, when he renewed his US passport at the US consulate in Cologne Sebold was able to offer his services as a double agent. Thus, as soon as he steps off the ship, the FBI already has an office for him, complete with bugs and a one-way mirror.

February 7th 1940

In the early morning, while steaming from Belfast to Liverpool, the British passenger ship Munster strikes a mine and sinks. All 235 passengers and crew are saved by the steamer Ringwall.

February 6th 1940

The small Estonian steamer Anu strikes a submarine-laid mine and sinks off the mouth of the River Tay. Seven of her crew are killed.

February 5th 1940

In the early morning hours south of Ireland U41 hits the Dutch steamer Ceronia with a torpedo. Ceronia is only damaged however and makes Rotterdam under her own power. Later in the afternoon U41 attacks the British merchant ship Beaverburn, sailing as part of outward bound convoy 0A-84.

Beaverburn is mortally wounded (one of her crew is killed and the rest are picked up) but one of convoy's escorts, HMS Antelope, responds quickly to this attack and is able to sink the German submarine without assistance from the other escorts. All 49 of U41's crew are lost.

Soviet assaults on the Finnish Mannerheim line continue around the area of Viipuri. The Finns continue to hold, but they are steadily being ground down.

February 4th 1940

In the North Sea east of Scotland U37 sinks the Norwegian freighter Hop and the British freighter Leo Dawson. All 53 crew, 18 from the Hop and 35 from the Leo Dawson, perish.

February 3rd 1940

The Luftwaffe returns to attack British shipping in the North Sea. The RN minesweeper HMS Sphinx is bombed off the coast of Scotland. The captain and forty crew are killed and the wreck is broken up for scrap after washing ashore. The Norwegian freighter Tempo is sunk near the English-Scottish border. Although all the crew get off safely five are killed when their lifeboat capsizes after hitting rocks while trying to get into Berwick-on-Tweed.

Seven other ships are damaged by bombing today. The bombers do not get away unscathed however. Three He111 are shot down by Hurricanes of 43 squadron RAF operating from Acklington. One of these, credited to future ace Flight Lt Peter Townsend, crashes just north of Whitby and thus becomes the first enemy aircraft to crash on English soil during the war. From the three bombers total combined crew of 13, five survive to be taken prisoner.

U58 sinks the small Estonian freighter Reet in the North Sea. There are no survivors from the Reet's crew of 18. U25 sinks the British Armanistan west of Portugal. All of the British ships crew are picked up safely.