military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (05/16/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Friday, 16 May, 1941 German launches the last of its major night raids against British cities, sending 111 bombers against Birmingham. Rommel, leaving Italian troops to maintain the siege of Tobruk, masses his mobile German units and begins a counterattack against Operation Brevity. British troops occupy Fort Capuzzo, but cannot hold against the larger German forces, and begin an orderly withdrawal. Iceland declares its independence from Denmark. Britain bans the export of Malayan rubber to Japan. The Italian garrison of Amba Alagi, composed of some 7000 troops commanded by the Duke of Aosta, lays down its arms. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "The people of the United States can hardly believe that the present Government of France could be brought to lend itself to a plan of voluntary alliance, implied or otherwise, which would apparently deliver up France and its colonial empire, including French African colonies and their Atlantic coasts, with the menace which that involves to the peace and safety of the Western Hemisphere." - President Roosevelt, in a broadcast to the French people