GERMAN CRUISER

New Zealand Herald, Volume 79, Issue 24277, 19 May 1942, Page 3

GERMAN CRUISER

TORPEDOED OFF NORWAY DESTROYERS ATTACKED MANY COMBATS IN AIR LONDON. May 18 The German heavy-cruiser Prinz Eugen has been hit by torpedoes while steaming off the coast of Norway. > Four enemy destroyers were raked with fire and many combats in the air took place. The Prinz Eugen, in company with the battleships Scharnliorst and Gneisenau, recently ran the gauntlet through the English Channel, after leaving Brest on February 1, and while the three warships got through to their various destinations after a. running

fight in which there were numerous aerial combats and attacks launched by destroyers and motor-torpedo boats, it was subsequently proved that they had all been seriously damaged. Royal Air Force bombers recently found the Scharnhorst at Kiel, the Priiis; Fugen at Trondlicim, Norway, and the Gneisenau at Gdynia, Poland. All were showing evidence of severe damage. The new battleship von Tirpitz, a sister ship to the Bismarck, was also at Trondheim, and it was at this port that the discovery of other enemy naval units, including a submarine base with protected accommodation for many U-boats, led to renewed activity by planes of the British Bomber Command. It was stated that the German warships concentrated at Trondlicim were expected to be used for the purpose of attacking convoys en route to Russia, but the only enemy naval units that have undertaken these operations have been destroyers and submarines. The Prinz Fugen is a heavy cruiser of 10.000 tons, has a speed of 32 knots and carries a complement of 830. She carries eight Sin. guns, and 12 4.1 and 12 37 m.m. anti-aircraft guns, while in addition she has 12 torpedo tubes. The Prinz Fugen carries four aircraft. AUSTRALIA'S DANGER APPEAL FOR SPEEDY AID VITAL BASE FOR OFFENSIVE (Reed. 5.5 p.m.) LONDON, May 17 An appeal for a realisation of the danger facing Australia was broadcast by the Australian Minister for External Affairs. Dr. 11. V. Fvatt, says the British official wireless. Dr. Fvatt said that a heavy score of disasters was on the board, and that it must lie stopped, for if t hey Inst any more they might lose everything. In the past the Australians had helped to save Britain, and Britain, by winning the air battle in 1910. had saved Australia. Jiiit at the moment the Japanese were in possession of vital strategic points in and near New Guinea, and these were as much a gateway to Australia as Calais. Dunkirk and Boulogne were to Britain. Dr. Fvatt said he considered that the Japanese move to invade Australia which had been repulsed recently would lie renewed in greater strength. Under the present war organisation Britain and the United States jointly controlled the flow of supplies to Australia and to every other theatre of war. Only they, and they acting together, could allocate (lie aid needed. He said he was sure they would do it, for the defence of the Australian bases was of crucial importance. Only if those bases were secure could the Allies pass on to an offensive against the Japanese. Australia asked that the Pacific front should he regarded as of first-rate importance. Dr. Fvatt said he had been sent to Britain and to the United States to confer with Mr. Churchill and his colleagues on the immediate peril which faced Australia. Everything he had seen convinced him that the British nation could not he beaten. Both the Government and the people of Britain had resolved that the enemy now threatening the British in Australia and in New Zealand must he forced hack, and then overthrown.