BLITZ ON SHIPS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20637, 18 August 1941, Page 6

BLITZ ON SHIPS

HEAVY AXIS LOSS R.A.F. FLEET AIR ARM OVER 20,000 TONS SUNK (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2 p.m. RUGBY, Aug. 17. With the destruction in the Mediterranean during the last 48 hours of 17,000 tons of enemy shipping, to which must be added a 2000-ton merchant vessel sunk in Catania harbour, and another vessel of 1300 tons sunk at Syracuse during the last few days, the Royal Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm completed a most successful week in the Middle East, states the Air Ministry. To these confirmed shipping losses and a collier, which was bombed at Lampedusa, must be added a destroyer and two schooners, each of 800 tons, probably destroyed. Ranging in raids from Gondar to Tripoli, Sicily and Greece, our aircraft caried out a blitz which, though overshadowed by the intensity of the air war over Germany and the occupied countries, nevertheless proved extremely successful. It started on the night of August 8, when a large form-, ation of Royal Air Force heavy bombers carried out a concentrated and damaging attack on the Corinth Canal. It was subsequently revealed after the second raid a few nights later that it would not be navigable for a long period. Continuous day and night attacks were made elsewhere by the Royal Air Force, Fleet Air Arm. and the South African Air Force, often flying American-built Marylands and Tomahawks. During the week the British planes also attacked shipping and aerodromes in Sicily and southern Italy.