military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (08/11/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Sunday, 11 August, 1940 Large air raids are launched against radar installations at Portland and Weymouth, and Me 110's attack a channel convoy. British fighters intercept, downing 35 German aircraft at a cost of 30 of their own. (British authorities state losses as 60 to 26, while Germany claims 89 to 17; both sides boast having won the day.) At this point in the Battle of Britain, the RAF can muster some 700 fighters, about 600 of them Spitfires and Hurricanes, and 350 bombers. Germany can field 900 Bf 109's, 375 Bf 110's, and 1300 bombers. British forces in East Africa make a stand at the Tug Argan Gap, holding the mountain pass against combined land and air attacks by superior Italian forces. The troopship Mohamed Ali El-Kebir, formerly an Egyptian liner, is sunk in the North Atlantic; 120 of the troops aboard perish. Through unofficial channels, London warns that the blockade will not be lifted to allow food shipments to conquered nations. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "The war is not lost, even if Britain is invaded, provided her statesmen do not do as those of France did - but, seeing the enemies' weakest point and viewing the problem as one of empire and not of Britain alone, hold fast to their sea strength and do not permit it to pass into the hands of the invader." - Admiral William V. Pratt, USN, Retired