LIVELY ACTIONS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 March 1942, Page 4

LIVELY ACTIONS

FOUGHT AGAINST E-BOATS IN NORTH SEA THREE ENEMY CRAFT SUNK. OTHERS DAMAGED BY NAVAL & AIR FORCES. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 12.35 p.m.) RUGBY, March 7. A full account, of actions which took place against E-boats in the North Sea on the night of Saturday, March 14, and the morning of Sunday, when three E-boats were sunk and a further two damaged by our naval forces, is given in an Admiralty communique which states: “These actions were entirely separate from that in the English Channel on the morning of Saturday, March 14, when, as already announced, two E-boats were destroyed. Thus during the weekend the enemy lost five E-boats, with two others damaged, apart from the losses inflicted by the 'R.A.F. The night of Saturday was very dark, with no moon and the sea was calm. Shortly before 9 p.m. Eboats attacked one of our convoys in the North Sea. No ship was damaged, but the destroyer Vortigern was hit by two torpedoes and sank. The E-boats were engaged by the destroyers Holderness and Wallace. One E-boat was sunk by the Holderness and the Wallace damaged another. His Majesty’s Guillemot heard the explosion of torpedoes and gunfire and at once closed upon the scene of action, and then swept to the eastward, in search of the E-boats. A few mniutes later, the Guillemot sighted an E-boat lying in wait, stalked it and got within fifty yards without being seen. The Guillemot then opened fire with every gun that would bear. The E-boat was hit amidships, on the waterline, by a fourinch shell and by a large number of rounds from heavy machine-guns. At that moment, another E-boat was sighted in a favourable position to attack the Guillemot. The Guillemot at once gave chase, but was unable to come up with the enemy, owing to his superior speed. After chasing away this E-boat, the Guillemot returned, but could find no trace of the E-boat with which she had previously been in action and it is considered that this boat was sunk.

“Early on Sunday morning, three of our motor gunboats intercepted enemy E-boats some nine miles from a German base on the Dutch coast. An Eboat was at once heavily engaged and when last seen was sinking by the bow. Later four E-boats approached from the eastward and one of our motor gunboats fought a running fight with three of these E-boats until all her ammunition was exhaushted. She then withdrew. During the engagement, one E-boat was severely damaged. All our motor gunboats returned safely. Spitfires later found four E-boats, one of which was badly damaged. They attacked them and set one on fire and badly damaged the other three.” The Admiralty states that his Majesty’s trawler Rosemonde is overdue arid must be considered lost.