military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (04/15/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, 16 April, 1941 A British destroyer flotilla attacks an Axis convoy off the Tunisian coast, sinking all five of the cargo ships and three of their escorting destroyers, losing only the destroyer HMS Mohawk. Aboard the ships are vital supplies and 3000 troops for the Afrika Korps; fewer than half of the troops are rescued by Axis ships. London receives a massive air raid; some 300 German bombers, each making 2-3 sorties, pound the city, dropping over 1000 tons of bombs and mines. The raid is in reprisal for the 9 April RAF attack on Berlin. Many fires are started, and St. Paul's Cathedral is damaged. Ante Pavelic is sworn in as the head of the new Croatian government. German tanks reach the Adriatic coast near Pindus, cutting off the retreat of Greek troops on the Albanian front. Sarajevo, Yugoslavia is also captured. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "It can be seen that England officially woke up when Churchill took over his present position. At the moment America is going through the preparatory yawning and stretching phases; it is every one's hope that within the next few weeks we too shall be fully awake." - David Pertschuck, in a letter to the New York Times