NORTH SEA BATTLE

Grey River Argus, 16 January 1940, Page 8

NORTH SEA BATTLE

BLENHEIM PLANES Defeat Messerschmitts [British Official Wireless.] RUGBY, January 14. The Air Ministry announces that the engagement which took place Uetwen the enemy fighters of the typ. of Messer-Schmitt 110, and the Blenheim bombers of the R.A.H., in tne North Sea on January 10, was of particular interest from the tactical point of view. Latest accounts of tne incident show that 9 Blenheims were at the time on the way to carry out a reconnaissance over the area in the eastern portion of the North Sea. The Blenheims were flying in formation at an altitude of about 5,000 feet when they were intercepted by the Messe. Smitts, about 150 mil es n°rth-wesi of Borkum. Sighting the Messerschmitts, the leader closed up his formation and turned on a northwesterly course to draw the eu<- J further from his bases. As soon-as the enemy attacks developed, the leader led his formation down to sea leve’L to reduce the number of directions f rom which tne enemy could deliver , ,P confine them to fae upper hemisphere The top speed of the Messer-Schmitt 110 is reported to be about 365 mnes an hour, which gives it very considerable superiority over the Blenheim, and it is? of course, very heavily armed both with mach’ne-guns and cannons, yetfthe Blenheims by virtue mainly of admirable leadership and good discipline proved themselves more than a match for Germany’s most formidable fighters.

further details. [British Official Wireless.] (Received January 15, 10.0 p.m.) RUGBY, January 14. The account of the R.A.F. North Sea engagement on Wednesday lasi shows that for 20 minutes crack fighters of the German Air Force strove to break down the cohesion of the British formation. Messer-Schmitt fighters delivered their attacks with great rapidity, both from head-on, and from the beam, as well as from directly astern. Despite, however, every eifort, and simultaneous attacks from different directions, the Messerschmitts failed to make any appreciable impression on the steadiness of the Blenheim formation. The only loss to the Blenheims occurred in one of the first attacks, when the engine of one aircraft was put out of action, and the aircraft, consequently, was compelled to fall astern, where it was immediately set on by several Messerschmitts, and was shot down into tne sea. , . The remaining eight Blenheims immediately closed up again into an even tighter formation, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing one of tne Messer-Schmitts receive the full blast of their concentrated fire, and throw up a great column of water as it crashed into the sea. This success was soon followed up by the further sight of discomforture on the part of the enemy. After one of the MesserSchmitts had attempted a beam attack, and had come under heavy firs from the Blenheims, it"turned away with every appearance of having been hit, and made off in a south-east-erly direction towards the German coast. This one was soon followed by a hasty retirement in the same direction of another of the MesserSchmitts, which must certainly have been seriously damaged. -Of these two, it is now known that one was forced to come down in Denmark, where the crew were interned, and n is possible that the other failed to reach land, and came down at sea. After these losses, the remaining enemy fighters held back, and at tempted no further attacks, confining themselves to following the formation in the hope, perhaps, of having a chance of finding a straggler later on. In this they were disappointed. Meanwhile, as soon as the leader saw that the Messer-Schmitts had been driven off, he turned his formation back on to its original course to the eastwards, and fled on to the extreme limit of the distance ordered to complete the duties of reconnaissance which he was given to carry out. Thereafter, the formation flew ovdr the entire reconnaissance area, completing its duties in every detail, and it returned without further molestation to its base. The Mes-ser-Schmitt fighters had been thoroughly beaten by wel-judged leadership, good fighing disciipine, and steady formation flying, and had entirely failed to prevent the British formation from its task.

Flight Over Germany

DISCOUNTED BY ENEMY (Received January 15, 5.5 p.m.) BERLIN, January 14. The Germany Official News Agency admits that British planes deeply penetrated into Greater Germany yi Friday last. The Agency contends that th exploit -.was ineffectual, because it was a nocturnal flight. It adds: “The British planes did not reach Bratislava. They turned back for the west from Prague and Vienna, for which reason our anti-airrraft guns did not fire, though our grand observers followed their course throughout. Thi§ flight was not comparable with the German day flights over Paris, Monies, Bordeaux, the Shetlands, the Orkneys, and Scotland.”

BRITISH PLANES. HIT OVER HORN REEFS. BERLIN, January 14. The newspapers publish an eyewitness account of the Horn Reefs attack. He says the German destroyers were lying in wait for enemy merchantmen attempting to reach England. He several times saw the wreckage of ships which started the voyage despite a warning, and had to be sunk. The destroyers suddenly sighted eight planes. Two, flying lower, attacked. Anti-aircraft guns roared, and hit the mark with their first shots. “One crashed into the sea 100 yards away, and broke up. The second lower flyer was> hit, but escaped. Meanwhile, six more British planes approached, but the destroyers*' accurate anti-aircraft fire made two machines each drop two bombs far astern. Then all the p’anes turned for home.’’