TIGHT CONTROL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 22 October 1943, Page 4

TIGHT CONTROL

OVER THE ADRIATIC ESTABLISHED BY BRITISH NAVY ASSISTED BY YUGOSLAVS (By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright) (Received This Day, 1 p.m.) LONDON, October 21. “The British Navy, in conjunction with Free Yugoslav batteries and armed raiders, has gained complete control of the Adriatic,” says a British United Press correspondent aboard a British destroyer patrolling the Adriatic. “No sooner does an enemy vessel poke its nose into the Adriatic than it is in the bag or sinking. “ 'lt is like shooting fish in a barrel,’ is how one of the destroyer’s officers described the situation. I have seen several score German sailors taken prisoners under British guns as they tried to run desperately needed supplies to Durazzo and Valona. Two British destroyers, the Tumult and Tyrian, got three medium-sized ships in three days. One was a tanker and the others were freighters, the larger of which was captured with a valuable cargo. Reconnaissance planes guided the destroyers to the ships. The destroyers Area warning shots across each of the ship’s bows and then sent a boarding party. “Yugoslav Partisan ships and shore batteries are doing equally well,” the correspondent adds. “I met Partisan leaders who told how they sank two German ships and captured a third with a big cargo of food. One partisan leader said: ‘When we boarded the German ship, we executed the German crew. We dominate the Adriatic coast from Fiume southwards and a majority of the islands off the coast are in our hands.’ German sailors seem to be relieved to have fallen into British hands. The prisoners agreed that if they had been forced to land on Yugoslav soil they would not have lasted long.”