NAVY'S HUGE TUSK

Evening Star, Issue 24482, 17 April 1943, Page 5

NAVY'S HUGE TUSK

TEN AND A HALF MILLION TONS CONVOYED HEAVY LOSSES OF ITALY'S FLEET ——— (British Official Wireless.) ■•' - LONDON, April 17. Sir Andrew Cunningham, Com-mander-in-Chief of the Allied Naval Forces in the Mediterranean, has given some details of the part the Navy has played in the North Africa campaign. Over 10J million tons of shipping had been used in supplying the armies in Africa, he said, and in one day alone in March over one million tons of snipping was convoyed. Our losses during these operations were less than 2J per cent. During the same period the Axis -shipping-losses had- been-' over 33 1-3 per cent., and recently they had been considerably greater. He reported that two British destroyers had sunk two Italian destroyers off the Tunisian coast, while the damage and casualties to the British vessels were practically nil. Sir Andrew Cunningham said the Fleet was ready and waiting to smash any attempt on the part of the Axis to stage a " Dunkirk." Heavy bombers attacked Sicily last night, and airfields and oilier targets had a taste of some of our eight and four thousand lb bombs.