military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (07/11/90)
From: military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) Thursday, 11 July, 1940 President Lebrun of France resigns, and Marshal Petain assumes the role of Head of the French State, abolishes the Constitution of 1875, and dismisses the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate. Grand Admiral Erich von Raeder, head of the Kreigsmarine, urges Hitler to give up his plans to invade Britain. He suggests that a U-boat/ aircraft/mine blockade can more effectively force Britain to submit. Lord Beaverbrook, Britain's Minister of Aircraft Production, asks Britons to turn in their aluminium cookware to be reclaimed for use in aircraft. The US aircraft industry announces that $100 million in orders have been placed, and expects to complete 25,000 planes by July of 1942. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@att.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "On thinking it over, I simply did what any other British woman would have done had she had the chance." - Mrs. Norman Cardwell of the British Women's Volunteer Service, on receiving the Medal of the Order of the British Empire from King George. (Mrs. Cardwell disarmed and arrested a downed German pilot near her home)