ITALIAN CRUISER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 August 1941, Page 5

ITALIAN CRUISER

STRUCK BY TORPEDOES IN MEDITERRANEAN

ENEMY SUPPLY SHIPS SUNK.

R.A.F. & NAVY TIGHTENING THEIR GRIP.

LONDON, August 3. The long arm of the R.A.F. and of the Royal Navy, is exerting an ever-tightening grip on enemy

shipping in the Mediterranean and it is stated that the enemy’s supply position in North Africa is becoming increasingly precariousAccording to the latest Admiralty communiques, British submarines, operating in the Mediterranean, have sunk two enemy supply ships and damaged a 7,000-ton cruiser, armed with 6in. guns. Two torpedoes hit the cruiser, but it is not known whether she was sunk. The supply ships sunk were of 6,000 and 1,600 tons. A floating dock, less than a mile from the Italian coast, was also hit by at least one torpedo. ATTACKS ON ISLANDS.

Three enemy occupied islands in the Mediterranean have been attacked by the R.A.F., including Crete, where direct hits were made on petrol and

ammunition dumps, and Sicily, where an aerodrome was attacked. German dive-bombers which attacked British ships on the North African coast were successfully repulsed. Four dive-bombers and a Messerschmitt were shot down and several others damaged.