HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 100, 23 May 1941, Page 3

HISTORY AS IT HAPPENS

Thursday, May 8 After an effective speech by Mr. Churchill, reviewing the campaign in Greece, the House of Commons voted confidence in the Government by 457 to 3. Twenty-three enemy bombers were destroyed over Britain during the night, May 7-8, Approximately 3,000 Australian casualties were suffered in Greece. Friday, May 9 Reports from Cairo indicated that the Germans were gathering parachute troops in the Middle East for attacks on Crete, Syria and Iraq. Further British troops arrived in Iraq, where the situation had improved. A German‘ armed merchant cruiser, acting as a commerce raider in the Indian Ocean, was intercepted and sunk by the British cruiser Cornwall. Twenty-five ships, totalling 200,000 tons, were chartered to Canadian interests under Roosevelt’s plan for the two million ton shipping pool to assist Britain. The heaviest British bombing attack yet made on Germany took place on Thursday night, and the German radio commented on the power and speed of the British bombers. Secret German military documents captured on Lofotem Islands and published in England showed the unyielding opposition of the Norwegians to the Nazis. Saturday and Sunday May 10 and 11 Full scale blitz returned to London on Saturday night, when high explosives and incendiary bombs fell on the city with unrelenting fury. Among the many historic buildings hit were the debating chamber of the House of Commons, and Westminster Abbey. At least 33 raiders were shot down, the highest total yet destroyed in one night. The cruisers Leander and Canberra intercepted in the Indian Ocean a German merchant ship which had been supplying a raider, and a Norwegian tanker, captured earlier by the raider. Cairo reported that demonstrations hostile to Rashid Ali occurred in parts of Iraq.

British forces in Abyssinia were closing in on the few remaining Italian strongholds. Benghazi was bombarded by the Navy at close range. Monday, May 12 Private reports from Spain indicated that General Franco had given Hitler leave to move troops across Spain to Gibraltar, British defences brought down 131 German night bombers in the first 11 nights in May. American newspapers reported that the Japanese army and government had reached the parting of the ways and the outcome might be a complete reorientation towards either the Axis or China. Tuesday, May 13 Rudolf Hess, Deputy Fuhrer of the Nazi party, landed in Scotland on the night of May 10. He flew in a Messerschmitt 110 fighter, made a parachute descent and was in hospital with a broken ankle. The German radio reported earlier that he had escaped by aeroplane and that he was mentally unbalanced. The situation in Iraq improved through action by the R.A.F. and desertions in the ranks of the rebels. Wednesday, May 14 Further news was available of the arrival of Hess, whose dramatic flight surprised the world. It was believed that he fled after a difference of opinion within the Nazi Party. Diplomatic circles in Vichy believed that Admiral Darlan had secured from Hitler an agreement to liberate Paris and large parts of France in return for advantages elsewhere, The New York Times reported that the German High Command would make its second spring offensive through Turkey and across Syria into Iraq, aiming to seize oil wells.