HITTING HARD

Manawatu Standard, Volume LXI, Issue 155, 3 June 1941, Page 6

HITTING HARD

REPRISALS ON GERMANS. (United Press Association—Copyright) (itec. 12 20 p.m.) iii uiii, anno 2. An Air Ministry communique says a Coastal Command plane wmle on patrol yesterday encountered at. enemy lighter oll : Hie west coast- 01 I' ranee anti shot it down into the sea. An aircniit of the same command is missing Irom patrol yesterday. commenting on the ligure of 241 enemy airera.t destroyed tailing May in tne Middle Cast, a comm iinnj tie issued by R.A.E. Middle East, llead«jdarters states that tins brings the total lor the first tonr months of the year to 22 lb. it will be appreciated that this ligure relates to enemy airerait deliiutely known to have been tiestroyed and does not include numerous others badly damaged winch probably became write-offs. I lie figures lor the mouth have certain points' of special interest: The East African front, which lias Iseen the most fruitful source ot sueiess lor the Imperial Air Eorces since the war began, dried up with the collapse oi the Italians in Eritrea and Southern Abyssinia. Only two enemy aircraft wore destroyed in East Alriea —one shot down by fighters and the other Lv anti aircraft lire.

During the disturbances in Iraq the rebel air. lorce was wiped out in a week by our fighters. Towards the ejid oi the month these included several German aircraft.

Over Malta four enemy machines tv ore shot down by anti-aircralt tire and four by lighters. Oil the other fronts, which include Crete, Syria, and infrequent theatres of operations such as Suez and S.cily, 07 enemy aircraft were shot down by lighters. 27 l>v anti-aircraft tire and 72 destroyed on the ground. The largest- proportion of these were shot down in the Crete operations, where the enemy poured in aircraft and men without regard for loss of life and material. The total of the month was 244 lor the Middle East fronts, and against this the K.A.E. lost 0-3 aircraft. but the pilots of a number of there are safe. An analysis of the communiques issued during May reveals comparative aircraft losses in the various theatres of war to be: BRITAIN AND BRITISH COASTAL WATERS. British IS Enemy 20.3 GERMANY AND OCCUPIED TERRITORY. British Oi Enemv 31 i AT SEA. British 2 j Enemy 2-3 | THE DUBLIN OUTRAGE. Commenting on the raid on Dublin j on Saturday morning, the Dublin newspaper jrish Press reiers to the j protest to Germany sent by the Eirean j Government and says: In this pro-! test and demand the Government lias I the support of every Irish citizen, j This neutral State has maintained its , neutrality with a correctness which | has been evident to all the belligei- | cuts. That it should nevertheless sutler i the horrors of lust Saturday morning j calls for a most vehement condemna- I tion. The heart-rendering scenes in the i devastated areas must have brought to I the minds of all who saw or read them | a feeling of the deepest resentment ! that so grievous a hurt should have j 1.-cen inflicted on our capital and tin- i. offending people.” Ihe Irish Independent writes: ‘‘This is the eighth time within nine months j on which bombs have been dropped in- j side our territory.”—Official Wireless. OPERATIONS IN FRANCE. (Eee. 1..J.3 p.m.) RUGBY. June 2. There has been some slight enemyactivity off our coasts during to day. K.A.E. fighters today ranged over Northern France and the Channel, swooping low out of the clouds to attack motor transport, aerodromes, and an E-boat. One pilot came down io -300 ft and shot lip three large military lorries, then found an aerodrome and, diving to 100 ft, let go with his cannon at four German grounded aircraft.

A sergeant-pilot twice dived to attack the E-boat in the Channel and afterwards saw it wallowing in the sea with the engines stopped. An American pilot-officer shot up two Messerschmitts at the aerodrome.