April 6

On April 6, 1199, Richard Coeur de Lion died. On April 6, 1580, an earthquake destroyed part of London. George Washington was elected first President of the U.S. on April 6, 1789, and on April 6, 1909, Admiral Peary reached the North Pole. On April 6, 1917, the U.S. declared war on Germany.

On April 6, 1941, Germany launched what may well prove to be the decisive campaign of World War II (see p. 25). Germany had tipped off the world on the date a month in advance (TIME, March 17). But the German timetable was already awry, because Germany had expected this campaign to be directed only against Greece, with Yugoslavia as a line of supply. The military campaign that was begun April 6, 1941 was to retrieve a diplomatic defeat.

On Yugoslavia Germany tried both kidnapping and amputation. General Dusan Simovitch's coup having foiled the kidnapping plot, last week the Croat leader, old Dr. Vladimir Matchek, joined Premier Simovitch's Cabinet as Vice Premier, thereby ending Germany's hope of amputating Croatia. Two days later, in Moscow, the Yugoslav Minister, Milan Gavrilovitch, and Russia's Foreign Minister Viacheslav Molotov signed a treaty of "nonaggression and friendship" while Joseph Stalin looked on, beaming broadly.

The German war machine was rolling before the ink was dry on the pact. But it was not likely that Messrs. Stalin and Molotov had hoped to discourage Germany from attacking Yugoslavia. They wanted merely to assure Yugoslavia that Russia would not move in to divide the swag, as it did in the case of Poland. Two weeks earlier they had given a similar assurance to Turkey. If by this means other nations could be encouraged to stand up to Germany, war would be kept away from Russia a while longer.

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