LAMPEDUSA TAKEN

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 June 1943, Page 5

LAMPEDUSA TAKEN

TERRIFIC BOMBARDMENTS

THOUSANDS MORE PRISONERS

AIRMAN’S DRAMATIC EXPERIENCE

LONDON. June 13. “After 24 hours of intermittent naval and. air bombardment, the Italian island of Lampedusa surrendered on Saturday and is being occupied by the Allied forces,' says a special North African communique. White flags were seen on Lampedusa at 6.20 p.m. as Allied forces approached the island after pounding it for almost 24 hours. An officer went ashore at 7 p.m. and demanded unconditional surrender, which was given by the officer commanding the garrison. Immediately the forma.; - .ties were completed, the Allied officer informed the Italian Commander that the Allied forces would take oyer, and later in the evening troops disembarked at a small port at the southern end and occupied the whole island. „ , , Relays of Mitchells, Bostons, and BaHimores, escorted by WarhawKs and Lightnings, had bombed Lampedusa, inflicting heavy damage. By the middle of the afternoon the island’s gun emplacements and oatteries had been knocked out, and the town was wrecked. Lampedusa is the largest of a group of three islands lying about 90 miles south-east of Pantelleria. It is a barren, flat-topped island, difficult of access from the sea. Near it are the two very small islands of Linosa, 25 miles to the north-east, and Lampione, 10 miles to the west. The Allied air attacks were switched from Pantelleria to Lampedusa 90 minutes after the first white flag appeared on Pantelleria. It is considered the fastest tactical changeover ever carried out by any air force. Lampedusa was suddenly and without warning deluged with bombs. There was no gradual crescendo, but a sudden unleasing of the attack that had been previously poured on Pantelleria. Nevertheless, Lampedusa was given a chance to surrender by messages dropped to the garrison from aeroplanes. The British United Press and Associated Press correspondents at an advanced North African base give another account of the Lampedusa surrender. They say that when Sergeant Pilot Cohen, of the Royal Air Force, made a forced landing on Lampedusa Island on Saturday, while the island was still shuddering under the blast of Allied bombs, Italians with a white flag rushed towards him, shouting “Can’t you do something about this?” The Italians, to Sergeant Cohen’s amazement, offered him the surrender of the island, which he accepted. Sergeant Cohen, during a flight from Malta, had landed on Lampedusa because he was short of petrol. The engine of his aeroplane had been working badly, but the vibration of the Allied bombs inexplicably righted the engine. After sheltering for two hours from the Allied bombs, Sergeant Cohen induced the Italians to refuel his aeroplane. He flew off to a North African base to report the island’s surrender.

Reuter's Algiers correspondent says that the Italian garrison on Lampedusa is estimated at about 3000. INCIDENTS OF SURRENDER. LANDING UNOPPOSED. LONDON, June 12. More than 10,000 Italians were taken prisoner on Pantelleria, 3000 o£ whom are already on their way to the mainland. The first British Division, including many Dunkirk veterans, landed on Pantelleria. The landing troops had difficulty in distinguishing Italian officers among the masses of Italian troops surrendering. There was not a single German among the prisoners. The special correspondent of the Combined British Press, who was an eye-witness of the fall of Pantelleria, says: “Pantelleria fell to the British without a shot of opposition, after the mammoth final aerial bombardment. The troops who landed on Friday afternoon found the place an utter shambles. Latex' parties landed on heaps of rubble which used to be jetties, and encountered no trouble. The island is still being methodically mopped up. There were 15,000 Italians on the island, commanded by an admiral, who is still in the hills. The 6000 civilians had been without water for three days. The landing party was ordered to share its water-bottles with the civilians. The island is still filled with smoke and flames from the last terrible raid. A huge oil dump is burning fiercely near the town. There are so many bomb holes that sometimes three or four of them run together. The island was beaten insensible by bombs.”

A Rome communique says: “Subjected to mass ail - and naval attacks of unprecedented power and frequency, and deprived of all civilian water supplies, Pantelleria was compelled to surrender on Friday.” “We beg to surrender for lack of water,” was the signal sent from Pantelleria shortly before noon on Friday. An air bombardment more furious than any the world has previously known battered Pantelleria into submission. There are no reports of a single casualty in the Allied landing forces, which is a striking demonstration of the economy of air attack.

AERIAL BOMBARDMENT. A British soldier who experienced the blitz on England and fought throughout the Tunisian campaign, said the damage done on Pantelleria by the air bombardment was the worst he had ever seen. Forts received direct hits which smashed right through the cement, and coastal guns were demolished. There were only a few casualties among the civilians, who lived day and night in shelters in the rock. From dawn to dusk bombers attacked the island, making 100 separate raids. Most of the time the island was obscured in thick clouds of smoke and dust. Fresh relays of bombers had to stand off until the air cleared. One report says that when the order finally came to cease fire the island was ringed with a thick cloud of smoke. The attacks began with the pounding of airfields, which were littered with destroyed aircraft. Then ships in the harbour were attacked and put out of action. Finally the gun emplacements were knocked out one by one. The island was bombed as no other island has been bombed before. Thirty-seven enemy aircraft were shot down during the day for the loss of six Allied aeroplanes Allied'aeroplanes dropped 3500 tons of bombs on Pantelleria between June 1 and June 10. An Italian communique said that about 1000 enemy aeroplanes hammered Pantelleria before the second demand for surrender was delivered. . Landing shortly after noon on Friday British tfoops completed the occupation of Pantelleria within an hour. As the troops were landing shortly after the garrison had raised the white flag of surrender, 50 of 60 German dive-bombers attacked the landing craft, diving out of ram clouds. American fighters attacked

the enemy machines, which were forced to drop their bombs at random. Eye-witnesses say that not one British vessel was hit, though bombs fell all round them.

OFFICIAL REPORT

RUGBY, June 13. A North Africa communique states: Twenty-eight hundred prisoners were evacuated from Pantelleria on Friday, leaving a large number to be moved. The work is proceeding. On Friday night, a strong force of light coastal craft carried out patrols in the Siclian Channel to prevent enemy interference with operations at Pantelleria. Enerpy craft were met, and they were attacked with torpedoes, but on being attacked they fled at high speed. Immediately after the surrender of Pantelleria, strong forces of medium and fighter bombers of the South African Air Force carried out attacks on Lampedusa. Four cruisers with six destroyers, including a Greek destroyer, bombarded the island twice on Friday night and at frequent intervals yesterday. Enemy batteries were in action, but ceased fire on being engaged. Following heavy air attacks, shortly after 5.3 U p.m. white flags were seen flying on the island, and about 7 p.m. the Naval Commander sent an officer ashore to negotiate the surrender. The destroyer Nubian was off the island of Linosa early this morning. White flags were flying and the surrender was accepted. One hundred naval and military personnel were taken prisoner and evacuated. An air offensive also directed against air bases in Sicily by forces of Fortresses and Marauders escorted by Lightnings and Warhawks. Attacks were made on important airfields at Mile Cas.tevetrano and Boccadifalco. None of our aircraft is missing from these operations. Linosa is 30 miles north-east of Lampedusa.

COMMENTS ON CAPTURE

LONDON, June 12.

The military correspondent of the ’’Daily Mail” emphasises that Pantelleria’s fall has a tremendous implication. It lays before Italy, in all its deadly significance, the might of the blow which can be dealt her before an invasion. Pantelleria was a demonstration of the new Allied offensive technique. Its capture was the result of the softening up of a limited objective to a supreme, logical, conclusive point at which there was no need to invade, but merely to occupy.” “No one imagines that the greater objectives and more powerful defences which lie ahead will fall as easily as the fortress which II Duce vaingloriously set amidst the Sicilian Narrows, or that .they will collapse like the walls of Jericho at the first blast,” says “The Times” in a leading article. “Pantelleria was no more than an outpost of Sicily, which itself is an outpost of Italy. There are no suggestions that its capture brings the Allies in the Mediterranean more than one step closer to the European fortress, yet there are circumstances connected with the collapse which are encouraging. “Never before has moral and material resistance been so rapidly and brilliantly subdued. The Japanese, however overwhelming their strength, always had land troops even on weaklv held Pacific islands. The explanation of the successful defence of Malta and the fall of Pantelleria lies in the fact that the Allies dominate the Sicilian Narrows to an extent which the enemy never achieved. Pantelleria was blockaded by air and sea, and the Italians could not succeed in breaking the blockade as the British succeeded in breaking that at Malta.” The fall on Pantelleria has been greeted with great enthusiasm by +he island of Malta. Pantelleria fell on the third anniversary of the first major attack on Malta. A great number of the devastating attacks on Malta were launched from Pantelleria. „ x ~ ~ The United States Secretary oi the Navy (Colonel Knox) said in Washington that the capture of Pantelleria eliminated an important enemy, bastion, but other islands must be taken before the Mediterranean was completely cleared. Pantelleria meant the same to the Allies as Malta would mean to Italy if she captured it.

AERIAL TARGETS

LONDON, June 12

A Middle East air communique says that Royal Air Force heavy bombers on Thursday night attacked thp Reggio aerodrome, in the toe oi Italy. They set on fire and blew up a hangar, and also started fires. , Long-range aeroplanes oft the west coast ' of Greece shot away a schooner’s rudder and set on ffie a second schooner with a cargo oi bai - rels on the deck. They directly hit a third vessel, which was abandoned by its crew. . , A Malta communique says that Royal Air Force fighter-bombers on Friday directly hit a factory at Pozzallo, in Sicily. Bombs also fell near a railway and on a main. road, In traders on Friday night attacked railway sidings at Milazzo and bombs burst in the target area.

ENEMY PLANES DESTROYED

RUGBY, June 13. Large numbers of enemy planes were smashed on the ground in three airfields of Western Sicily by the North-west African Air; Force yesterday, while bombing of Lampedusa was still in progress, says a correspondent attached to Allied Headquarters. Fortresses found neaily 150 planes parked at Castel Vetrano and Boccadifalco, and they dropped bombs among them. Many fires and two explosions were seen, and a large fire was observed in the south and central part of the airfield. At Boccadifalco aerodrome, which US near Palermo, many of 72 planes on the fields were destroyed. Many hits were also scored on buildings neai the aerodrome. Fire and black smoke rising from the centre of the field were visible for 25 miles. Ten enemy fighters were seen shortly, after the bombers left the target, but these made no attacks. I Marauders carried out an attach on Milo airfield, near Trapani. Only negligible anti-aircraft fire was encountered anywhere, and few enemy planes were seen in the air. Our fighters on Saturday attacked Mersemimi, states a Malta message. Bombs burst on the target area. A small vessel off Mersemimi was attacked with cannon fire. During the night our intruders attacked road transport south of Comiso. AXIS CLAIMS (Recd. 12.45 p.m.) LONDON, June 13. Following the disastrous two days in which Italy lost all her island outposts between Sicily and the African mainland, the Rome radio, to-day, I prepared the Italian people for further Allied moves, particularly attacks against Sardinia, Sicily, or

both. The announcer said: “Hannibal is at the gates. This is the feeling that is current throughout the country to-day. The situation is the gravest Italy has ever faced in the whole of her modern history. Innumerable Allied ships are in Mediterranean waters. Our planes with their German comrades arc hurling themselves incessantly into the attack against the enemy warships m the Sicilian Straits and Algerian waters off Cyrenaica.” The German News Agency also reported a concentration of a considerable number of small landing craft in Bizerta Harbour and claimed that German bombers, attacking on the night of June 12 sank or severely damaged at least 20 of these vessels. An Italian communique claims that the Luftwaffe attacked an enemy naval formation in the Sicilian Straits, sank a transport, and 14 landing craft, and seriously damaged three cruisers, 14 smaller naval units and six cargo ships. The radio reports that a great battle, which began yesterday, is now progressing between the Axis divebombers and a large convoy, sailing between Pantelleria and the Tunisian coast, including a large number of troop transports, ships carrying equipment, and big landing barges, protected by powerful naval forces. Meanwhile, Allied air forces are keeping up an onslaught against Sicily. Reuter’s correspondent at Allied Headquarters in North Africa declares that Sicily, the United Nations’ next stepping-stone to the Italian mainland, in the past 24 flours has taken another powerful hammering from the air.

AXIS DEFENCES

LONDON, June 12.

“The Aegean Islands are being converted into fortresses in readiness for an invasion,” says the Official German News Agency. “The defences include concrete blockhouses, barbed wire entanglements, and artillery.” Messages from Ankara say that there have been intense German defence measures in Jugoslavia and along the entire Adriatic coastline. The puppet Croatian Government is reported to have been reorganised to include a number of Germans.

Rommel is organising the defences of South France, and has established his headquarters at Perpignan, says the Algiers radio. Rommel is reported to have asked for the command of the entire defences from the South of France to South of Salonika.

Rommel, after inspecting Axis defences at Salonika, is reported to have gone to Athens to meet Admiral Canaris.

FASCIST COUNCIL MEETS

NEW YORK, June 13.

Mussolini summoned the Fascist Grand Council for a secret two-hours’ session on Saturday evening, according to a “New York Times” report from Rome. The last officially announced meeting was on June 9, 1940, before the Italian declaration of war on France, although the Council has met secretly several times since. The Council, it is reported, “examined measures to ensure adequate defence of the metropolitan area in view of coming events.” It discussed German disappointment that the construction of fortifications was considerably below expectations, and also an immediate extension of the Italian Air Force to replace German pilots flying Italian aeroplanes in defence of the Peninsula.

The Fascist publicist, Gayda, in a newspaper article, attacks Mr. Roosevelt. Gayda declared that the initiative for the war against Italy from North Africa came from the White House. “It is a defensive war against the imperialist plans of the United States, which started an armed offensive six months before the formal declaration of war,"’ he says.

TALKS WITH TURKEY.

ANKARA, June 13

Admiral Sir John Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief of the Levant, lias arrived by ’plane with a small staff for talks'with Turkish military leaders.

NAVY’S GREAT WORK.

MR. CHURCHILL’S TRIBUTE

RUGBY, June 12

The Mediterranean was reopened by British minesweepers last month. The extent of Allied domination of the Mediterranean, leading to this result, is shown by the disclosure in a message of congratulation of the Navy’s work sent, by Mr. Churchill to Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, that the Axis lost one-third of. its shipping in the Tunisian campaign, and that the Allies lost just over’ 2 per cent, of the vast convoys which carried and maintained their North African armies. Mr. Churchill said: “The daring and devotion of our submarines succeeded in sinking 47 ships, and our surface forces sank 42 ships, making a total of 268,600 tons. When to this are added sinkings by air, a grand total of 137 ships, of 433,400 tons is reached. This is 32 per cent, of the estimated shipping initially available In the Axis at the beginning of the Tunisian campaign. During the long struggle on the mainland the Navy and’the Air Force, working in the closest co-operation, sank 21 enemy destroyers *or torpedo-boats and many small craft, and prevented 35 per cent, of the enemy supply ships and transport from reaching Tunisia. “To minesweepers fell the honour of reopening the Mediterranean by clearing channels 600 miles long, between May 9 and May 21. The protection of our own convoys was carried to the very highest point, and losses between November 8 and May 5 were less than 21, per cent. .Motor torpedo-boats in the first fortnight of May sank nine enemy ships, ryith the loss of four torpedo-boats. “Destroyers, with motor torpedoboats and' cruisers in support, made a close blockade round the Tunisian tip in the final phase, through which practically nothing was able, to pass, and the prospects of a Dunkirk were denied the enemy. All this could not have been accomplished without the support of the battleships, aircraftcarriers, and cruisers who were denied the meeting with the Italian battle fleet which they so ardently desired.”