OVER ITALIAN RED SEA NAVAL BASE

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 August 1940, Page 5

OVER ITALIAN RED SEA NAVAL BASE

Shattering Attack Driven Home by British Planes ENEMY WARSHIPS CAUGHT UNAWARES AMMUNITION AND PETROL DUMPS SEVERELY DAMAGED (By Telegraph.—Press Association.—Copyright.) LONDON, August 8. The “Daily Express’’ says that the most bitter air battle of the war in East Africa was fought out yesterday over Italy s chief overseas war base, Massawa, in Eritrea. Flights of British bombers attacked squadrons of Italian ships which Mussolini has concentrated at Massawa in an attempt to smash the Red Sea route to Egypt. The British planes also bombed antiaircraft batteries, during which they encountered strong formations of enemy fighters but no British planes were lost. Two major ammunition and petrol dumps at Massawa were severely damaged, and a series of hits were made on a dockyard where three submarines, one cruiser, two destroyers and a number of supply vessels were caught unawares. One big vessel was leaving the wharves and it suddenly veered to escape the bombs. The warships frantically called their crews aboard and started, zigzagging to the open sea. One of the British machines was hit by shrapnel and fell back whereupon three Italian fighters attacked, but other British pilots drove them off. A series of furious combats ensued, but the British emerged without loss. The R.A.F. has carried out continuous raids since Monday and made 20 attacks on the Italian docks, hangars, workshops and troop concentrations. Over 50 tons of high explosive and incendiary bombs were dropped, and thousands of rounds of ammunition were shot into military camps. The arrival of new British bombers on this front has been a shattering surprise for the Italians.