March 22, 1941 - Day 567 And Counting.
March 22, 1941 - Day 567 of the War in Europe. German raids on Plymouth England for 2nd night in a row. RAF Bombers attack German submarine bases in Occupied France. British people feel RAF attacks not severe enough. Germans constructing submarine base in Far East. U.S. Navy to convoy War supplies across Atlantic. Big question is Yugoslavia will join Axis or not. Conscientious Objectors dealt harshly in Germany. Congress passes $4billion Military Appropriations Bill in four hours.
On this March 22nd in 1941 we were already 567 days into the War in Europe. It had not officially involved us on a shooting basis and so it wasn't yet considered officially World War 2. But it was getting close.
On this particular day in 1941, the otherwise quiet town of Plymouth England was scene of the second straight night of German bombing, where damage was said to be slight, but loss of life was said to be high. The reason - much of the building in the city went back to the 1600's, long before the days of incendiary bombs and blockbusters. Military targets didn't sustain the damage the civilian targets did. And because of that, the British people felt Britain wasn't responding in kind, saying RAF raids on German cities were devoid of civilian targets and so the morale in Germany wasn't suffering as the result.
But even with criticism of the RAF, they still managed to stage successful raids on the Occupied French coast against several German submarine bases.
In other news - rumors were rife in the British press that the U.S. Navy was going to get involved in the convoy of War supplies across the Atlantic. If the rumors were true, it would be only a matter of time before Naval action would take place, and another step towards all-out war was inching closer. Also inching closer were rumors Yugoslavia would be joining the Axis. It was said to be only a matter of days.
In Berlin - it as learned that Conscientious Objectors were being dealt with harshly by the Nazi government. One church group in particular, a German arm of Jehovah's Witnesses, had five of its members stand trial on charges of sabotaging air raid protection, interfering with the War and belonging to an Anti-Military organization. One of it's members had already received a Death sentence while the others were awaiting prison sentences and other fates as-yet unknown.
On Capitol Hill - Congress passed a Military Appropriations Bill to the tune of $4Billion in less than four hours after its introduction. And a $15Billion Defense spending package was scheduled for approval in two weeks.
And that's what this day sounded like, via the NBC News Of The World for March 22, 1941.