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• German submarine U-32 sank Norwegian ship Luna at 0947 hours with one torpedo. ww2dbase [CPC]

• Chinese declared victory at Kunlun Pass 59 kilometers northeast of Nanning, Guangxi Province, China, although the remnants of Japanese troops trapped in the region would not capitulate until mid-Jan 1940. ww2dbase [Winter Offensive | Nanning, Guangxi | CPC]

• Finnish 9th Division secured the village of Suomussalmi after four days of heavy fighting, capturing 625 rifles, 33 light machine guns, 19 medium and heavy machine guns, 2 anti-aircraft machine guns, 12 anti-tank guns, 27 field and anti-aircraft guns, 26 tanks, 2 armored cars, 350 horses, 181 trucks, 11 tractors, 26 field kitchens, 800,000 rounds of 7.62mm rifle ammunition, 9,000 artillery shells, a field hospital, and a bakery. Elsewhere, Finnish scouts found troops of the Soviet 44th Division stationary along a 30-kilometer stretch of the Raate Road, including a large concentration of dug-in tanks and artillery. Finnish Army Colonel Siilasvuo received the intelligence and decided to prepare a strike at this concentration. ww2dbase [The Winter War | TH]

• Boris Shaposhnikov was awarded his first Order of Lenin. ww2dbase [Boris Shaposhnikov | CPC]

31 Dec 1939 Interactive Map