TO USE AIR FORCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 243, 14 October 1939, Page 8

TO USE AIR FORCE

GERMAN ATTACK ON BRITISH FLEET FISHERMEN SEE BA’ITLE IN NORTH SEA [By Telegraph—Trees Association —Copyright) PARIS, Oct. 12. , The German Air Force is preparing j for action against the British Flecl. I states the Paris office of the Associated Press. Norwegian fishermen off Ihc Viking Bank in the North Sea who saw an engagement between British warships and German planes on October 9 said that at first they heard heavy gunfire and saw about 150 planes attack- , ing five British warships. Their ship | was caught in the battle, high ex- ; plosive bombs dropping nearby. The warships were going at full I speed and zig-zagging, blazing away I with their anti-aircraft guns. The: fishermen endeavoured to escape but [ the battle followed them for some, time. The warships finally disappeared to I the west and the planes eastward. I Shortly afterwards they heard a vio- , lent explosion and saw flames. Great , red aeroplanes appeared from the i west, circled over the scene and then i vanished. The fishermen declared that no ; warship was hit. CAPTURED BY BRITISH LARGE GERMAN LINER U-BOATS AVOIDING TRADE ROUTES Received Oct. 13. 5.5 p.m. LONDON, Oct. 12. It is announced that the! British Navy captured the German liner Cap Norte (13,650 tons), which' is believed to have been taking sup-' plies to a commerce raider. The Cap Norte carried foodstuffs and petroleum products and slipped out of the Brizilian port of Pernambuco on September 17 for an undisclosed destination, believed to have been Vladivostok. Oil companies declined to sell oil fuels used by submarines but the Cap Norte had 2500 tons of crude oil on board. The Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, replying to a question in the House of Commons regarding rumours that mother-ships were being

used by the Dominican Government to refuel German submarines operaiing in lhe Caribbean, said that the British Government was satisfied that the Dominican Government was fulfilling its duties as a neutral and that no foundation for any suggestion of I his kind existed. } A Ministry of Information comI munique stab- that Gcrinan submari mes arc sun keeping far afield from , the trade routes, and for the past I week there has been no report of the sinking of any British shtp. One small vessel is overdue but a variety of causes may have caused the delay in its arrival in port. j U-boats arc reported to have been : in the West. Atlantic, but, like the German raider reported off Brazil, they showed no practical activity.