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• At 0200 hours in Moscow (0100 hours Finland time) Finnish and Soviet representatives signed the Moscow Peace Treaty prepared on the previous day. Finnish President Kyösti Kallio noted that the treaty was "the most awful document I have ever had to sign." Ceasefire would take place at 1100 hours; both sides continued to bombard the other with ferocity until the ceasefire time came. ww2dbase [The Winter War | CPC]
• British troops originally Norway-bound were disembarked from their transports without ever having left port. ww2dbase [CPC]
• The Fleet Landing Exercise No. 6 in the Caribbean Sea, participated by personnel of the US Navy and US Marine Corps, drew to a close. ww2dbase [CPC]

• The British armed merchant cruiser HMS Maloja (F 26) intercepted the 7,414-ton German merchant La Coruna south-east of Iceland. However before the German ship can be captured she was scuttled by her own crew. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | HM]
• German submarine U-44 hit a mine in Mine Field No. 7 in the North Sea laid by the destroyers HMS Express, HMS Esk, HMS Icarus and HMS Impulsive. All 47 aboard were killed. ww2dbase [Start of the Battle of the Atlantic | North Sea | HM]

• The 3,303-ton German cargo ship Eschersheim, on voyage from Bremen, Germany to Oslo, Norway with coke, hit a submerged wreck two miles south from Hirthals and Lønstrup region and was lost. Six crewmen lost their lives. ww2dbase [Hirthals, Nordjylland | HM]

• Simo Häyhä regained consciousness after being severely injured in the face in combat a week prior in Finland. ww2dbase [Simo Häyhä | CPC]

• Joachim von Ribbentrop informed the Italians that Adolf Hitler would like to push the date of the upcoming Brenner Pass meeting with Benito Mussolini up to on or about 18 Mar 1940. ww2dbase [Joachim von Ribbentrop | CPC]

• Punjabi nationalist Udham Singh assassinated Sir Michael O'Dwyer in Caxton Hall in Westminster, London, England, United Kingdom in retaliation for Jallianwala Bagh massacre in Amritsar in India. O'Dwyer was the Lieutenant Governor of Punjab at the time of the massacre. ww2dbase [London, England | CPC]

13 Mar 1940 Interactive Map