FIERCELY MET

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 October 1942, Page 3

FIERCELY MET

NEW AXIS AIR ASSAULTS ON MALTA FEW ENEMY PLANES REACH ISLAND. FIFTY-SEVEN SHOT DOWN IN THREE DAYS. LONDON, October 14. The new Axis'air offensive against Malta has now been raging for more than three days. Enemy bombers and fighters, coming over hour by hour in an all-out attempt to smash the island’s defences, were severely dealt with. Only a small percentage of the enemy planes reached the island. Malta’s Spitfires broke up attack after attack. In the three days up to last night 57 enemy planes were brought down and dozens more severely damaged. Only seven British fighters were lost. FEW BRITISH LOSSES IN MALTA & OTHER AREAS. AGAINST HEAVY DESTRUCTION OF ENEMY PLANES. (Received This Day, 9.30 a.m.) RUGBY, October 14. A further outstanding success was scored by Malta’s defenders yesterday, when, up to 3.30 p.m., our fighters shot down 17 enemy aircraft and damaged many others, for the loss of one Spitfire. A Cairo communique, recording this,! adds: “An additional enemy bomber was shot down at Malta on the pre-! ceding night, while two more were destroyed in the battle area in Egypt' and another over Sicily. We lost only j three aircraft in all these operations, l including Malta, where all the attacks were broken up before damage could be inflicted.”