MANY RAIDS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 5 July 1941, Page 5

MANY RAIDS

MADE BY R.A.F. IN MIDDLE EAST DAMAGE DONE IN LIBYA & SYRIA. ENEMY SHIPS AND PLANES SUFFER. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, July 4. A R.A.F. Middle East communique states: “Aircraft of the R.A.F. continued their attacks on the enemy by bombing Tripoli yesterday. Heavy bombers which raided the harbour during the night of July 2 and started a number of fires found one merchant vessel already ablaze as a result of an attack on the previous night. The ship was still burning yesterday, when our bombers carried out further raids on ships outside the harbour, setting fire to two other vessels, each of about 5,000 tons. The aerodrome at Tripoli was bombed and machine-gunned. At least one S.Bl was destroyed by machine-gun fire and several 5.79 s and S.B2s were severely damaged. “During the night of July 2, the harbour of Benghazi and several enemy aerodromes were raided. At Gazala several bombs fell among dispersed aircraft. At Martuba, a number of fires were started, some of which appeared to be aircraft burning. Other military targets were attacked in the neighbourhood of Benghazi and Bardia, and enemy motor transport vehicles were bombed and destroyed near Derna. “In Syria, heavy bombers attacked the harbour at Beirut and caused a number of. fires. Our aircraft also carried out a heavy machine-gun attack on the aerodrome at Hama and set fire to two twin-engined bombers and severely damaged a number of others. “From all these operations two of our planes are missing.”