INTENSE ACTIVITY

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 97, 24 March 1941, Page 8

INTENSE ACTIVITY

AIR FORCE IN AFRICA. (United Press Association—Copyright) (British Official Wireless.) (lice. 1.10 p.m.) lIUGBY, March 24. The destruction of seven enemy aircraft for one British loss is recorded in the account of widespread air operations given in the communique from K.A.F. Headquarters in the Middle East on Sunday. This spates that intense aerial activity continues in Italian East Africa in support of Army operations. In the Keren area enemy positions were repeatedly attacked by R.A.F. bomber and fighter aircraft. At Asmara the railway station was subjected to a heavy'attack yesterday, and during the raid our lighters engaged a number of Caproni 42V and shot down two in ilames. Three others were destroyed in the same area the previous day by the same squadron. "In the Gondar area fires were started among buildings following a bombing attack by K.A.F. bomber aircraft on barracks and warehouses. "Attacks were made on trains.on the Jibuti-Addis Ababa railway by bombers of the South African Air Force, resulting in the destruction of at least one train, which was burned out after receiving direct hits from a salvo of bombs. A formation of K.A.F. bombers also attacked trains at A Idem and tlota with machine-gun fire, and bombed and machine-gunned a large concentration of enemy motor transport on the road between Urso and Awash.. Enemy positions in the Marda Pass area were similarly attacked. One of the two raiding bombers officially reported to have been destroyed on Sunday was chased by two fighters piloted by a South African and a Czech. The South African, states the Air Ministry News Service, opened the combat from close He broke away to let his Czech co,league attack, then attacked again himself. Both pilots saw pieces flying off the' raider after each burst ot the guns of their Hurricanes. The raider jettisoned his bomb load and dived into a cloud, the rear-gunner still firing. The enemy iheu crashed.