SECOND ATTACK ON TARANTO

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 45, 16 November 1940, Page 11

SECOND ATTACK ON TARANTO

R.A.F. Takes A Hand EXPLOSIONS AND BIG FIRES (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, November 14. A second attack was made, this time by the Royal Air Force, on the Italian port of Taranto, where main units of Italy s fleet weie damaged by the Fleet Air Arm on Monday night. Last night’s attack was directed at the docks and harbour, where two Italian battleships and two cruisers are lying half under water as a result of the earlier attack. Though full reports, are not yet available, informed London quarters learn that the R.A.F.’s attack was highly successful. The night was clear and moonlit as the British aircraft came in across the Gulf of Taranto, and the warships in the harbour could be seen without dilficulty. An intense barrage was put up bv the ships’ guns and port batteries, but the attack was pressed The eastern part of the mam docks in tlie inner harbour was heavily bombed wiib high-explosive and incon-■ diarv bombs. At one time seven big fires' were blazing together and there was a succession of heavy explosions. One raiding aircraft had been on its homeward course for 15 minutes when the crew saw the whole of Taranto lit up by an immense flash from ar. exceptionally big explosion. Naval oil tanks and destroyer liens in the dockyard were hit and tires started. Uno stick of high-explosive bombs fell along the wall of the docks next to the destroyers tied up alongside. , . . -. An Italian communique claims that ‘•two enemy machines were probably shot down.” In fact, all the R.A.F. aircraft returned safely. LONDON, November 14. 'The people of Italy and Germany are still not aware of the Italian navy’s smashing defeat. The German people have been given a very different impression, and Deutsehlandsender (the German radio) claimed today in a home broadcast that the Mediterranean was more and more under the control of the Fascist navy. The second attack on Taranto was admitted by the Italians in a communique today which also mentions British raids on Valona and Durazzo, in Albania; on Cagliari, in Sardinia; and on Lampedusa, an island between Malta and North Africa. The Italians do not say anything about the attacks bv British surface craft on an Italian convoy making for the Albanian port of Valona. More Raids On Bari. Nowhere outside this country has the news of the successes at laranto and Valona been more widely acclaimed than in Greece. Further, ’Taranto and Valona are not the full story. The Royal Air Force has announced more raids on the Italian port of Bari, where oil refineries were hit and a huge fire caused. In the attack on Valona, which the Italians admit, an ammunition dump was hit, and explosions were still going on when the planes were leaving. At 'Durazzo quays and warehouses were damaged, and' fires started the previous night ivere still burning when the British planes arrived. From all these operations the British planes returned safely. , , In Turkey, military and naval experts consider that the Fleet. Air (trins Taranto exploit will be recorded in history as “unforgettable.” One Turkish newspaper says that the needle points to the defeat of the Axis Powers, ind that it is impossible for the needle io turn in any direction but iiii.il vie:ory for Britain and her allies.