military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (05/20/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, 21 May, 1941 During the night, the New Zealanders defending the Maleme airfield are withdrawn, and the German commander reinforces his troops there. Mountain troops are quickly landed, many of the aircraft making crash-landings to deliver their cargoes. The Royal Navy's Force D, composed of 3 cruisers and 4 destroyers, intercepts twenty-five small vessels carrying German troops and equipment to Crete. Ten of the boats are sunk, and the rest scatter. The American cargo ship Robin Moor is sunk by the U-69. President Roosevelt quickly condemns the incident as "an act of intimidation." British reconnaissance aircraft spot the Bismarck and Prinz Eugen in Bergen, where they had anchored for the night. The Admiralty immediately orders the Home Fleet to send the battleships King George V and Prince of Wales, the battlecruisers Hood and Repulse, and the carrier Victorious to sea. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "There can be no such thing in a free country as an undeclared war. Convoys and war are one and inseparable." - Representative Hamilton Cook of New York