military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (03/20/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Thursday, 20 March, 1941 The Yugoslav cabinet meets to discuss the German ultimatum. Four members resign, rather than capitulate, but Prince Paul is convinced that the nation has no choice but to agree. Empire forces occupy Hargeisa in British Somaliland, and continue to advance toward Ethiopia. US Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles meets with Soviet Ambassador Constantine Oumansky and warns that Germany will attack the USSR within two months. The source, decrypted Japanese communiques, is not revealed. The US House Rivers and Harbors Committee considers a $1 billion plan to convert the Panama canal from elevated locks to a sea-level system similar to the Suez and Kiel canals. There is concern that a well-placed bomb could drain a key reservoir, rendering the canal useless for months, if not years. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "A half-hearted effort on our part will lead to failure. This is no part-time job. The concepts of "business as usual," of "normalcy," must be forgotten until the task is finished." - Franklin Roosevelt