CONVOY HEAVILY DAMAGED

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23413, 21 August 1941, Page 5

CONVOY HEAVILY DAMAGED

Attack by Fleet Air Arm •

THREE SHIPS OUT OF ACTION

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, August 19. “Swordfish aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm carried out a highly successful attack on an enemy convoy consisting of five large merchant vessels and a tanker escorted by six destroyers in the central Mediterranean during the night of August 17-18,” states a communique issued from Royal Air Force headquarters in the Middle East. “A vessel of. 6000 tons was hit by a torpedo and sank after two hours; A tanker was also hit by a torpedo, and a violent explosion followed. Aircraft which shadowed the remainder of the convoy reported later that the tanker was still on fire and had stop•ped. The scene was one of considerable confusion. Anti-aircraft guns fired in all directions withput a definite target. , “A second merchantman was then torpedoed and a reconnaissance on the following day showed that it had been beached at Lampedusa Island. The ship was there attacked by Blenheims, and a direct hit with a heavy bomb set it on fire. Volumes of black smoke poured from the ship. . "Heavy bombers of the Royal Air Force raided Benghazi and Tripoli during the night of August 17-18. At Benghazi the harbour and shipping were attacked. Bombs were observed to burst on the bases of the Juliana, Cathedral, and central moles, and on railway sidings. An explosion and several fires resulted. At Tripoli the harbour was bombed and hits on the Spanish mole and fort caused a number of explosions. “An attempt by a large force of Messerschmitt 109’s and Messerschmitt 110’s to attack shipping off the Egyptian coast yesterday was foiled by Tomahawk aircraft of the Royal Air Force, which gave 'combat to Messerschmitt 109’s and compelled the Messerschmitt 110’s to drop their bombs some miles from the target. “In the Wolchefit, Debarech, and Gondar areas of Abyssinia, aircraft of the . Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force have been co-oper-ating in machine-gunning and bombing enemy positions. Direct hits were scored on huts and buildings and the Fascist headquarters were destroyed. A number of fierce fires were started. "Operating off Malta, a Hurricane intercepted and shot down a Caproni seanlane.

"From all these operations two of our aircraft are missing.” Three enemy fighters were shot down over Malta yesterday, one British pilot bagging two of the victims. The other was seen to crash in flames into the sea.

One raider was shot down in flames over Sicily.

ENEMY LOSSES OF SHIPPING

4,007,000 TONS SINCE

WAR BEGAN

LONDON, August 19. It Is officially revealed in London that the total enemy tonnage lost (captured, sunk, or scuttled) to August 16 Was 4,007,000, comprising 2,321,000 tons of German shipping, 1,533,000 tons of Italian, 34,000 tons of Finnish, and 119,000 tons of shipping useful to the enemy. " , Losses since June 10 were 696,000 tons. These figures include 51. ships of an estimated tonnage of 200,000 claimed to have been sunk by fhe Russians.

CONTINUATION AFTER WAR

CONTROL MEASURES IN AUSTRALIA

STATEMENT BY MR MENZIES

(Received August 20, 7 p.m.) SYDNEY, August 20. The conviction that the war-time controls now being exercised by the Federal Government would continue to operate after the war was expressed by the Prime Minister (Mr R. G. Menzies) in a speech to 300 businessmen who entertained him at dinner. “In the last two years you have seen the introduction of profit control and price regulation. New departments of the Government have laid hands on private enterprise, and policies have been pursued which are designed to affect the cost of living and interest rates. I hope that no one will imagine that these just and equitable things that have been done during war will cease when peace has been won. They will not. “This country has been learning new things during the war—new things about human relations, the responsibilities of the government, and the responsibilities of those who ,are masters of men. What we have been doing, however imperfectly, is laying the foundations of a new order here iand now while the war is going on.”

SUBMARINE PRESUMED LOST

(8.0. W.) RUGBY, August 19. The Admiralty announces that His Majesty’s submarine Cachalot is overdue and must be considered lost. Enemy broadcasts seem to indicate that the entire crew were rescued, and are prisoners of war.