THE CHANNEL FIGHT.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 216, 10 August 1940, Page 6

THE CHANNEL EIGHT.

The sea is Britain’s strength and the Navy and Air Force have the task of keeping- it open to shipping. How well they are performing- that duty requires no emphasis for their deeds are eloquent enough. The greatest and most determined air attack against Britain was launched on Thursday when, following an early morning assault before dawn by motor torpedo-boats upon a convoy, the Germans delivered three tremendous attacks upon the same ships, the great aerial battle lasting at interval's all day. It was a great triumph for the British fighters, who drove straight at their enemy and carried the war to him all the way. Losses there had to be .and sixteen British pilots' are known to have been shot down, but some have been saved by naval vessels with the convoy. Germany, on the other hand, had the most disastrous defeat in the air since the days of Dunkirk, losing sixty aeroplanes with their personnel. Several small ships in the convoy also -went down when struck by the torpedoes launched from' the motor-boats, small vessels of 30 to 40 tons, carrying torpedoes and depth charges, and even used for mine-laying', but they did not escape scathless. Many acts of heroism were recorded in that great day, and none more inspiring than that of a British .pilot, who drove his burning machine into the sea rather tlian try to land it when over a thickly populated town and possibly cause loss of life. The Nazis have boasted that Britain’s East Coast ports are closed; Thursday’s battle proves the contrary, and' with it that, as British Ministers have repeatedly stated, shipping enters and leaves these and other ports with the regularity that comes from excellent organisation. Losses we must have, but not on the scale the Goebbels -propaganda machine would have Germans, and. others believe, and 'these are given without hesitation. These great assaults by the Nazi air force-may be the prelude to others on shipping convoys, or on British ports and military objectives, but wherever they are launched there are airmen to match their courage and skill with the enemy and defeat him -again. while the Navy also does its job in.its efficient way.