AIR RAIDS ON SICILY

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23977, 18 June 1943, Page 5

AIR RAIDS ON SICILY

AERODROMES HEAVILY BOMBED ACTIVITIES RESTRICTED ON WEDNESDAY (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (flee. 11 p.m.) LONDON, June 17. After Tuesday’s pounding of Sicilian airfields the North-west African Air Forces confined their activities yesterday to patrols and reconnaissance. To-day’s communique from Allied Headquarters in North Africa, reporting this, adds that further reports show that an additional five enemy aircraft were shot down on Tuesday, bringing the total of enemy aircraft shot down in daylight combats to 16. Five more were shot down during night operations. Allied losses were seven. In the two months since April 15 t he Axis lost 685 aircraft in air combats in the Middle East, and 252 on the ground, a total of 937. Allied losses were 247. These figures were given officially yesterday. Throughout the daylight hours on Tuesday larg- formations of bombers and fighter-bombers pounded aerodromes in western Sicily, destroying many aircraft on the ground, and ci.using widespread damage to airfields. The enemy sent up powerful forces of fighters, but they failed to prevent the bombers reaching the targets. Flying Fortresses destroyed a number of dispersed aircraft at Castelvetrano and fires on the aerodromes could be Seen more than 100 miles away.

A fighter pilot who was escorting the bombers said: "I saw about 16 aircraft on the airfield which had been hit be-

fore someone else knocked them to hell this time.” At Borizzo, bombs fell square on 1 rked aircraft. Other objectives hit included three heavy anti-aircraft batteries and two military barracks. Marauder bombers shot down five enemy fighters which attacked them over the target. Two more were shot down by escorting Warhawks in a spectacular battle beginning off the coast and continuing until the target was reached. Aerodrome buildings and a landing ground were damaged in a raid on Bocca di Falco, near Palermo. Lightnings and fighter-bombers strafed two radio stations near Marsala, blowing up one and setting fire to the other. , All the day’s targets, except Bonzzo, had been subjected to softening-up raids by Wellingtons on the previous night. Captain C. Griffin, a veteran navigator of the Tokyo raid and many other operations, said that it was the bes*, job of bombing he had ever seen. Warhawks flew many patrols over Pantelleria. They intercepted a force of German aeroplanes attempting to raid the harbour, and forced them to jettison their bombs. _ , Fighters from Malta attacked Sicily, and on Tuesday evening Mosquito intruders attacked road and rail communications both on Sicily and on the Italian mainland. To-day’s Middle East communique says that yesterday long-range fighters of the Royal Air Force attacked and sank three sailing ships in an island harbour in the Aegean Sea. A Junkers 88 was destroyed by a night n a hter off the coast of Tripoli on Tuesday n *ln t all operations yesterday no Allied aircraft was lost. . The Italian newspaper Popolo di Roma” says that 2300 Italians were killed and 7700 were wounded in Allied air raids on Naples, which has had 183 alerts since the outbreak of war. Bombs were dropped on 71 occasions. TURKISH-SYRIAN BORDER FORMAL NOTIFICATION OF CLOSING (Rec. 10 p.m.) ANKARA. June 17. The British authorities have formally notified the Turkish Government that the entire Turkish-Syrian frontier was closed at 6 a.m. on Monday with a strong guard, to protect troop movements. RUMANIAN PEACE MOVE REPORTS FROM ANKARA LONDON, June 16. Quoting semi-diplomatic information the Ankara correspondents of the Associated Press of Great Britain and Reuter’s report that Rumania has extended feelers to discover how the Allies would regard her capitulation. The correspondents say that the Rumanian offer is under serious consideration in London, Washington, and Moscow. , x ~ .... „ The offer was made to the Allies through a neutral diplomat Rumania intimated that as her price for leaving the Germans she would demand the retention of parts of Bessarabia and Bukovma, which Russia claims. POPE’S REFERENCES TO PEACE REACTION OF ITALIAN WORKERS LONDON, June 16. Frenzied applause and cries of “Long live the Pope” rang out from more than 30,000 Italian workers in Rome on Whit Sunday, whenever the Pope used the word "peace” in a speech from the Vatican, states the Stockholm newspaper "Svenska Dagbladet. Wai workers from all parts of Italy flocked to Rome to hear the Pope. . The Berlin radio quoted criticism contained in the Rome newspaper li Tevere” regarding Italian workmen who so freely cheered the Pope s references to peace. The newspaper did not refer to the cheering, but It charged the workers with misusing their time, adding that they had been given special leave to hear the Pope s speech, but there was no need for special exhortations because all workers were organised in Fascist syndicates. PRESERVING PEACE AFTER WAR MEWS OF COLONEL KNOX (Rec 7 p.m.) NEW YORK. June 16, ‘‘Peace must be preserved by force of arms if necessary, and we must maintain sufficient strength for this purpose.” declared the United States Secretary of the Navy (Colonel F. Knox), in a speech at Evanston, Illinois. Discussing the war situation, Colonel Knox expressed the opinion that bombs alone would not win the war. ‘‘There is heavy fighting to be done,” he added. ‘‘The Nazi foe is poised for the last savage attack against Russia, and we know the Japanese will fight to the death.”