ENEMY LOSSES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 89, 14 March 1941, Page 5

ENEMY LOSSES

BRITISH MINELAYING. NOTABLE SUCCESS. (United Press Association—Copyright.) (British Official Wireless.) (Rec. 10 a.m.) RUGBY, Mar. 13. Well over 100 ships engaged in supply for the enemy are known to have been destroyed in mined areas representing less than 10 per cent, of the total minefields laid by the R.A.E. and Fleet Air Arm. In laying the mines British aircraft have flown a million and a quarter miles. No German harbour is immune from British minelaying aircraft and, despite its powerful and active defences, the Kiel Canal has been the scene of considerable minelaying. The results take some time to show. For example, in September certain mines were laid in the canal but it was only at the end of November that it became known that seven enemy ships, each severelydamaged by mines, were lying at one end of the canal. The repeated mining of the Kiel Canal has undoubtedly seriously embarrassed the movements of enemy naval and mercantile craft. An Interesting instance occurred in December when a ship laden with iron ore was sunk in the canal. Salvage work was hampered by ice. There are few obstacles more difficult to clear than a sunken ship with such a cargo. # Throughout this period, even when the canal was not completely blocked, it had been open only to passage by the smallest ships. The canal bottom was damaged where a vessel sank and one embankment collapsed. After a long silence the Gormans advanced various excuses to explain the many difficulties of transit. First they attributed them to a collision and later to sabotage. Finally, it was stated that a bridge over the canal had collapsed on a ship and sunk it. The laying of mines from the air was a secret weapon when first used by the British am. Germany lost a great number of ships in narrow roadsteads and shallow channels beyond the reach of minelaying ships before realising the mines had been so laid. The mines, which are long cylinders with explosives oi the force of a torpedo, are stowed away in the bomb compartment, enclosed by folding doors on the underside of the aircraft fuselage. A parachute which is attached opens as the mine falls so that it slips gently into the water without damaging the delicate mechanism.