PRESSURE ON ITALY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 September 1941, Page 7

PRESSURE ON ITALY

ACTIVITIES OF ROYAL AIR FORCE MANY ATTACKS MADE. Hard facts are leaking out of Italy —exact details of the havoc spread oy British warplanes among Mussolini’s armaments, factories, and supplies, says the London “Daily Mail.’’ In a raid on Alessandria a direct hit exploded an ammunition dump and caused considerable destruction, and the vast Fiat works at Turin were seriously damaged. As a result of these and later raids says the Air Ministry News Service, it was decided that most of the Caproni aircraft factories at Milan would have to move further south and east. Even if the factories should thus gain some respite, production would be held up for a long time. During one of the R.A.F.’s calls ai Durazzo, on the Albanian coast, two petrol tanks were destroyed and another was set on fire. Ships in the harbour were set alight and had to be towed out to sea to prevent the spread of flames. Fires burned for two days and the town appears to have been in a terrible state of disorganisation. Southern Italy was attacked many times, principally to help the Greek offensive. The supply ports of Brindisi and Bari have been damaged and at Bari the oil refinery has been hit. Both the Navy and the R.A.F. have raided the Dodecanese Islands. Bombs have damaged hangars, buildings, and stores on the principal aerodromes, and the naval blockade has made the supply situation extremely serious. As a result, no operation whatever has been reported from this base since the outbreak of the Greek war. But it is in Africa that our overseas air forces have most distinguished themselves. The result is that these relatively large Italian air forces have been almost completely prevented from making their weight felt. And it is believed that the fuel situation is causing the enemy considerable anxietq. At Bordeaux Italian submarines have been sunk or severely damaged.