Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Day 51 October 21, 1939

Von Rundstedt and his chief of staff, Erich von Manstein, prepare an alternative to Halder's plan for the invasion of France. They find fault with Halder's lack of manoeuver and encirclement of the main Allied forces. They propose an alternative plan to achieve these goals by attacking through the Ardennes forest which, coincidentally, lies in von Rundstedt's sector, strengthening his Army Group A at the expense of von Bock’s Army Group B advancing into the Low Countries. Because of Manstein’s hand in this plan and his advocacy of the strategy to Hitler at a later meeting, it becomes known as the Manstein Plan.

Juho Kusti Paasikivi (Ambassador to Sweden) and Väinö Tanner (leader of the Social Democratic Party) lead the second finish delegation to discuss Soviet territorial demands, leaving Helsinki by train for Moscow.

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