military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (10/04/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Friday, 4 October, 1940 Night raids again hit London, with 130 German bombers on the attack. Italian air force observers accompany this and certain other raids, and drop medallions and other items carrying propaganda messages. Hitler and Mussolini meet at the Brenner Pass, together with their foreign ministers. Hitler personally urges Mussolini to refrain from opening a new front in the Balkans, and offers assistance in North Africa, but the Italian premier declines. Chief of Air Staff Sir Cyril Newall resigns his position to assume the governorship of New Zealand, and is replaced by Sir Charles Portal. The Royal Navy decides to christen its newly-received American destroyers after towns common to both Great Britain and the United States. The first DD will be HMS Churchill, and the rest of the flotilla will be HMS Cameron, Castleton, Chelsea, Clare, and Campbelltown. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Let us Americans resolve now to pray for Divine protection for Britain and the Americas." - Walter W. Strong, in a letter to the New York Times