military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (02/12/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Wednesday, February, 1941 The first units of the German 5th Light division begin unloading in Tripoli as General Rommel, newly-appointed commander of German troops in North Africa, arrives by airplane. The Italian high command meanwhile appoints General Italo Gariboldi to command Italian forces in that theater. An Italian counterattack near Keren succeeds in recovering dominating positions there, and the British and Indian troops are forced to withdraw. German bombers raid Benghazi, the first German air attack in North Africa. The German heavy cruiser Admiral Hipper raids a British convoy off the Azores, sinking 7 ships before retiring. General Franco and Premier Mussolini meet at Borighera. The meeting starts many rumors, but achieves nothing. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "If Britain were to collapse, we would be in a war a month afterward." - Wendell Willkie