FIGHT IN CHANNEL

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 December 1940, Page 7

FIGHT IN CHANNEL

DESTROYERS ENGAGED DARKNESS SAVES GERMANS [BY CABLE. —PRESS ASSN. —COPYRIGHT.] RUGBY, November 30. German, destroyers engaged in the English Channel yesterday morning by a flotilla of British destroyers were repeatedly hit by shell-fire as they made off at high speed towards Brest, and one British destroyer was hit by a torpedo, but she reached port i safely. Three German bombers which attacked the destroyer as she was on her way home were shot down and another was damaged. The story of the engagement is told by the Admiralty, which says: “Contact was made at 5.40 a.m., and fire was immediately opened by both sides. The German force, which consisted of at least three destroyers, scattered and withdrew at high speed towards the French coast, firing torpedoes as they went. “One of our destroyers, H.M.S. Javelin, on board which was the officer in command of the flotilla (Captain Lord Louis Mountbatten), was hit and damaged by a torpedo early in the engagement.. The Javelin has now been brought safely to port. “Another of our destroyers chased an enemy destroyer which made off to the west under cover of smoke, but she lost touch after half-an-hour because of darkness and the enemy’s use of a smoke-screen.

“The remaining enemy destroyers were chased southward by other British units. These German destroyers also escaped in the darkness* and subsequent attempts to regain touch proved fruitless. It has not been possible to establish with certainty the extent of the damage inflicted by our gunfire, but the enemy were seen to be repeatedly hit. Apart from the Javelin, the British forces sustained no other damage or casualties. ■ , J . ... The Air Ministry states that while fighting off a series of German bombing attacks against the Javelin, Royal Air Force fighters without loss shot down three aeroplanes and damaged another.

SUPPLY SHIP TORPEDOED RUGBY, December 1. An Admiralty communique states: In the early hours, of this morning, an offensive patrol of our motor torpedo boats attacked and damaged a large German supply ship off the Dutch coast. The German steamship Santos, 5943 tons, sent an SOS stating that she had been torpedoed off the mouth of the Scheldt. All our motor-boats returned safely. One of them received superficial damage from gunfire of the escorting German warships. Only two men were wounded. In another part of the North Sea our light forces, last night, chased off a German E-boat patrol, which escaped in the darkness owing to its superior speed. GERMAN DESTROYERS. BERLIN, November 30. A new destroyer flotilla has been commissioned. Herr Hitler named them “Destroyer Flotilla Narvik.” GERMAN SHIP’S SOS. LONDON, December 1. The German freighter Rhein, off the coast of Mexico, broadcast an appeal for help, after which nothing more was heard from her. She left Tampico yesterday in company with the German ship Idarwald, in another attempt to run the British blockade.

TRAWLER CASUALTIES. / (Received December 2, 10.50 a.m.) LONDON, December 1. The Admiralty named one killed and 13 missing, presumed killed, on the trawler Trinovia, also two officers wounded, one rating killed, two died of wounds, four missing presumed killed, and one wounded on the trawler William Wesney. MEDITERRANEAN CONTROL. RUGBY, November 30. There is wide agreement in the London papers that an estimate of the blow sustained by the Italian Navy in the engagement near Sardinia on Wednesday last may safely be left to responsible opinion in the world. The blow to prestige is particularly stressed by “The Times,” which comments: “When two battleships, one of them one of the newest and most powerful in the world, retire from a twenty-three-years-old battle cruiser, it is not Italian confidence that is likely to be stimulated, but British.”

“A material angle blow, following closely on the Taranto exploit,” is described in the “Daily Telegraph,” as having changed fundamentally the whole naval position in the Mediterranean.” Italy,” the “Daily Telegraph” says, “began as a great maritime power and, under Axis strategy, she was, by a continual avoidance of action, to conserve her strength until such time as that of the British Fleet had been whittled away by the submarine and other hazards, of the war, and until battle could at least be joined with a good prospect of victory. The expected attainment has not taken place, and the whole plan has been irretrievably wrecked in the space of 16 days. ‘Mare Nostrum’ is commanded to-day by the British Navy.”

BLOCKADE’S SUCCESS. LONDON, December 1. The Minister of Economic Warfare, Dr. Hugh Dalton, made, a broadcast to the United States on the subject of the blockade. He . showed how Americans could give further aid by extending and tightening their export control, and by refusing to trade with firms that were friendly to the Axis, and by denying port facilities to any neutral ships that were likely to be blockade runners. Dr. .Dalton reminded his listeners that the blockade would shorten the war. He indicated that the enemy’s oil position could be measured by months, and not by years. He said: “There will, be a great and growing scarcity. The. looted stocks of oil, rubber and copper are used up. The Germans are back where they were seven months ago, or are worse off. The war must last a long while yet, but the end is sure.