military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (01/10/91)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Friday, 10 January, 1941 The Luftwaffe scores an early victory in the Mediterranean; 40 Stukas and Ju 88's attack a Gibraltar-Malta convoy, and score eight bomb hits on the carrier HMS Illustrious, in addition to several hits on the cruiser HMS Southampton and two freighters. Illustrious is put out of action, while Southampton is crippled beyond hope and scuttled. The freighters, too, are lost. The victory radically changes the balance of power in the central Mediterranean. 150 German bombers stage an incendiary raid on Portsmouth; 28 large fires are started. Germany and the USSR conclude negotiations over the Lithuanian/Reich border. A small strip of land is granted to the USSR in exchange for $7.5 million in gold; a trade agreement is also reached. The Lend-Lease Bill is introduced to the US Congress, in the face of strong opposition from Senators Wheeler and Nye, Charles Lindbergh, and former ambassador Kennedy. Opponents warn that the bill will turn the USA into a dictatorship and lead to war. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "It is up to Congress now to determine whether our government shall be as ordained or become a member of the totalitarian States... I shall oppose it." - Senator Hiram Johnson of California