HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 85, 7 February 1941, Page 2

HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS

In this section weekly will appear a day by day record of the events of history in the making. As some time elapses in the publication of "‘The Listener" this diary is one week retrospective.

Thursday, January 23 After an attack of only 36 hours, the ‘British Imperial Forces captured Tobruk, and Australian troops entered the town. French Free Forces assisted in the attack. Marshal Graziani has now lost two-thirds of the Italian Forces in Libya. President Roosevelt’s representative, Colonel Donovan, used blunt language to leading Bulgarian statesmen. He declared that America would not associate herself with peace proposals leaving Germany victorious. The Japanese Cabinet announced the adoption of a policy aimed at increasing the population of Japar proper from the 1939 figure of 73 million to 100 million in 1960. The Governor of Malta decreed conscription for all residents, because the Italians and German air raids, and threatened invasion, had created a situation demanding the services of the whole community. Mr. Churchill, in a speech in the House of Commons on manpower and production, defended the present system of government by cabinet, and stated that counting the Home Guard, Britain had four million armed men. After 16 months of war, not more than 60,000 British folk had lost their lives by enemy action. . Friday, January 24 It was reported that Haile Selassie had crossed the Sudan border into Abyssinia on January 15, and commenced to coordinate his country’s attack on the Italians. Mopping-up operations continued at Tobruk, and the R.A.F. raided Derna. One admiral and four generals were captured at Tobruk, and so far 14,000 prisoners have been taken, together with 200 guns. There were 500 British casualties. General von Rintelin, German military attache in Rome, declared that Tobruk was not a defeat, but was a rout on a major scale, Conflicting reports continued about the situation in Rumania. The Government faced a nation-wide revolt, which included some regiments of the regular army, Iron Guard, and angry peasants, all of whom aimed to depose General Antonescu for "selling the country to Germany." Senator E. C. Johnston introduced in the U.S. Senate a substitute British Aid Bill authorising the outright gift of 2000 million dollars worth of war material, Among the opponents of the bill who testified to the committee was Colonel Lindbergh. Saturday and Sunday, January 25-26 Britain’s new Ambassador to the United States, Lord Halifax, arrived at Chesapeake Bay on board Britain’s newest battleship, "King George V.," and was personally welcomed by President Roosevelt, who made a special trip from Washington,

The Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. Matsuoka, speaking in the Japanese Diet, declared that Japan must dominate the Western Pacific, and that friendly relations between the United States andi Japan were not possible so long as the United States regarded China as part of her first line of defence. The Eastern Pacific, stated Mr. Matsuoka, was the proper sphere for the United States. In Libya, the British forces were in contact with the enemy three miles from Derna and in Eritrea. British motorised forces drove to the Italians 80 miles inside the frontier. An American radio commentator from Belgrade reported that several riots had occurred in Milan and Turin, and that German troops occupied parts of the cities. Large numbers of Nazi troops were concentrated in Northern Italy. After five days of confused reports, the fog lifted on events in Rumania. The revolution was straight fighting between the forces of the Premier and a strong body of Iron Guards who were defeated when the Rumanian army went into action. There was a pogrom in the Jewish districts of Bucharest. There was no German air raid on London for the fifth night in succession. Monday, January 27 It was reported that Italians were planning the evacuation of Abyssinia, and were reported removing supplies of grain to Eritrea. The Japanese press reported that Mr. Matsuoka told the Budget Committee that agreement had been reached with Russia to negotiate an important treaty in an effort to effect an all-round adjustment of Russian-Japanese relations. Mr. Wendell Willkie arrived in England to observe sympathetically what is happening in Britain. Tuesday, January 28 Berlin radio boasted of the influx of German forces into Italy. The Ankara radio announced that General Graziani, Italian Commander-in-Chief in Italy, had been dismissed. The Soviet news agents reported from Chungking that the fourth Chinese army had been disbanded as a disciplinary measure, Wednesday, January 29 The British and Allied Forces in Africa continued to make progress on all fronts, including an attack by the Free French in Southern Libya. Mr. Morgenthau, secretary of the Treasury, told the Foreign Affairs Committee that Great Britain, Greece and China "cannot continue to fight" unless Congress passes the Aid to Britain Bill, An American correspondent from Yugoslavia reported that Fascist militia in Northern Italy fired on anti-war demonstrators with heavy casualties. The death was announced of the Greek Prime Minister, General John Metaxas.

WAR DIARY