military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (08/19/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 18 August, 1940 Strong Luftwaffe raids are renewed in southern and southeastern Britain, with airfields as the main targets. The day's lossea are 62 German aircraft, 34 British. The RAF is being pushed to its limits; in the past 2 weeks, 106 pilots have been lost, and replacements have been inadequate. The remainder of Britain's pilots are exhausted from repeated missions. Damage from today's raids significantly impairs Fighter Command's capabilities. Heavy losses among Stuka units result in their withdrawal from the battle. A U.S.-Canadian Joint Defense Board is established, comprised of representatives from both countries, to oversee the defense of North America. Harvard University and the American Red Cross agree to establish a 100-bed hospital in England to study the "treatment of communicable diseases under wartime conditions." A tense situation is created by the return of the Army transport American Legion from Petsamo, Finland. Germany has warned that if the ship's course takes it near Britain, it might be attacked, while the US State Department responds that it expects safe passage for the refugee-laden ship. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "It is my conviction, drawn from my own experience and from the information in the hands of our own government in Washington, that the United States is in as great peril today as was France a year ago." - William C. Bullitt, US Ambassador to France