CONVOY ATTACKED

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 97, 23 March 1940, Page 7

CONVOY ATTACKED

NEUTRALS DAMAGED. STUPID NAZI CLAIMS. FACTS PRESENTED. (United Press Association—By ElectricTelegraph—Copyright.) LONDON, March 21. Replying to a claim by the German Official News Agency that German ’planes toward nightfall yesterday successfully attacked and scattered a British convoy off Scapa Flow which was guarded by cruisers and destroyers, and that several ships were sunk or badly damaged, an Admiralty communique states: “Two small neutral vessels were slightly damaged in a German raid on a convoy. His Majesty’s ships were undamaged. The escorting warships and ’planes of the Naval and Coastal Commands engaged the enemv.”

The damaged neutral ships were the Norwegian ship Svinta (1267 tons), which was abandoned and her crew rescued, and the Swedish Utklippan (1599 tons), which was hit by an incendiary bomb. The Norwegian vessel Torn Elisc (721 tons) was also hit. Two naval ’planes on one occasion dispersed 10 Tleinkels. One I-leinkel was damaged by anti-aircraft fire from the escorting warships, and several others were hit by two naval ’planes. Official circles say that Nazi airmen have not sunk a single ship in convoy during the war, despite the repeated fantastic claims. The total damage done to British warships as a result of air attacks is as follows; IT.M.S. Mohawk, damaged bv splinters on October 16; Iron Duke, damaged by a bomb on October 19: one cruiser which suffered very slight superficial damage on October 16 by a bomb which failed to explode; and one warship, which is not a capital ship, slightly damaged by a bomb at Scapa Flow on Marcli 16. 42.00 Q TONS OUT. The German News Agency admits that one German ’plane failed to return from the attack on the British convov. A Berlin communique claims that i German 'planes sank nine British merchantmen and warships of a total tonnage of 42.000, damaged two merchantmen of 11,000 tons, and shot down one British ’plane in the raid on Scapa Flow. They also attacked armed merchantmen in the English Channel. Amplifying its report in reply to this claim, an Admiralty communique (quoted by British Official Wireless) says that the convoy, which consisted \ almost entirely of neutral ships, was j not dispersed and is proceeding safely j upon its voyage. The raiders _ were | driven off liv British naval aircraft, j and one of the German ’planes was do- i stro.ved and others hit. Three neutral merchantmen, as already announced, j were damaged, and the British steam- i ship Northern Coast (1211 and j the Norwegian vessel Earling Lindoe (1281 tons) reported on their arrival in harbour that they suffered damage. The British ship Barn Hill (5439 tons), which was unarmed and was not in the convoy, was sot on fire by an incendiary bomb, but the lire was extinguished and the ship is now in safety.

Thus the German claim that 42.000 tons of shipping wore •sunk yesterday is 42,000 tons in excess of the actual facts. This considerable error is perhaps due to the agitated mental itv caused by the Sylt raid, for which agitation every allowance should be made. NEUTRALS SUFFER. The German statement that 11,000 tons of shipping was damaged is not so far out —the active figure being 14,518 tons—the Danish ships Viking and Bothal being torpedoed and sunk yesterday in Scottish , waters. The Nazi wrath was thus vented yesterday almost entirely upon neutrals, who, being unarmed, present a peculiar temptation to Nazi prowess when out of convoy. The experience so far gained in the present war in no way justifies predictions that air power would prove j a decisive factor at sea. The only form of attack which has yielded the slightest success to the German air I force has been attacks on defenceless j merchantmen sailing independently | and on fishing vessels, lightships and | lightship tenders. Even so, the losses due to air attack have been exceedingly small in proportion to the effort expended by the enemy.