VICTIM OF R.A.F.

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20116, 9 December 1939, Page 5

VICTIM OF R.A.F.

! NAZI SUBMARINE j TWO DIRECT HITS | MORE BRITISH LOSSES DESTROYER DAMAGED | MERCHANTMAN SUNK I (Elec. Tel. Copyright—United Press Assn.) Reed. Dec. 9, 11 a.m.) LONDON, Dec. 8. | It is officially announced that the I Royal Air Force coastal patrol sank a German submarine. The Air Ministry stated this morning that coastal command aircraft on patrol sighted a submarine on the surface. Our aircraft attacked' the submarine and dropped bombs. The first bomb struck the submarine amidships, one yard to starboard of the conning tower. As the submarine began to sink, a second bomb fell directly above hei as she founded. For some time afterwards oil bubbles were seen rising to the surface. A communique issued by the Ministry of Information states that the destroyer H.M.S. Jersey was damaged by a torpedo yesterday. Two officers and eight ratings are believed to have been killed and 12 injured. The Jersey reached harbour. Sinking of Blanche The British destroyer which was sunk on November 13 was H.M.S. Blanche. A merchantman, the Nova ScOtia. of C79C tons, was torpedoed in the Atlantic. Forty-three of the crew are missing. Forty-four were landed at English ports. The vessel sank in eight minutes. Many of the crew were sucked under when the ship isubmerged. The survivors were adrift for three hours before they were rescued. The Finnish steamer. Britta, of 6000 tons, was sunk by a mine or a torpedo off the west coast of Britain last night. Six members of the crew were injured and six are missing. Nineteen others who were unhurt, were rescued by a Belgian trawler Great Exhaustion

The survivors of the Dutch ship Tajandoen'were landed at a Channel port overnight in a state of great exhaustion after being shipwrecked twice in a few hours.

The Belgian steamer Louis Sheila, to which the survivors had been transferred from an Italian rescue vessel, ran aground on the Devonshire coast and began to break up after receiving a pounding from the sbas. A lifeboat connected a line with the stern. Many of the crew of the Louis Shields were rescued with rope ladders. In the meantime the wreck drifted closer to the shore, the remainder being taken off by a breeches buoy. The Tajandoen’s skipper said the ship sank in 15 minutes after a terrific explosion. All except six of the crew took td the boats, in which they raced for life from the blazing oil area in which the ship sank. They were picked up by the Italian ship 2£ hours later. NAZI SHIP DAMAGED ATTACHED BY RUSSIANS THREE SHOTS FIRED (Reed. Dec. 9, noon.) COPENHAGEN, Dec. 8. The German ship Oliva, of 7885 tons, arrived at Mantyluto yesterday, the crew reporting that the ship was three times fired on by a Russian submarine. The bow of the Oliva was badly damaged. BRUTAL NAZI RUSES WEST FRONT INCIDENTS SOLDIERS’ STORIES LONDON, Nov. 25. Wounded French soldiers, who are in hospital after fighting on the Western Front, have revealed the devilry the Nazis are employing. The 5 Times correspondent with the French forces Mr. R- W. Cooper, says that an abominable story was told by a sergeant-major, whose hip was blow away by a shell. He, with his company, was holding a position in the Saar when a Nazi detachment emerged from a wood and rushed toward them shouting: “Don’t shoot!”

Believing them to be deserters, the French held their fire, but when they were close the Germans flung grenades and emptied their automatic pistols on the French. One ward of the hospital contained many Moroccans, who, advancing toward Saarbrucken, fell foul of a German minefield among trees.

me fuses were concealed in grass and dead leaves. Many men were blown up.

Troops avoiding one trap stumbled on another.

Finally the soldiers crawled on the ground and fumbled for fuses. One sergeant cleared a patch ot exploding mines with a large cudgel, taking the best shelter possible as he did so. He lost both eyes, but his regiment took the objective.