AN AIR BATTLE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 60, Issue 80, 15 January 1940, Page 6

AN AIR BATTLE.

French down three planes. 4*. to 't AT ALTITUDE OF 10,000 FEET. + - LONDON, January 13. j The most violent cannonade in the "east Moselle sector since the outbreak *of the Avar started at 1 p.m. ,t‘ Shells falling in Luxemburg caused 1 craters the depth of which indicated * that guns of heavier calibre were begins used. _ % A second-lieutenant and three sergeants piloted, four French aeroplanes £which engaged 12 Messerschmitts and ‘ brought down three. * The Germans were flying at a great -height and suddenly swooped on the -Frenchmen, avlio were escorting a reZ connaisseur home from a. photographic J mission. - The battle, which occurred at 10,000 ~ feet, Avas a series of spectacular acrobatics. One Messerschmitt Avas shot down in flames, a second Avent into “a spin, and 1 a third, fojrced doAvn to ‘an altitude of 2500 feet, raced across "the German lines before it 'w|as shot 2 down from behind. 2 In Berlin it is officially stated that l snow and ice hamper all movements - on the. Western Front. 1 It is reported from Francei that the Gommander-in-Chief of the British «Expeditionary Force (General Lord i'Gort) to-day met Air Marshal A. S. ( Barratt, Commander-in-Chief of the h British Air Forces in France, at ."Lord Gort’s chateau. Lord Gort also 'met .' Major-General AndreAV McwNaughton, the Commander of the i Canadian Forces.