military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (09/24/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Tuesday, 24 September, 1940 The defenses at Dakar continue to resist the British/Free French invasion effort. Shells from the incomplete battleship Richelieu strike the HMS Resolution, but the latter remains in the action. Aircraft from HMS Ark Royal fail to silence the French shore batteries. Vichy bombers stage a reprisal raid on Gibraltar, with minimal effect. The Vichy government creates a special "Court of Summary Justice" to try Free French partisans within 48 hours of accusation. No appeals to the court's verdicts will be allowed. German aircraft raid London, hitting Waterloo station, and Cambridge. The latter attack comes in response to an RAF raid on Heidelberg. Combat continues near Dong Dang in French Indo-China as Japanese troops continue to advance from the Kwangsi region. Rumors indicate that Germany is attempting to force Japan into a full alliance with the Axis powers, on the threat of concluding an armistice with Britain and thus releasing the Royal Navy for duty in the Pacific. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "Winter lies before us, cold and dark. Let us be of good cheer. After Winter comes Spring, and after our present trials will surely come victory and the relief from these evil things." - King George VI