FIERCE COMBAT

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24132, 26 November 1941, Page 7

FIERCE COMBAT

FIGHTERS OVER DESERT EMPIRE SQUADRON MESSERSCHMITTS MAULED (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 24 The longest air battle between fighters in the history of the Western Desert took place south of Tobruk at dusk on Saturday. For over an hour Tomahawk fighters of an Empire squadron, composed of British, South Africans, Canadians, New Zealanders and Australians, fought an equal number o'f Messerschmitts, and the battle ended only when the Germans broke off as darkness closed around the rival squadrons. It is known that only one Tomahawk crashed, and the enemy lost at least three Messerschmitt 109's and at least six others were seriously damaged. Pilot's Account A despatch from a correspondent on the Libyan front gives a pilot's description of what happened: "We were heading north when we saw them coming out of the sun toward us. They climbed above us and started diving, five of them at a time, trying to get us one by one. They would not come very near, and one of us would come out of the formation, give a couple of bursts and beat off the attack. In order to prevent their diving, we came down lower and lower. By that time land troops had opened fire on us, and we had Messerschmitts above us and an attack below. One of our chaps stopped back for a while, breaking off from the formation and machine-gun-ning the troops, but the enemy kept up the fight till almost dark." Eight Enemy Shot Down During the morning the same squadron escorted Blenheims which went out to bomb a retreating Italian mechanised force. The Tomahawks were flying in formation giving close support to the Blenheims, and enemy fighters which went to attack the bombers were all put 4 to flight. Hurricanes on Sunday badly handled a German force comprising 30 divebombers escorted by 20 fighters. They shot down eight and* damaged many others, and the remainder jettisoned their bombs and fled. Forty-three enemy machines were shot down on Monday, the Allied air force losing 11 aeroplanes. Widespread Raiding During Sunday, low-level machinegunning attacks were made on enemy aircraft on the ground, and bombers made a series of raids on enemy tanks, motor transport and personnel in the battle zone. On Saturday night our bombers raided Benina, Berca, Tripoli and Gazala, where a large petrol dump was destroyed. The aeronautical correspondent of the Times says the safety and mobility of the Royal Air Force squadrons have been considerably increased by the employment of their own armoured car companies, which protect transports taking supplies to new aerodromes. Reconnaissance flights over a period of months have searched out tracts of country suitable for advanced landing fields, and as the ground forces advance Royal Air Force fighter squadrons are able to accompany them. TOBRUK GARRISON EXCHANGE OF TROOPS LONDON, Nov. 25 Before the offensive began, it is now revealed, the Navy withdrew the whole of the Australian 9th Division from Tobruk, replacing it with United Kingdom and Polish troops. The operations lasted approximately four nights, and the number of men withdrawn and replaced was about 15,000. There was no sign that the enemy had any idea of what was going on. GERMAN EXPEDIENT ANTI-TANK ARTILLERY (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 24 In an attempt to overcome the advantage of the British tanks' superior armour, the Germans have thrown into the battle hastily-devised mobile artillery, says a correspondent with the Eighth Army. The Germans are stripping the armour from some of their heavy tanks and mounting guns on the tank frame, hoping the increased firepower will make up for the loss ot officers report that these lumbering gun-carriers are "easy meat for the fast and manoeuvrable cruiser tanks and the American tanks. HUN AIRMAN'S HATE LONDON. Nov. 24 The correspondent of the Associated Press of Great Britain with the Eighth Army says that when an 18-year-old German lighter pilot was brought up for questioning, lie spat in a British colonel's face. The officer ca mly wiped his face and said: "I would be justified in shooting you and ought to do so to prevent vou from breeding more of vour kind. The only reason I don't is because you don't know any better. It is lucky for vou that you did that to me and not to one of my sergeants."