DARING RAID

Evening Star, Issue 24081, 30 December 1941, Page 3

DARING RAID

DESCENT ON NORWEGIAN COAST CLOCKWORK GO-OPERATION OF ALL ARMS MANY GERMANS KILLED OR TAKEN (British Official Wireless.) Press Association —By Telegraph—Copyright (Roc. noon.) RUGBY, Dec. 29. Clockwork co-operation between the Navy, Army, R.A.F., and the Royal Marines resulted in the complete success of a small raid last Saturday on the Norwegian coast. An officer from combined operations headquarters, describing the raid in detail in Loudon, made use of the large-scale relief model actually used in the raid. He emphasised the machine-like adherence to timetable, and particularly stressed the contribution of aircraft to the success of the operation. The full communique states; “ The raid was directed mainly against enemy shipping anchored off Vaagso Island, situated in latitude 62deg north, off the Norwegian coast. Although only on a small scale, the raid was a good example of a combined operation in which the Navy, Army, and the R.A.F. each played an equally important and interdetermined part. “ Light forces of the Home Fleet arrived off Vaagso Island just before daylight. At 8.30 a.m., and under cover of a smokescreen laid by Hampden aircraft of the Bomber Command, military forces, consisting of commandos and some Norwegian troops, landed. “The coast defence batteries, manned by Germans, opened fire on our ships, but were silenced by bombardment from the warships and bombing by the Hampden aircraft of the Bomber Command. The latter also laid smokescreens to mask our ships, and machine-gunned batteries and the nearby barracks on Ragsundo Island. There were two main military landings, one on the small island of Maaloy, the other on Vaagso. All the enemy were killed or taken prisoner, and military storehouses and ammunition dumps were blown up and a battery of four guns destroyed. “ At South Vaagso the Germans put up a stiff resistance and in street fighting we suffered some casualties before the town could be brought completely under control. An enemy tank was put out of action, and oil tanks and ammunition stores destroyed. A wireless station and certain industrial plant owned by a Quisling and known to be operating for the Germans were destroyed. “ Eight enemy ships, including five merchant vessels, two armed trawlers, and ono armed tug. totalling 15,650 tons, wore destroyed. The merchant vessels beached themselves to avoid capture, and were destroyed by the naval forces, while armed vessels were sunk. “ Offensive patrols in conjunction with this operation were carried out by the Blenheims of the Bomber Command. They encountered and attacked a convoy of enemy merchant ships. Many bombs fell among the convoy, and one ship was sunk. “ While the operations were taking place at Vaagso, Blenheim of the Bomber Command were attacking Herdla, the nearest enemy aerodrome one hundred miles down the coast. “ Direct hits from 250 ft were obtained on wooden runways, and one ME 109, which was taxiing, was destroyed. Huts and the wireless station nearby were machine-gunned. “ From all these Bomber Command operatipns, eight of our aircraft are missing, but one member of a Hampden crew was rescued. “ The damage to Herdla runway undoubtedly reduced the scale of air attack on our ships, which wore protected by the Boaufighters and Blenheim fighters of the Coastal Command. During a series of fights throughout the day they shot down four enemy ME Ill’s and prevented a successful attack being made on our ships. Three of our fighters are missing. “ Our ships suffered only very minor damage, and all returned fit for immediate service. Our casualties were slight. Over 120 Germans were killed and 95 German naval _ and! military prisoners and nine Quislings have been brought back. The entire combined operations went exactly according to plan, and all the objectives were attained within the time allowed, all forces withdrawing at 2.45 P The communique disposes of the Gorman account in which the Nazis excelled themselves in lying. “ The best proof of its success,” said) _an officer, “ is found in the howl of indignation which has issued from the German wireless stations ever since.”