AT DAKAR.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 227, 24 September 1940, Page 6

AT DAKAR.

ACTION IN JULY. PORT AGAIN ATTACKED FREE FRENCHMEN'S DRIVE. The operation of the Free Frenchmen under General de Gaulle, assisted by unite of the British Navy, against the port of Dakar, French West Africa, as reported to-day, is no doubt directed against use of the harbour by Nazis for their marauding submarines and to give them a base from which to operate against the very substantial trade between Britain and South America and South Africa. Aβ the result of one of the most daring exploits -in British naval history on July 8 la-<t, an exploit which Xelson himself might have sjKMisored, France"* most modern battleship, the 35,000-ton Richelieu, vrae prevented from falling into the hands of Germany. The Richelieu lay disabled at Dakar, French West Africa, down by the stern and listing. Depth charges exploded against her hull, and torpedoes inflicted serious damage. The House of Commons heard the full dramatic storv from the First Lord of Admiralty. Mr. A. V. Alexander described how an ultimatum similar in the generous ecope of its terms to that presented to the French admiral at Ormn was rejected. A two-fold attack was then launched.

A ship's motor boat under LieutenantCommander R. H. Bristowe went in and placed tbe depth charges. Returning, it broke down, was restarted, pursued, and escaped. Planes of the Fleet Air Arm completed the task with torpedoes. French Threat to Fire. Mr. Alexander's style is almost conscientiously non-rhetorical. Yet even he could not resist the opportunity for narrative-suspense when, after describing how the British negotiating sloop at Dakar had been received with a threat to open fire, he came to the surpriseaction itself. The time-limit had expired by some hours when Lieutenant-Commander A. H. Brietone set out with his crew in the ship's boat and, after passing the boom defences, came alongside the porti|uarter of the Richelieu. He described how the depth-charges to damage the propellers and steering gear were dropped at the right moment, and went on to provoke a shout of la uphter by the strangely euiictative sentence: "The motor-boat began to withdraw immediately after dropping the depth-charge."

Boat Helpless. The laughter died away and the hueh of suspense was deeper than ever when he went on to say, "but while still in the harbour, broke down and lay helpless for a time." In another sentence the escape of the ship's boat over defensive nets which fouled its pursuer was revealed, and the House cheered Mr. .Alexanders, tribute to tbe gallantry of the operation. Then came tbe etory of the Fleet Air Arm's attack aad the five torpedo explosions he-r« by the men in the boat as they lay helpless in the harbour, and the news fiat the Richelieu had a list to port and was down by the stern. Again the House cheered the gallantry of the "Navy's airmen. The First Lord paid his tribute to the naval staff responsible for the planning of these operations. They had followed the completion of the evacuation, in the face of the enemy, of troops and refugees totaUng no fewer than 000.000— "tae achievement of its kind in the history of naval operations."