military@att.att.com (Bill Thacker) (06/02/90)
Friday, 31 May, 1940 The day's evacuation total from Dunkirk hits 68,000, at the cost of two French destroyers torpedoed by German MTB's and6 British DD's damaged by the Luftwaffe. The high attrition rate of its modern destroyers forces the Admiralty to begin withdrawing these ships from the evacuation fleet. General Lord Gort returns to England after handing over command of the BEF to Major-General Sir Harold Alexander. The French 1st Army, cut off near Lille for four days, surrenders. French attacks from the south recapture the port of Abbeville, just north of the Somme. The French Air Force conducts numerous raids in this region. Japan vows to break China's will to fight by conducting daily bombing raids over Chungking. President Roosevelt proposes a $1 billion supplemental defense budget to Congress, while warning Italy that her entry into the war would force the USA to offer increased aid to the Allies. -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- Bill Thacker military@cbnews.att.com Send submissions for "50 Years Ago" to military-request@att.att.com "The spirit and conduct of all concerned are beyond praise. The operations are proceeding." - British War Office communique', regarding Op. Dynamo.