R.A.F. IN MIDDLE EAST

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 27 October 1941, Page 5

R.A.F. IN MIDDLE EAST

NAPLES HAS THIRD ATTAC K SEVEN-HOUR BOMBING OF TRIPOLI Rugby, Oct. 25 Attacks on objectives in Italy, Sicily, North Africa and Abyssinia are reported among widespread British air activities in the Middle East. While Naples was undergoing its third consecutive night bombing, other!: heavy bombers were carrying] out a seven-and-a-hall'-hour raid on Tripoli, where a number of targets were systematically pounded. Further details of the third con secutive raid on Naples are contained ir. an Air Ministry bulletin which state. : "A great tire started in Naples on Tuesday night was still raging 24 1 hours later when heavy bombers revisited the city. On Wednesday night there was a layer of cloud 10.000 feet thick which reached down nearly to the ground, while heavy rain was falling in the target area. The lower clouds, however, were aglow with the j light caused by the previous night’s) fires. Our aircraft then dropped morebombs on the railway yards, starting. fit h tires. On Thursday night, in j clear weather, our bombers returned! and for nearly six hours thousands of pounds of high-explosives were rained on military objectives. There is no truth in an Italian claim that one Royal Air Force bomber was shot down on Tuesday night. All the aircraft engaged in these raids returned safely, but one British pilot reported having seen a ball of flame resembling a burning aircraft in the sea near Pantellaria Island. As none of the R.A.F. bombers claims to have shot down an enemy aircraft, it must be assumed that the Italians shot down one of their own aircraft. An R.A.F. Middle East communique states that during Thursday night bombers attacked Tripoli and Benghazi. At Benghazi bombs burst on the moles, causing fires, while at Tripoli many bombs were dropped on various targets. Naval aircra.t bombed and muchme- ' gunned motor-transport and tents near [the frontier. Fires followed the at--1 tack. Other naval aircraft raided Bar ilia and caused an explosion on the [south headland. ] South African bombers raided the j south landing ground at Gazala. Enemy I aircraft on the ground were severely i damaged. i In the Central Mediterranean two j enemy merchant ships were bombed jar .1 machinegunned. The full results lof the attack could not be observed. i The railway and a factory at Raguss j ar.d a factory at Licata, in Sicily, were I als - effectively attacked. From all these operations one BritI ish aircraft is missing. —B.O. W.