WAR SUPPLIES

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 September 1941, Page 5

WAR SUPPLIES

CONVOYED TO BRITAIN BY U.S.A. FLEET STATEMENT BY COLONEL KNOX. THE PURSUIT OF RAIDERS. (Bv Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) WASHINGTON, September 17. The Secretary of the Navy, Colonel Knox, at a Press conference, said the United States fleet was convoying lend-lease goods to Britain. Asked whether the United States was escorting them to Iceland only, he replied that it would be unwise and indiscreet to go into further detail. Colonel Knox said no incident between American warships and Axis raiders had occurred since the capture-cr-destroy command had been signalled to the fleet. He disclosed that the Navy believed that an Axis raider was operating in the south Pacific in the region of the Galapagos and he indicated that the navy was hunting for it. Vice-Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton, British Commander-in-Chief, China station, in an interview cabled from Singapore, denied reports of the sinking of 13 surface raiders by Netherlands and British vessels in the Pacific recently. “The report is a lot of bunk,” he said. “There is no truth in it whatever.” The “New York Times” says that in a major move to expedite the transport of American planes, tanks, and guns to the war fronts, the United States and Norway are -throwing an additional 50 to 150 merchantmen into the enlarged Atlantic convoys, which are now moving, with increased protection from United States warships. The object is to clear the lend and lease materials which are piling up for. lack of shipping, and to release more and more equipment for the British forces in Africa.