ITALIAN CLAIM

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1943, Page 3

ITALIAN CLAIM

ATTACK ON SHIPPING AT ALGIERS MADE BY BABY SUBMARINES OF NEW TYPE. CRUISER ALLEGEDLY DAMAGED & STEAMERS SUNK. (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) LONDON, January 18. The Italians claim to have made a successful attack on Allied shipping in Algiers harbour with a new type of baby submarine assault boat. A Rome communique says: “Our assault units on the night of January 12 penetrated Algiers harbour. They badly damaged a cruiser, sank two large steamers and left another large steamer listing. In spite of a violent enemy counterattack, nearly all the assault force returned safely.” The Rome radio says that the new assault boat is shaped like a torpedo and manned by two men, both of whom must be under 30 years of age. The power is derived frorh an engine, the hum of which is so low that it is practically unrecordable by the most sensitive hydrophone. When the submarines forced the harbour entrance the crew placed explosives near the most vulnerable parts of the ships. The “Daily Express” says that the Italians used their “grille.” Two were first tried out in October, 1940, against Gibraltar. They hit nothing. In July, 1941, they tried to get into Valetta Harbour,' Malta, but gunfire from the shore blew them all up.