AIR HEROISM
SWORDFISH CREWS
MANY AWARDS MADE
(Rec. 12.'45 p.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 27. The heroism of the Swordfish aircraft crews who swept into a hail of fire to attack the German warships during the recent Channel action has been recognised by many awards, including a posthumous Victoria Cross to the late Lieutenant-Commander Eugen Esmonde, R.N.
"On the morning of February 12," states the official citation, "LieutenantCommander Esmonde, in command of a squadron of the Fleet Air Arm, was told that the German battle-cruisers Scharnhorst and Gneisenau and the cruiser Prinz Eugen, strongly escorted by some 30 surface craft, were entering the Straits of Dover and that his squadron must attack them before they reached the sandbanks- north-east of Calais. Esmonde knew well that his enterprise was desperate. Soon after noon he and a squadron of six Swordfish set a course for the enemy, and after ten minutes' flight were attacked
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Bibliographic details
Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 50, 28 February 1942, Page 7
Word Count
150AIR HEROISM Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 50, 28 February 1942, Page 7
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