Reading the paper on Nov. 16, 1940.
In a raid the Nazi’s claimed was the ‘greatest attack in the history of aerial warfare,’ five hundred German aircraft, flying at high altitude, poured incendiary and demolition bombs over the industrial city of Coventry for more than ten hours two nights ago.
The Germans claimed the Coventry attack was in retaliation for the November 8 RAF bombing of Munich while Hitler and the Nazi Brown Shirts celebrated the anniversary of the Beer Hall Putch which had catapulted Hitler into the international spotlight.
The Greek army has launched an offensive against Italian forces located in Albania to thwart the Italian invasion of northern Greece which began two weeks ago.
Soviet Foreign Minister Molotov has returned to Moscow following two days of meetings with Hitler and the German foreign ministry concerning the potential entry of the USSR into the Axis alliance and the division of conquered territories.
The meetings followed the latest British overture to the Soviets designed to improve British - Soviet relations and keep them out the the Axis alliance.
Thousands of French-speaking residents of Lorraine are arriving regularly in the unoccupied Vichy zone of southwestern France after German authorities forcibly removed them from their homes.
The German occupation authority has said no more permits will be issued allowing French civilians to pass between occupied France and the Vichy zone.
Louis Lederer, of New York City, was among those greeting one hundred-twenty British war refugees who arrived in Boston Harbor yesterday aboard the British liner Baltrover.
Mr. Lederer greeted his sister-in-law and two nieces, the wife and children of his brother, Hermann, a London air raid warden, who was killed in a recent Luftwaffe attack on the city.
Urging ‘self-denial,’ the British government imposed new restrictions on the domestic production of corsets, garters, pottery, carpets, cameras, perfumes, jewelry, toys and mattresses, with a complete shutting down of all production of silk goods and aluminum cookware.
Workers, materials and factory space used for these items will be directed to the war effort.
The last four of the fifty World War I era destroyers set sail for Britain yesterday, completing US obligations under FDR’s ‘ships for bases’ executive order.
This agreement grants land rights on Newfoundland, Bermuda and other British possessions in the western hemisphere to the US in exchange for surplus military vessels.
Four thousand acres of pine forest will be burned near Fort Dix, New Jersey, to make room for a new artillery range.
The first group of new Selective Service trainees is expected to arrive at the Fort at the end of the month.
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Five men, including three doctors, were arrested in New York City yesterday and charged with operating an illegal abortion ring, a felony.
They pleaded ‘not guilty’ and were released on bail, pending their hearing in criminal court next month.
The singer Paul Robeson and eight others sued a San Francisco area restaurant yesterday, alleging racial discrimination as the reason they were refused service last Tuesday evening.
The restaurant owners have said they refused to serve Mr. Robeson’s party because the restaurant was already at capacity when they arrived.
And finally…
Broadway star Ethel Merman, age 31, was married yesterday to William B. Smith, the manager of a film actors’ agency, at an Episcopal Church service witnessed by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Zimmerman.
The bride, who dropped the “Zim” from her name when she entered show business, returned to New York’s Forty-Sixth Street Theatre in time to perform her starring role in last night’s performance of “Panama Hattie,” a musical comedy.
[The marriage, Merman’s first, will last less than a year.]
But her fourth marriage, to actor Ernest Borgnine in 1964, will last only 38 days.
All things are relative.
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I’ll see you on Monday.
— Brenda
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