INTENSE FIGHTER OPPOSITION

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 78, 28 June 1943, Page 5

INTENSE FIGHTER OPPOSITION

London, June 27. Flying Fortresses had to shoot their way through swarms of enemy fighters to reach Messina in yesterday’s raid, says the Columbia’s Broadcasting System’s Algiers correspondent. It is officially reported that anti-aircraft fire over the target was intense. Italian and German fighters pressed the attack from all directions, sometimes ignoring their own anti-aircraft fire and forcing the Fortresses to fight during bombing runs. One of our bomber flights was tailed to within sight of the African coast. “Fighters were as thick as gnats,** said one American gunner. Reuter’s Algiers correspondent says that 200 tons of explosives and incendiaries were dropped on Messina yesterday. A Rome communique admits that extensive damage was caused by the Fortress raid on Messina yesterday. Casualties were 81 killed and 85 wounded. Reggio de Calabria, one of the two mainland terminals of the Messina ferry, was also raided.

Home radio says the Allies have made 72 raids on Naples since 30th April, and Neapolitans spent 243 hours in air raid shelters. The semi-official newspaper, “Popolo d’ltalia,” gives three reasons why the invasion of Italy is regarded as imminent. Firstly, systematic air bombardments of Italian and Sicilian towns and ports; secondly, increasing concentrations of air, naval and landing forces in North Africa; thirdly, the presence of heavy British naval units at Gibraltar and their reinforcements by United States units. GANGS OF SLAVE LABOURERS London, June 27. The Germans are driving gangs of slave labourers, comprising Greeks, Jews and Russian prisoners, to work day and night building hasty defences along the Black Sea and Greek coast, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. Since the beginning of June two trains daily loaded with cement, iron and steel bars are arriving in Greece from Bulgaria, destined for the Salonika and Thermopylae region. The whole of the Black Sea coast, especially Burgas and Varna, is the scene of feverish activity. The Germans show signs of panic and appear to expect blows even in the most unlikely places.—P.A. NO TARGETS ALLIED SUBMARINES IN CENTRAL MEDITERRANEAN London, June 26. Allied submarines in the central Mediterranean at present are finding no targets, says Reuter’s Algiers correspondent. The British victory in North Africa seems to have cleared the Axis from the sea. One submarine commander summed it up: “Submarine work is dull these days. Axis vessels are afraid to venture out. A few ships appearing hug the shore as closely as one hundred yards.”—P.A. POLITICAL PRISONERS TRANSFERRED Moscow, June 26. All political prisoners in gaols and concentration camps in southern and central Italy have been urgently ‘~ansferred to north Italy, where new concentration camps are being built. According to a report from Geneva a total of 3000 prisoners is being transferred.—P.A.