BRITISH ESCORT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 September 1943, Page 3

BRITISH ESCORT

FOR SURRENDERING ITALIAN FLEET KING GEORGE V. ENTERS GULF OF TARANTO. SPEECH BY LORD GORT IN MALTA. • (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, September 12. The story of how five of the Ital- ’ ian warships now at Malta got safely away from the Germans was told by a young naval officer who was on board Britain’s new battleship King George V. He said that the battleship steamed right into the Gulf of Taranto and within sight of the shore batteries to collect and escort the Italian ships. It was a tricky moment, and everyone was at action stations. “It was not the Italians we were worrying about,” said the officer. “We knew they were likely to observe the terms of the armistice honourably - and in full measure, but we did not know what the Germans were up to. “We had been shadowed all day by reconnaissance planes, and we never knew when the Luftwaffe might make an attack. Shortly after dusk we spotted five warships astern of us. We did not know what they were, and we challenged them by signal flashes in Morse. Back came a message spelling the letters GA. Then we knew it was all right. That was the signal Admiral Cunningham had asked the surrendering warships to use.” I The British and Italian fleets both left Taranto unmolested from the air, though Foggia, the great German air base, is only 75 miles away. Only one aircraft appeared on Thursday night, and it was driven off by a terrific barrage from the battleships, cruisers and destroyers. When several units of the Italian fleet made the historic entry into bomb-torn Valetta harbour on the eve of the first anniversary of the presentation of the George Cross to Malta, the vessels steamed slowly past the lighthouse at the entrance while the Maltese people celebrated “victory day” and the downfall of Italy with church services and processions through the narrow ruined streets. The Governor, Lord Gort, in a speech from the balcony of the Valetta Palace, enjoined the Maltese to remember that, while they might be content with the events of the past few days, they must not waver, weaken or slacken till the final victory over “crooked Nazi Germany.”