BRITISH BOMBERS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1941, Page 5

BRITISH BOMBERS

HEAVY ATTACKS ON TIRANA AND VALONA EXTENSIVE DAMAGE DONE. IN SPITE OF OPPOSITION BY ENEMY FIGHTERS. in Albania, a large formation of R.A.F. bombers successfully attacked the aerodrome and military objectives at Tirana, the capital of Albania, for the first time, the 8.8. C. states. They dropped more than ten tons of bombs and despite the presence of a large number of enemy fighters made direct hits on hangars and other buildings, A raid was also made on Valona, where, after dropping bombs, the planes dived and machine-gunned enemy aircraft on the ground. A large enemy seaplane was shot down into the sea off Corfu by a British bomber. One British plane did not return. USELESS BUTCHERY UNDER MUSSOLINI’S ORDERS IN ALBANIA. FRONT NOW RELATIVELY QUIET. LONDON, March 16. Yesterday and today were relatively quiet on the Albanian front. The Italians did not attempt to launch a serious offensive. The Athens correspondent of “The Times” says the fourth Italian com-mander-in-chief—this time the Italian empire’s great marshal, Mussolini —left Albania badly beaten by the Greeks after six consecutive days of' most bloody attacks which infuriated Italian prisoners call butchery and which cost more than 50,000 casualties. So many dead are lying on the battlefield that the air is polluted, despite the snow and the intense cold, compelling the Greeks to take special sanitary measures. The Athens radio says Mussolini returned to Rome from the Albanian front with his prestige weakened and his authority shaken. DEFEAT OF MAGNITUDE SUFFERED BY ITALIANS. GREAT PREPARATIONS MADE IN VAIN. (Received This Day, 10.35 a.m.) RUGBY, March 17. Since the complete failure of last week’s desperate Italian assaults on the Albanian front there appear to have been no major engagements. The latest Greek High Command communique briefly states: “There has been artillery activity, varying in intensity.” The magnitude of the Italian defeats is indicated by the fact that although seven divisions were employed on a front of twenty miles, with the main effort directed against a narrow sector two and a half miles wide, the enemy failed to gain any ground. In fact in many places they went back behind their lines of assault. Mussolini, who had hoped for a spectacular scene of a march to victory, has now returned to Rome in the knowledge that some 3,000 Italian prisoners are in Greek hands as a result of the seven days of attack and that all losses suffered amount to 50,000. “The Times” correspondent at Athens says it is probable that the enemy will not be in a position to renew the offensive for two month's, if then. An official Athens estimate of the results of the enemy’s offensive efforts says: “It failed to suppress our offensive, our counter-attacks following each attack. The results of this success are among the most important we have yet won, especially as the enemy’s attempt was preceded by long preparations, as immense quantities of ammunition were brought together and important forces were engaged, far in excess of our own.”