BRITISH PARATROOPS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 18 November 1942, Page 4

BRITISH PARATROOPS

LANDED DEEP INTO TUNISIA OPENING WAY FOR ARMIES. AXIS CLAIMS OCCUPATION OF BIZERTA. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 12.25 p.m.) LONDON, November 177. British paratroops have landed deep into Tunisia, from American transport planes escorted by fighters and are now clearing the way for General Anderson’s advancing armies, reports an Associated Press correspondent at Allied Headquarters. The paratroops, who apparently landed without opposition, are reported to be seizing every possible aerodrome in Tunisia, and British assault troops are following quickly behind. The Paris radio says German and Italian reinforcements are pouring into Tunisia by air and sea. A veritable air bridge has been established between Italy and Tunisia. The Berlin News Agency states that the Axis forces in Tunisia thus far have not come into contact with Allied forces.. It says also that Bizerta has been occupied by Axis troops.

AIR PROTECTION OF NORTH AFRICAN CONVOYS. GREAT ORGANISATION FEAT. (British Official Wireless.) (Received This Day, 11.45 a.m.) RUGBY, November 17. The vital part played by the Allied air forces in convoying the vast armada to French North Africa, which was described at the time as incredibly successful, is now more fully described. Night and day, without respite, from the day the first convoy left port, an unending streorn of flying-boats and longrange, land-based aircraft patrolled the Bay of Biscay, neutralising the Axis- U-boat threat before it could develop. Probably not one aircraft was seen by the men on the troopships. The airmen were tackling the threat at its source, harrying the U-boats as they left French Atlantic ports, while the ships sailed safely on far away to the west. This great- aircraft umbrella was laid by the R.A.F. Coastal Command, assisted by the Bomber Command and the United States Army Air Force. Sunderlands, Liberators. Halifaxes, Wellingtons, Whitleys and Hudsons flew the Bay of Biscay patrols, and Coastal Command Beaufighters intervened against German long-range fighters which attempted to intercept our Üboat hunting aircraft. So complete was the secrecy surrounding the operation that not even the commanders of the squadrons providing protection against U-boats knew what was afoot. All they knew was that the greatest submarine hunt of the war was on. It was the same with the crews. They flew long and tiring patrols over the Bay of Biscay without sighting ships, but they saw several U-boats and recorded some good attacks. DOOMED U-BOATS. After the ships left Gibraltar the Üboats converged, and in just over an hour the R.A.F. attacked three. Later that day two more U-boats were attacked within ten minutes. Others were forced to crash dive. On the following day four submarines were attacked in the Mediterranean. The bows cf one were blown into the air at an angle of 60 degrees. The submarine remained like that for four minutes and then sank. Bits of the casing of another Üboat, attacked twenty minutes earlier, were blown high in the air, and a destroyer arrived to complete the task the aircraft began. To provide this scale cf escort had meant weeks of intensive organisation. New squadrons were moving in and new aerodromes had to be made operational in quick time.

FIGHTING FRENCH AUTHORITY OF DARLAN J CHALLENGED. ' REFUSAL TO CONFER IN MOROCCO. (Received This Day, 12.35 p.m.) LONDON, November 17. General De Gaulle and the Fighting French National Committee have refused to send representatives to North Africa, as planned, says the “Evening News” political correspondent, who pointed out that in Fighting French circles Admiral' Darlan’s Legislative Council indicates an undesirable measure of permanence. The Morocco radio says Admiral Darlan has appointed M. Charles Ettori, Councillor of State in Algeria, as Legislative Councillor in the new Legislative and Administrative Council for French North Africa. M. Gonnand, director of Finance to the Algerian Governor-General has been appointed General Secretary to the Government in succession to M. Ettori. The Paris radio has announced that seven French officers have been shot for assisting General Giraud to escape.