World War II Database

• Home
• » Events
• » WW2 Timeline
• » 11 Feb 1940

• Finnish troops were forced to withdraw to secondary defensive positions as the Red Army pierced the Mannerheim Line. ww2dbase [The Winter War | TH]
• A comprehensive trade agreement was signed between Germany and the USSR in which Soviet raw materials and food would be exchanged for German machinery and military equipment. ww2dbase [AC]

• The 1,854-ton neutral Swedish merchant steamer Orania was carrying maize and bran from Brazil to Malmö, Sweden when she was struck by a single torpedo from German submarine U-50 (Kapitänleutnant Max-Hermann Bauer) in the Norwegian Sea at 2354 hours. The ship sank within three minutes of the explosion 65 miles north-northeast of the Flugga Lightship, Shetland Islands. U-50 had spotted the ship and although she was lit up, Bauer reported that he could not confirm that the ship was Swedish. All the crew got away in two lifeboats but one with 14 men was never seen again. The others were picked up by the destroyer HMS Faulknor, transferred to HMS Foxhound, another destroyer that took them to Lerwick, Shetland. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | Norwegian Sea | HM]

• At 2230 hours the 8,022-ton tanker Imperial Transport was struck on her port side at the empty #6 tank by a torpedo from U-53 (Korvettenkapitän Harald Grosse). The ship started to break in two 200 miles northwest of the Butt of Lewis. Members of the crew got into two lifeboats but lost two men in the dark night. Later the ship was reboarded after it appeared that the stern section was not going to sink. They were unable to radio for help but managed to sail the stern 130 miles at 4 knots before meeting 4 British destroyers. Attempts were made to tow the half over the next two days with tugs but the weather got worse and the crew had to be taken off again. The section was beached on the Isle of Bute in Kilchatten Bay. The stern section of Imperial Transport was later salvaged and docked in Elderslie Dockyard, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. The battered bulkhead and all distorted material cut away and fitted with a new fore part that was built to the original plans by William Hamilton & Co Ltd, and was launched bow first with deckhouse, mast, derricks and auxiliary equipment complete. The ship returned to service in June 1941. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• French sloop Elan captured 2,542-ton German merchant ship Rostock in the Atlantic Ocean. Rostock had sailed out of Vigo, Spain on 9 Feb in an attempt to break the Allied blockade. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]

• Lord Tweedsmuir, Governor-General of Canada, died in Montreal. ww2dbase [Montreal, Quebec | AC]

• The second Vultee Model 48 Vanguard prototype aircraft took its first flight. ww2dbase [P-66 Vanguard | Downey, California | CPC]

11 Feb 1940 Interactive Map