BRITISH REPLY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 August 1940, Page 6

BRITISH REPLY

TO ITALIAN FALSEHOOD ONE MACHINE MISSING INSTEAD OF 14. EFFECTIVE ATTACK MADE ON MASSAWA. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day. 11,30 a.m.) RUGBY August. 5. In the attack by enemy bombers on Mersa Matruh, reported in a Cairo communique, bombs were dropped, but there were no R.A.I-. casualties. Our fighters intercepted and forced a number of enemy aircraft to jettison their bombs in the sea. Two enemy aircraft were so badly damaged that they are unlikely to have been able to return to their base. A fuel dump al Massawa was raided by a small force of our bombers. All the bombs were dropped in the target area and a building was struck. Enemy fighters- attacked and anti-aircraft fire was intense, but all our aircraft returned safely. Another raid was made on Massawa Harbour. In a low-level attack, bombs were seen to burst among submarines and a direct hit was made on a naval vessel. Anti-aircraft and pom-pom fire was violent, but ineffective. The statement in this communique that one British machine failed to return is the answer to Italy’s claim to have “destroyed fourteen British aircraft during yesterday.”