Great-Britain pushed Finland to cooperation with Germany

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histan
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Joined: 14 Jan 2008, 18:22
Location: England

Re: Great-Britain pushed Finland to cooperation with Germany

#61

Post by histan » 12 Nov 2017, 19:54

Hi John T

Perhaps it would be best if I post a list of the material I have found:

Two that you probably already have on Sweden:
The Dynamics of British Policy Towards Sweden 1942 -1945 V R C Montgomery PhD Thesis Department of War Studies King's College London 1985 downloadable from https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/

The Economics of Neutrality: Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland in the Second World War E B Golson PhD Thesis LSE 2011
downloadable from http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/178/1/Golson_T ... rality.pdf
I found this of great interest since it reports the pressure placed on these countries by both Britain and Germany and how these countries were able to extract concessions from both and retain their neutrality.
British attempts to control trade did not push or pull these countries in either direction - and neither did German attempts. Smart politicians were able to "play the game" and retain neutrality.

An overview of British policy and actions is contained in the Official History:
The History of the Second World War United Kingdom Civil Series: The Economic Blockade Volume 1 W N Medlicott HMSO 1952
Downloadable from https://archive.org/stream/economicbloc ... p_djvu.txt

British cabinet documents are available in a searchable database on the UK National Archives website.

Some MEW Reports that seemed relevant:
Setting up Economic Warfare - negotiations with Neutrals
01st Weekly Report 3 - 13 Sept 1939 CAB 68_1_11
02nd Weekly Report CAB 68_1_18
03rd Weekly Report CAB 68_1_29
4th Weekly Report CAB 68_1_38
5th Weekly Report CAB 68_2_5
6th Weekly Report 17 - 22 October 1939 CAB 68_2_15

I have missed out those that cover the Winter War period to concentrate on the period March 1940 onward.
27th Weekly Report 17 31 March 1940 CAB 68_5_59
Relevant extract
MEW March 1940 01.jpg
MEW March 1940 02.jpg
MEW March 1940 03.jpg
MEW March 1940 03.jpg (20.69 KiB) Viewed 628 times
Note France is more "Hawkish" than the UK

28th Weekly Report CAB 68_5_66
30th Weekly Report CAB 68_6_10
31st Weekly Report CAB 68_6_14
32nd Weekly Report CAB 68_6_20
33rd Weekly Report CAB 68_6_32
34th Weekly Report CAB 68_6_38
36th Weekly Report 3 9 June 1940 CAB 68_6_47

Reports the became monthly
Monthly Report 10 June - 10 July 1940 CAB 68_6_59
Monthly Report 15 July - 31 August 1940 CAB 68_7_10

Monthly Report 1 - 31 September 1940 CAB 68_7_17
Relevant extract that show both German and British pressure and attempts to control trade.
MEW September 1940.jpg
Monthly Report 1 - 31 October 1940 CAB 68_7_23

Monthly Report November 1940 CAB 68_7_32
Relevant extract showing British policy
MEW November 1940.jpg
More references to follow.

Regards

John

PS NA Search Link for Finland
http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.u ... %20website

Seppo Jyrkinen
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Location: Finland, Lappeenranta
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Re: Great-Britain pushed Finland to cooperation with Germany

#62

Post by Seppo Jyrkinen » 19 Nov 2017, 18:08

Thanks histan. Your sources are interesting but massive.

Jukka Nevakivi writes that minister Dalton send 16.7.1940 a "personal" message to Helsinki embassy (to ambassador Vereker?) in which he told that only one ship would be allowed to transport oil products to Finland. Any idea about the birth of this decision?
A word irony is baked into the word history.


John T
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Posts: 1206
Joined: 31 Jan 2003, 23:38
Location: Stockholm,Sweden

Re: Great-Britain pushed Finland to cooperation with Germany

#63

Post by John T » 30 Nov 2017, 23:55

histan wrote:Hi John T

Perhaps it would be best if I post a list of the material I have found:

Two that you probably already have on Sweden:
The Dynamics of British Policy Towards Sweden 1942 -1945 V R C Montgomery PhD Thesis Department of War Studies King's College London 1985 downloadable from https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/
That one was new to me (or too old to easily show up on google)
histan wrote:
An overview of British policy and actions is contained in the Official History:
The History of the Second World War United Kingdom Civil Series: The Economic Blockade Volume 1 W N Medlicott HMSO 1952
Downloadable from https://archive.org/stream/economicbloc ... p_djvu.txt
Thanks, nice to find that online.
It is Very much official but at least goes into the matter in great detail.

histan wrote: British cabinet documents are available in a searchable database on the UK National Archives website.

Some MEW Reports that seemed relevant:
Thanks nice reading.

Looks like 1940 after April was a lost year and first during 1941 Swedens transatlantic trade started with some sort of stability.

Cheers
/John

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