NAPLES BOMBED AGAIN

Evening Star, Issue 23725, 5 November 1940, Page 7

NAPLES BOMBED AGAIN

RAIDS ON VITAL POINTS GROUND DEFENCES IMPROVED BIG FIRES STARTED AT KIEL Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.30 a.m.) Objectives at Naples were again the target of aircraft of the 11.A.F. Bomber Command last night. Successful attacks made here and at Kiel were undertaken despite extremely difficult weather conditions. During daylight operations yesterday Flushing and the aerodrome at Soesterburg were attacked, states an Air Ministry communique. Two of our aircraft are missing. Details of the second attack by Bomber Command aircraft on Naples show, according to the Air Ministry News Service, that Italian anti-aircraft guns provided more effective opposition last night than on the first raid. The city was well blacked out, and as the British aircraft approached they were met with heavy and fairly accurate fire. Though the attack was hampered by cloud, the leading aircraft dropped flares and then came down low to plant a stick of bombs between the main railway station and the Junction. Other aircraft attacked the oil tanks at Foggio Reale, on the southern outskirts of the city, and bombed them effectively.

TORPEDOED BY ENEMY

BRITISH ARMED MERCHANT CRUISERS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.48 a.m.) The Admiralty announces that the armed merchant cruisers Laurentic (18,724 tons) and Patroclus (11,314 tons) have been torpedoed and sunk. Reports so far received indicate that the following number of survivors were rescued by H.M. ships:—Laurentic: Officers, 52; ratings, 316. Patroclus: Officers, 33; ratings, 230.

ATTACK ON DOCKYARDS. Adverse weather over, the greater part of Germany severely restricted last night’s operations by aircraft of the Bomber Command. Early this morning conditions showed some improvement and an attack was launched, states an Air Ministry bulletin, against the naval dockyards at Kiel, which were heavily bombed for nearly 70 minutes by relays of aircraft. The first raider reached the target area shortly after 4 o’clock this morning and started fires in the dockyard, which were burning strongly when tho second wave of the attack arrived later. Bombing through gapsi in the clouds, the new arrivals scored repeated hits with heavy-calibre bombs in the dock area and started two large fires which gave off great clouds of black smoke. The pilot of one heavy bomber planted a stick of heavy bombs accurately across the dockyard. Heavy fire from powerful ground batteries greeted each attack. AXIS VERSIONS LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 12.30 p.m.) A German communique says : “ The R.A.F. raided Holland and North Germany. Two houses were destroyed and two persons were killed.” An Italian communique says: " Enemy bombers attempted to bomb Naples last night and were driven off by anti-aircraft fire. One person was killed and three were injured.”

LONDONERS SLEEP IN PEACE

SIRENS SILENT FOR DAY AND NIGHT LITTLE ENEMY ACTIVITY ELSEWHERE LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.30 a.in.) For the first time since August 29 there has been no air raid warning in London for 2-1 hours, although a single raider dropped three high explosives in the metropolitan area in the afternoon and slightly damaged property. There were some casualties. An Air Ministry and Home Security communique issued to-night states: Very few enemy aircraft have crossed tho coast to-day. Bombs have been dropped in the London area and at widely separated points in the Midlands and East Anglia, causing damage to a few houses. The number of people killed and injured was small. After 57 successive nights of raids, London had no alert before midnight; Nine bombs fell in the north-east of Scotland last night, but there were no casualties. Low-flying planes attacked various parts of East Anglia, where a Dornier is believed to have crashed into the sea. The Air Ministry reports that only a few planes crossed the coasts last night. Their activities were confined to northeast England and East Scotland, where bombs were dropped shortly after dark. There were no casualties, but slight damage resulted. In a second attack on east Scotland early in the morning explosives demolished some tenements. A small number were killed and injured. Many people who had been in the habit of sleeping on camp beds in basements and landings decided to take a chance and enjoyed their first night's sleep for weeks in their own soft beds. People in the deepest shelters were surprised on emerging in the morning to hear of the peaceful night. The ‘ Daily Mail ’ says it is believed that rajn storms, gales, and thick ground mists rendered unserviceable the aerodromes from which the German bombers operate. CONFIRMED SUCCESSES 87 RAIDERS DOWNED IN WEEK (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 9.30 a.m.) During the week ending midnight on November 2 the confirmed German aircraft losses in the battles over Britain totalled 87, including at least 13 shot down during darkness. The British losses in the same period were 27 aircraft, but only 11 pilots.

FACTORY WORKERS MACHINEGUNNED LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 1.15 p.m.) Some minutes before Londoners’ respite from raids was officially ended by the sirens to-night the sound of gunfire and aircraft was heard. Planes defied the low storm clouds while approaching the capital. This early activity was followed by a lull. Six bombs fell in a residential area. A raider in the evening machine-gunned workers leaving a London factory. Three were injured. Many workers threw themselves on to the roadway. TANGIER INTERNATIONAL ZONE SPANISH COMMANDER TAKING CONTROL TANGIER, November 4. (Received November 5, at 1.15 p.m.) Colonel Yuste, commander of the Spanish troops of occupation, announced that he was taking full charge as Governor of the International Zone, "and was dissolving the Committee of Control. [Tangier International Zone in Morocco was created by a convention signed between Britain, France, and Spain in 1923, by which the zone was made a permanently neutralised and demilitarised area. The convention was modified in 1928 when Italy became a partner.] JAPANESE NATIONALS RETURNING HOME FROM BRITAIN LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.30 a.m.) One hundred and seventy-one Japanese left Loudon on October 31 to join a special Japanese liner for home. The party included the Japanese ConsulGeneral in London, Mr Uchiyaina. I'ive hundred Japanese are remaining in Britain.

NO SIGN OF IMMEDIATE ADVANCE

ITALIAN ARMY IN EGYPT BUILDING UP SUPPLY STORES (British Official Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, November 4, (Received November 5, at 9.15.) Discussing the military situation in Egypt, informed military circles, state that there is no sign of an immediate advance, but the Italians continue to build up stores and equipment, concentrations of which arc gradually getting larger. Patrol activity in the neighbourhood of Kassala continues, and in this sphere extremely satisfactory work is being done by British patrols, mostly formed by the Sudan Defence Force. As these ipatrols are operating both in East and North Kassala, which is in enemy hands, they have been working behind the Italian positions. ITALIAN PLANES DESTROYED ENEMY TRANSPORT AND TROOPS BOMBED (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 9.30 a.m.) An account of a raid on Malta, which has been the subject of a somewhat flowery statement by the Italians, is dealt with in a Royal Air Force communique issued at Cairo on Sunday: Two formations of enemy bombers, escorted by fighters, made a raid on Malta yesterday, but little damage was done, and thcriTwere no casualties. R.A.F. fighters engaged the enemy, and it is definitely confirmed that one enemy fighter, a Macchi, was shot down. Another enemy aircraft was destroyed by anti-aircraft gunfire, two Caproni 42’s were damaged by our fighters, and another Macchi is believed to have been shot down, but this is not confirmed. An attack was made on enemy transport and troops moving along the Me-lemma-Gondaa road by R.A.F. aircraft. Four direct hits were registered on transport and other bombs fell very close. •In the same area an enemy aircraft was forced down and crashed. Further reconnaissance flights were carried out over the Greek and Italian coastal waters. On the return journey in one of these flights one of one aircraft was attacked by Italian fighters, but succeeded in shaking them off. Subsequently the same aircraft attacked an enemy flying boat and, it is believed, damaged it.

SEVENTY-ONE RAIDS TOBRUK WELL HAMMERED LONDON, November 4. A Rome communique states that Tobruk has been bombed 71 times since the outbreak, including many mass formations. ITALIAN SUBMARINE AT TANGIER MUST OBSERVE NEUTRALITY LAWS (British' Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 9.30 a.m.) Agency messages state that an Italian submarine has entered Tangier harbom. Legal circles in London point out that, if this is true, unless the submarine is damaged and effects repairs within 24 hours she must surrender herself and her crew for internment. CHASED IN BY BRITISH LONDON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 12.15 p.m.) The large Italian submarine which has sheltered at Tangier was chased there by British destroyers and planes. It is authoritatively stated in London that it is expected that the Spanish Resident-General will do his duty in ordering internment after 24 hours, otherwise it will be a breach of neutrality. THRILLING SPECTACLE AIR BATTLE OVER MERSA MATRUH WITNESSED BY THOUSANDS OF TROOPS (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.10 a.m.) The air battle over Mersa Matruh last Thursday, in which the Italians fantastically claimed that 17 aircraft were destroyed against three of theirs, was unquestionably a great tonic for the thousands of British troops who saw the Italian machines either falling in flames or plunging into the Mediterranean. From the four Savoias and four Caproni 42’s brought down, only one Italian escaped, according to the Air Ministry News Service. He was the second pilot of a Savoia 79 which bad a crew of five. He baled out. according to bis own story on orders from bis first pilot. Another member of the same crew also baled out. but his parachute failed to open. The Savoia came down in a shoot of flames with no possible chance of any of the crew surviving.

A POSITIVE CAUSE

WHAT BRITAIN IS FIGHTING FOR MORE THAN DESTRUCTION OF NAZISM SHAPING A NEW WORLD ORDER (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 10.47 a.m.) Discussing war aims in an Empire broadcast, the Under-Secretary of State for War, Captain H. H. Balfour, said bo believed one aim was clear aud universal to all—defeat of Nazi Germany, but the British’ ought not to confine themselves to saying that Nazism aud all it stands for must be destroyed. “ The young men of the R.A.F.—the youth of the British Commonwealth of Nations—are fighting to win a war which must secure the shape of the world to come,” he said, “We are fighting for a positive cause with a future, and not merely a negative cause with a past. We must never talk or think as if we were trying to save some dusty old code of living which is on its last legs. I would like our young airmen to feel that the glorious achievement in which they are taking part is not merely a struggle to keep what we have. It is a struggle to keep the future safe. “ Let the past take care of itself. Even though every material memorial of our past were effaced wo know we are lighting for a just and mighty order which will still be possible in Britain and the Empire. Our cause does not depend upon the ghosts of lovely old London, which bombs may batter, but upon a living vitality which will build anew. It is not over the wicked vandalism of damaged St. Paul’s that we must weep—but rather over the death of even one young man who might have built a new St. Paul’s. . “ When we use the word democracy it is not with thoughts of a mellow evening of days gone by, but of the dawn of something so tremendous, in opportunities that its glare can dazzle our eyes. The young men of our Empire who are defending freedom for the world to-day are the ones to whom we must look in shaping the world to come. We shall have great need in peace, as in war, of their services.” FRENCH LINER DEPARTURE FROM MARTINIQUE TRINIDAD, November 4. (Received November 5, at 12.15 p.ra.) It is reported that the French liner Cuba left Martinique on Friday with 1,500 marines and a large cargo oi bullion, rum, and sugar for France.

The remainder of the crew were buried by British soldiers close to the debris of their machine, which crashed into the rocky side of a wadi. The pilot of one Caproni 42 also had his last resting place out iu the desert a few yards from the remains of his burnt-out machine. In each case the British troops raised a pile of stones in which they put a cross made from the wreckage of the aircraft lost in the battle. On the stones marking the grave of the fighter pilot are written the words: “ Here lie the remains of one Italian airman shot down in an air battle on October 31.” Two of the Capronis destroyed fell victims to a Gladiator pilot who, as soon as the fight began, realised he had engine trouble. He was at 18,000 ft and gradually losing height, and realised that he must make a forced landing, but below be saw two Italian planes. As he dived the Italians went past him, and he Jet them have a burst and then saw them go crashing down. Then he landed his own aircraft safely, A Rhodesian pilot belonging to a squadron which has now brought down between 30 and 40 Italian aircraft, told of a 40-mile chase ho had with a Caproni 42. “ AVlien I first saw it J thought it was a Gladiator,” said the pilot. “ 1 went down to make sure, and followed him round. He kept evading me by doing steep turns, but in my faster aircraft 1 was able to keep outside him. This went or. for 10 minutes or more. Then I Jet him have three bursts, and as he went down I followed and put a fourth into him. He then dived straight into the desert.” The Italian losses, eight machines shot down in flames and four others seriously damaged, were at least twice those of the R.A.F. In personnel the British losses were one pilot killed and one missing, while the enemy must have lost up to 30. TOLL OF ITALIAN SUBMARINES TWO MORE ACCOUNTED FOR (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at noon.) Two more Italian U-boats have been destroyed by our light forces, states an official Admiralty communique. The hunt in one case was carried out in cooperation with the R.A.F. [This latest success brines the total of Italian submarines sunk to 29, or one-quarter of Italy’s pre-war submarine strength.] ITALIAN AIRMEN TAKEN PRISONER NAIROBI. November 4. (Received November 5. at 1.30 p.m.) The South African Air Force took prisoner 11 Italian airmen after shooting down two Savoias and one Caproni.

MAXIMUM PRODUCTION

VITAL FACTOR FOR BRITAIN LABOUR MINISTER'S STIRRING GALL (British Official Wireless.) Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright RUGBY, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.53 a.m.) The Minister of Labour, Mr Ernest Bevin, addressing nearly 9,000 factory workers in the Midlands, said; “ The British team is going to win, and it will not be so very far distant as you think. In another six months, with intensive production, we shall have passed Germany in all she and her subject races can make and all she can seize. 1 ventureHo prophesy that immediately we have done all that the Nazi regime will crumple in Hitler’s Lands and victory will be ours. The world will then move to a time of peaceful reconstruction. “ The biggest output you can give is the quickest way of shortening the war. Whatever your work is, let us have overwhelming force. We know the Nazis, and that the only thing they know is force. Leave nothing to chance in order that we may break their spirit.”

SUGGESTIONS OF TENSION

RUSSIA AND THE AXIS FRONTIER FORCES GREATLY STRENGTHENED ZURICH, November 4. (Received November 5, at 1 p.m.) The ‘ Meuzuercher 1 says that ■ while the German Press denies the possibility of German-Russian tension, the Russian Press is much more non-committal, scarcely alluding to Russia’s relations with the Axis. It is reliably reported that the German garrisons on the RussoGerman frontier, especially in Czecho-Slovakia, have recently been considerably strengthened, causing Russia greatly to increase its garrisons in the Baltic States, the Ukraine, and Russian Poland, which are estimated to reach ISO fully-equipped divisions.

JAPANESE WITHDRAWAL NAVAL BASE ABANDONED SEVERAL TOWNS GIVEN UP NEW YORK, November 4. (Received November 5, at 9.30 a.m.) The Domei Agency broadcast a statement that the Japanese had abandoned Waichow Island, ofi the Kwangtung province coast, which was used as a naval base. Apparently it is part of the general withdrawal from Kwangsi. Other towns between Nanning and Yarachow have also been given up. THE FAR EAST AMERICANS LEAVE SHANGHAI SHANGHAI, November 4. The Monterey sailed for Manila with 325 evacuated Americans. The Empress, of Asia started for Vancouver with 300 aboard. SUNK BY U-BOAT NORWEGIAN SHIP IN NORTH ATLANTIC ROME, November 4. The Norwegian ship Cuban© (5,810 tons) is reported to have been sunk by a submarine in the North Atlantic. FRENCHMEN IN BRITAIN REPATRIATION ARRANGEMENTS VICHY, November 4. Four ships are going to Britain from France to repatriate sailors who wish to return home. Two more ships are following. MARSHAL RETAIN S REPLY RECEIVED BY PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT WASHINGTON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 11.25 a.m.) The Ambassador, M. Henri Haye, visited Mr Cordell Hull to give Marshal Petain’s reply to President Roosevelt’s recent personal message. The contents were not disclosed STATEMENTS TO PRESS WASHINGTON, November 4. (Received November 5, at 12.15 p.m.) Mr Cordell Hull, in a statement to the Press, .said French possessions in the Western Hemisphere were mentioned during his meeting with. M. Haye, but he refused to elaborate, while M. Have told the Press that he had every reason to believe that the United States does not intend to intervene in Martinique. He believed Mr Hull’s and Mr Welle’s reaction to the Petain Note to be satisfactory.