British Raids Over French Coast - Weather bad - visibility good.
Raids Over Dunkerque And Boulogne – Details On Benghazi – America As Influencer – February 8, 1941
February 8, 1941 – News Of The World – NBC – Gordon Skene Sound Collection –
Raids over the French Coastal towns of Dunkerque, Boulogne and Calais started the news this day. Despite unfavorable weather over most all of Northwestern Europe, visibility was good over the channel and the Royal Airforce took maximum advantage of the conditions. Reports of numerous attacks on port facilities, with German supply depots on fire. No bombers taking part in the raids were shot down. So it was a successful night as far as London was concerned. No reciprocal raids from Germany were reported.
An official report from Cairo to London gave details on how the mechanized British forces, with a single tactical maneuver, managed to outflank and cut off the Italian Army that held Banghazi and forced their surrender with a large number of Italian prisoners taken, including an Army commander and a Corps Commander. British observers in London called the taking of Benghazi the “final blow in the demoralization of the Italian Army in Cyrenaica.
According to observers in London, it would appear that American diplomacy was exerting a greater influence in World Affairs than perhaps at any other time in history. In many parts of Europe, not yet overrun by Germany, it was perceived that America was holding the same balance of power in the world that Britain traditionally held on the continent of Europe. It was strongly felt that, the side America chooses in this war will be, at long last, the winning side, which was a possible explanation as to why Russia wasn’t giving Germany more cooperation and why the smaller Balkan nations hadn’t thrown themselves into Germany’s hands and why the spark of hope still flamed high in the Czechs and Poles. And that when it was all over, the future would be in the hands of America and Britain.
And with more news of other events, as well as news of more overnight raids over Europe, that was what was going on, this February 8, 1941 as reported by NBC’s News Of The World.
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