MOTIVE OF SORTIE

Waikato Times, Volume 130, Issue 21654, 14 February 1942, Page 7

MOTIVE OF SORTIE

for some future operations. If the three ships have in fact reached German waters safely he now has at his disposal the battleship Tirpitz, the pocket-battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the aircraft-carrier Graf Zeppelin, if fit, two or three eight-inch-gun cruisers and two six-inch-gun cruisers. Choice of Weather

Speculation also is natural how the German force managed to elude detection so long, but it is pointed out that the British Navy has many other very pressing commitments besides watching Brest. The picture will no doubt be clearer when the full Coastal Command reconnaissance reports are received. The Germans took their choice of the best weather for their purpose—low visibility, a low cloud ceiling and the probability of rain squalls. Later yesterday the wind velocity increased. Plans had of course been made to deal with a sortie of this nature, but the fact that the ships were not sighted till 11 a.m. meant that their appearance must be regarded as in the nature of a surprise. But all available service craft which could get to the scene of action when the first reports were received—somewhere off Boulogne—got in and gave of their best in a very gallant and sustained attack.

DISCOMFORT AT BREST? NAZIS CHOOSE WEATHER ATTACKERS’ GALLANTRY (omclal wireless) (Received Feb. 14, 11.30 a.m.) RUGBY, Feb. 13 Describing the Royal Air Force attack in the Channel battle, the Air Ministry news service says the first news of the whereabouts of the German battleships came from two Spitfires of the Fighter Command which were carrying out shipping reconnaissance over the Channel yesterday morning. They were flying beneath low cloud when, shortly before 11 o’clock, they sighted the battleships with an attendant escort of destroyers and E-boats steaming up the French coast between Brest and Le Touquet. The Spitfires were almost immediately attacked by 12 MElOO’s and subjected to anti-aircraft fire from the ships, but they evaded the opposition and returned to their base. Within a short time the first wave of the attack formation of torpedo bombers, with an escort of 50 fighters, was on the way to the French coast. Waves of Fighters Fresh waves of fighters, together with bomb-carrying Hurricanes, followed at short intervals, and as the convoy cleared the Straits and made its way up the Belgian coast it was incessantly harried by relays of fighters. Hurricane and Spitfire squadrons kept up a series of almost continuous attacks on the escort vessels, firing and bombing at times almost from mast-height, while above them other fighter squadrons engaged strong formations of MElo9’s and FWl9o’s, which formed a constant fighter screen above the convoy. From shortly after 11 a.m. until nearly 4 p.m. fighters were constantly in action over the convoy. Pilots of one of the squadrons escorting torpedo bombers reported seeing what appeared to be torpedoes striking one of the battleships, and saw explosions around the ship. This ship was then surrounded by light craft, some of which appeared to our pilots to be British torpedo boats, which in turn were being attacked by the battleships’ air escort of FWl9o’s. Visibility Restricted Three torpedo hits claimed were scored by a Beaufort squadron of the Coastal Command. In extremely bad visibility, in which it was rarely possible to see further than half a mile, the Beauforts dropped torpedoes in quick succession, aimed at one or other of the large siiips in the enemy convoy. To secure a clear run for the torpedoes it was necessary to drop them within the destroyer screen, which put up a formidable barrage of anti-aircraft fire. One Beaufort of this squadron had the top of the pilot’s cabin blown off by a shellburst- Four holes appeared in the port wing near the engine, and the rear gunner and the wireless operator were injured. German Plane Goes Down

Another aircraft from this squadron probably destroyed one of two MElo9’s by which it was attacked after dropping torpedoes which were seen to run directly towards the Prinz Eugen. Although the Beaufort’s tail plane was damaged its crew succeeded in driving off two MElo9’s, one of which was last seen going down in an almost vertical dive towards the sea. Not one of this Beaufort formation was lost.

Regarding the German ships’ course, it seems probable that they left Brest at dusk on Wednesday evening, making slow speed throughout the night. They increased to full speed when they were sighted by the Royal Air Force at 11 a.m. yesterday off Boulogne. They almost certainly had hugged the coast round Cherbough and toward the Straits. Reasons for Sortie

Speculation naturally arises regarding the reason for the sudden sortie. It is possible that the continuous Royal Air Force raids have so damaged the docks at Brest that it was felt necessary to make a dgsh “while the going was good.” Again the damage to the ships themselves may have been such as to necessitate repairs in less vulnerable home yards. The extent and the nature of such damage is not known but it is at least probable that the German morale has suffered heavily uader the incessant hammering. The possibility cannot be ruled out of the desire on Hitler’s part to concentrate his available naval strength