JOB WELL DONE

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25051, 15 November 1944, Page 5

JOB WELL DONE

GUNS SOON SILENCED

crack airmen used

end came rapidly ffljed. 6.30 p.m.) LONDON. Nov. 14 The plane to leave the scene bf the sinking of the Tirpitz was torn a Royal Air Force squadron. Ijjj e grow had been sent to film the attack. At the last moment they turned', thinking the Tirpitz was jboafc to capsize. She did so before the pilot completed the turn. The pilot of the plane said the weather was just right for the attack. "Her guns had been firing like blazes when we arrived, but she did not B end up a shot after getting the first direct hit," he added. The Tirpitz had been attacked seven times before-by the R.A.F., the Fleet Air Arm, midget submarines of the Royal Navy and by a Russian subTirpitz, completed in 1941, spent meet of her brief life in the fiords of Northern Norway, but the Royal Navy had to keep in Home waters a force able to deal with her if she came out into the open. Jlr Churchill has sent his congratulations to Air Chief-Marshal Sir Arthur Harris, Chief of the Bomber Command, on the success of the bombing. The Admiralty describes it as "a good job jrell done." *' Daring and Difficult Task The Press Association's aviation correspondent says that Wing-Commander Tait led the first attack with 12,0001b tabs against the Tirpitz in September oi this year. He and his men must be pad tnat they have completed the kLwhich was the most daring and most libit the Royal Air Force has carriei,out. over such a long distance. It i« difficult, because even the Tirpitz wsa small target from 16,000 ft, and it ras daring because she was heavily defended with flak, and the distance made It impossible to have any fighter cover.

Wing-Commander Tait's squadron is one of the R.A.F.'s crack squadrons. It taa formed by Wing-Commander GibMfl, V.C., to buret the Mohne and Eder dams, and later was commanded Wing-Commander Cheshire, V.C. It is called a "special duty" squadron. It las carried out many difficult operations, calling for the highest qualities of airmanship. Targets the squadron iaa previously attacked generally have been those unsuitable for the saturation type of raid, but against > which Oily a small force, bombing_ with the grwteat precision, could achieve satisfactory results. The pilots and navigators are the most highly trained oost experienced men in the R.A.F. Little Left Above Water

After capsizing under the terrific tttack by 29 Lancaster bombers, the Tirpitz settled to the bottom of Tromso Fiord, and now only her keel and some Parts of the bottom of the ship can be teen above water, 6ays the Air Ministry; •• The Lancasters arrived over Tromso Fiord shortly before 10.30 a.m. By W'3o the Tirpitz was hit, and at 10.45 Mfl was seen to be on fire. The Tirpitz *as observed heeling over in the wallow water of the fiord as the last bomber left. .Reconnaissance after the attack loowed that the battleship had completely capsized, with about 700 ft of % length of her keel sticking out of water. There was a great pool, of around the wreck, through which wulj be seen the booms which had wn. used to protect the battleship from torpedoes.

Three 12,0001b Bomb Hits (This was the third attack against tho Wpitz with 12,0001b bombs, but it was •as first time t'he attackers were able the ship properly. The weather was clear, and there was no •®oke screen. One 12,0001b bomb apparently hit the *' r pitz amidships, another hit the hows, •id a third hit toward the stern. There * 6 f6 also two very near misses, which havo clone serious damage below 'iter. The battleship heeled over rapidly. The last of the air crews to leave the said they saw that something was P-Dg to happen, so they turned back to watch. By the time they had J°®l)leted their turn the Tirpitz had liilzed. . ..The United States Secretary of the Jfy*. Mr J. V. Forrestal, said the iking of the Tirpitz had removed a ft- it® threat to Allied operations in 2 ?i orth Atlantic. Tho British Navy lit 1f werG to be congratu]a(i i the dodged perseverance which W a destruction of Germany's warship. tk 6 errnari s have not yet heen told lsrpi" z ews the sinking of the , art A°! e detailing German naval ,0!8e s to this war appears on page. 3. Eight ships damaged lff" Y CONVOY OFF NORWAY i 1 I/ONDON, Nov. M Of tw"r> i and Beaufighters Coastal Command, in k *«•?■ Norwegian coast yestereight ships including an All and two merohant vessels. lpS ere damaged. All our ' wt safely. Mi.J.