FURTHER SUCCESS OF AJAX

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21245, 16 October 1940, Page 7

FURTHER SUCCESS OF AJAX

L Treacherous Italian Bombing A wireless message was broadcast on the commercial wave-length of i the Italian station giving the position of the survivors. This was done in spite of the fact that such a signal comprised the position of the British forces. Also the weather was fine and Sicily was at no great distance. The experience at the sinking of the Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Collecrni on July 19, when our rescuing destroyers were bombed by Italian aircraft, made it impossible for our ships to take any further measures for the safety of the survivors of the | Italian destroyer. It was known, moreover, that an I Italian air concentration and an Italian submarine were in the vicinI ity. | During these spirited and successful actions the Ajax had only a few casualties. The only damage suffered by the Ajax was superficial and in no way impaired her fighting efficiently. No casualties or damage were suffered by the H.M.S. York. These i are the actions in which an Italian High Command communique, while admitting the loss of two small and one large destroyer, claimed that a British cruiser, probably of the Neptune class, was sunk. Following upon these contacts between our light forces and those of the enemy, our fleet was attacked by enemy aircraft over a period of four hours. An Italian High Command communique claimed that one of our aircraft-carriers and one of our cruisers suffered damage as a result of these attacks. In fact, none of our ships suffered I either damage or casualties, whilst four enemy aircraft were shot down by fighters of the Fleet Air Arm and the anti-aircraft fire of our ships, and two more were probably des- " troyed. All our aircraft returned safely. Surprise Attack on Port On the night of October 13 aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm attacked the j port of Lago. in the Dodecanese Is- j lands, achieving a complete surprise, j Barracks, workshops, hangars and ! a petrol tank were hit and set on fire. From this attack all our aircraft returned safely. * British Submarines’ Success Our submarines have also achieved success recently in the Mediter- j ranean. One submarine successfully bom- ] barded military objectives in the port i of Savona and sank a 5000-ton armed merchant ship which was escorted j by E-boats off Genoa, also an armed merchant ship of 3000 tons in Vado j Roads. Another submarine sank an enemy I supply ship of about 3000 tons off : Naples, and a third submarine sank j an enemy supply ship of about 800’ tons off Benghazi. On the night of October 12 naval j units, working in co-operation with the Royal Air Force, successfully | bombed enemy troop concentrations at Sidi Barrani.

HEAVY ENEMY FORCES ENGAGED SKIRMISH IN MEDITERRANEAN REPORTED NO SERIOUS DAMAGE TO BRITISH SHIPS (Official Wireless) (Received Oct. 16, 11 am.) RUGBY, October 15 After waiting for full reports from the ships engaged the Admiralty made public this evening the facts of recent naval actions in the Mediterranean, regarding which an Italian account was put into circulation on Sunday. The communique states: The Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean reports that His Majesty’s ships under this command have carried out an extensive sweep in the Eastern and Central Mediterranean. No contact was made between our main forces and the main forces of the enemy, and there is no indication that the enemy main force has proceeded to sea. During these operations, however, H.M.S. Ajax made contact with three Italian destroyers of the 679-ton Airone class about eighty miles south-east of Sicily at 2.30 a.m. on October 12. The Ajax at once engaged the enemy and two Italian destroyers were sunk outright. Shortly after this encounter the Ajax sighted an enemy force comprised of one heavy cruiser and four destroyers. The Ajax again engaged and suceeded in crippling an enemy destroyer. The remainder of the force escaped in the darkness. Believing that the Ajax was in touch with considerable enemy forces, H.M.S. York came up in support, but no further contact was made with the enemy that night. With the assistance of aircraft of the Fleet Air Arm the damaged enemy destroyer was located at dawn in tow by another Italian destroyer, which had gallantly come to her assistance. On the arrival of the Ajax the towing destroyer slipped the tow and made off at high speed towards Sicily under cover of a smoke screen. It was then ascertained that the damaged destroyer was the 1620-ton Artagliere, of the latest class of large Italian destroyers. H.M.S. York soon came on the scene and the crew of the Artagliere at once began to abandon ship. Our forces allowed half-an-hour for abandoning the ship and then sank the enemy destroyer by gunfire. H.M.S. York dropped rafts to supplement the boats and rafts for the survivors.

WARFARE AT SEA BRITISH MERCANTILE LOSSES ONLY HALF THE AVERAGE GERMAN CLAIMS DENIED (Official Wireless) (Received Oct. 16, 11 a.m.) RUGBY, Oct. 15 Mercantile losses from enemy action in the week ended October 8 showed a further decline from the higher figures reached a fortnight previously, and were, in fact, little more than half the average weekly loss of 57,000 tons during the previous 56 weeks. The losses for the week were seven British vessels, totalling 24,943 tons gross; two Allied vessels, 2464 tons gross; and one neutral vessel of 3687 tons, making in all ten vessels, totalling 31,094 tons. The German claims for this particular week were 81,816 tons, nearly three times the actual tonnage. BRITISH NAVY PROTECTION OF NEAR EAST OPINION IN TURKEY (United Press Asn.—Elec. Tel. Cop>rl*nt) LONDON, Oct. 15 “ Britain has won the defensive war, and Germany and Italy are compelled to try for some knock-out blow before the British Empire grows too strong militarily,” said a spokesman over the official Turkish radio tonight. “If Greece should be overrun by the Axis Powers there is still the sea between them and the Near East. That sea is ruled by the British Navy and the hostile army will still be onlookers.”

SECRET DEVICES TESTS IN BRITAIN STRENGTHENING OF DEFENCES (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 15 “ There are some very fine surprises in the offing.” said Professor A. M. Low. referring to secret devices which are being prepared—some already have been tested and are being produced on an extensive scale—to strengthen London’s defences against night bombers. “ Many new ideas and new methods are being applied.” he added. “ Parachute flares and lights, microphones on balloons, and new types of shells are all known. Scientists are busily examining such things as bombs which are directed at the enemy by sound or infra-red rays, aerial mines, automatic gun and searchlight coordination. and other new devices which shall be nameless.”