military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (04/13/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 13 April, 1941 Japan and the USSR sign a 5-year non-aggression pact. Moscow begins the immediate redeployment of forces from Siberia to its western regions. As the German advance toward Egypt slows, General Rommel deploys his followup troops for the siege and assault on Tobruk. Daily bombing raids and artillery barrages begin. Rommel wishes to continue the advance as far as Mersa Matruh, but Berlin orders him to consolidate around Sollum. The U-108 torpedoes and sinks the 16,400-ton armed merchant cruiser Rajputana in the Denmark Strait. Malta is struck by repeated, heavy air raids. References: C.Argyle, _Chronology of World War II_ R.Dupuy and T.Dupuy, _The Encyclopedia of Military History_ R.Goralski, _World War II Almanac, 1931-1945_ J.Keegan, ed., _The Times Atlas of the Second World War_ C.Messenger, _Atlas of World War Two_ J.Piekalkiewicz, _Tank War 1939-1940_ Royal Institute of International Affairs, _Chronology of the Second World War_ C.Salmaggi and A.Pallavisini, _2194 Days of War_ Brig. P.Young, _The World Almanac of World War II_ The New York Times, daily editions Time magazine Newsweek -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "We beseech the belligerent powers to abstain until the very end from the use of still more homicidal instruments of warfare; for the introduction of such weapons inevitably results in their retaliatory use, ofter with greater violence and cruelty by the enemy." - Pope Pius XII