military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (10/18/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Friday, 18 October, 1940 RAF and South African Air Force planes raid Italian positions in East Africa. On the first day that the Burma Road is re-opened, it is bombed by Japanese aircraft. Nevertheless, hundreds of trucks begin the route, carrying the cargoes of four American ships which have recently docked in Rangoon. Britain agrees to Japanese demands to halt China trade through Hong Kong. The government of Vichy France introduces anti-Semitic legislation. The British Minister of Health announces that nearly 500,000 children have been evacuated from the London area. Greece announces that the Axis has demanded that it cease relations with Britain, cede land to Albania and Bulgaria, reform its government along pro-Axis lines, and grant right-of-ways for a road from Albania to Salonika and Axis air bases. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "The plunge into Rumania is the first move in this new phase of the European struggle. It carries with it the implication that the war is not to be won in some great battle on land or sea or in the air, but will result in a long test of endurance in which the ability to resist revolution and famine will be the contributing factors." - Maj. Gen. Stephen O. Fuqua, U.S.A., Ret.