Indianapolis Times, Indianapolis, Marion County, 15 November 1940 — Page 3

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IDAY, NOV.

GREEK

R. A. F. Also Strikes at Hamburg; Await Axis Mediterranean Blow.’

(Continued from Page One)

early Axis attempt to strike in the Mediterranean. : Nazi sources in the past have suggested that Gibraltar or Suez or probably both would be the goals of the impending Axis offensive, but the Greek counter-attack into Albania and the British LS blast

against the Italian fleet at Taranto may have forced readjust ent of the program. The British Admiralty said that three of Italy’s battleships had been crippled in the Taranto attack and Greek messages reported that Fascist transports plying from Italy to Albania had been drastically reduced by British and Greek aerial and naval action.

French Fleet Watched

Wide attention centered also on the French fleet, although the Vichy Government denied reports that it had left Toulon for the Far East or that France had received an ultimatum demanding that the Axis be permitted to defend French colonial territory from attack. The French naval forces could play an important role in t western Mediterranean. if the Vichy Government decided to co-operate closely with the Axis in naval affairs, regardless of whether French units actually opposed the ritish. The strong fight put up Greek

armies against the Italians aroused speculation on whether Germany might strike in other sout eastern areas in order to support the Fascist war machine or might yet [join in the invasion of Greece. ut for the time being the fury of the German air attack on Coventry overshadowed other military developments. It was perhaps the greatest assault in aerial warfare, Nazis reported. Indicating the extent of the British attacks the Air Ministry admitted that 10 Britis? planes were missing.

Rail Station Is Target

The Air Ministry announced that high explosive bombs fell on and around the Schlesischer railway station and Goodsyards, which had been raided heavily the previous night before departure from Berlin of Soviet Premier-Foreign Commissar Viacheslav M. Molotov. | Also raided last night ho the

Pulitzstrasse railway yards, the Lehrter station on the northern fringe of the center of the city and the Anhalter railway station southeast of the center of the German

Invasion Ports Fired In addition to heavy damage at Berlin, great fires and explosions were caused in German “invasion” ports and the submarine base at Lorient, which ‘the British have been trying to render useless to U-boats operating against | British

51000

RAF DEALS H

Keitel, Chief of

Mr. Mason

seemingly has revealed difficulties so perplexing for the Italian High Command that German advice on disentangling the strategic snarl has become necessary. Keitel, however, is faced with a difficult situation in trying to devise a way to help the Italians out of their trouble. If German troops were to be sent to the Albanian frontier to take over the offensive from that direction, the effect on Italian morale would be bad, since it - would involve humiliating acknowledgement of Mussolini's fail-

re. Too, it is by no means certain that the Germans could accomplish the task of overwhelming the Greeks, now heavily entrenched in the mountains and with the Italian advance bases reported to have been made useless. If German troops are to be used to aid the Italians, the natural strategic way into Greece would be through Jugoslavia. The eastern border between Jugoslavia and Greece is free of mountain barriers. /A plain runs from the frontier to/the Gulf of Salonica, about 50 s away, following the course of the Vardar River. A railway from Jugoslavia also moves through the plain, terminating at Salonica. The first important Greek city near the border that would receive the brunt of such an offensive is Magiadar. But it. is not certain whether Jugoslavia would give a German Army free passage to attack Greece. The Jugoslav Government has announced several times it would resist invasion by force. If Jugoslavia were pliant under German pressure, the Greeks would be hard pressed to defend the Salonica plain against a mechan-

Britjsh planes were shot down over Berlin. They admitted that four persons had been killed and one wounded and that the attack had been made in greater force than previously had been employed by the British against the German Capital. The Italians admitted that the British had attacked Bari, transshipment port for Italian supplies going to Albania, and Monopole, near Bari. The Italian communique mentioned air fighting over Greece but was silent on land operations in which the Greeks reported continuing advances into a fringe of

shipping in the Atlantic, {London said. Coventry was not the only British city attacked by the Germans last night but other bombing was scattered and light. London had a fairly quiet night but considerable activity developed today and a long-distance gun duel was fought by British and German |cannon across the sun-sparkling Straits of Dover. Twisting, circling airpl haust trails streaked the sky over London, indicating that |an air battle was in progress during the city’s second daylight alarm.

Bombs Strike Hospitals

It was revealed that a bomb exploded on the grounds o Buckingham Palace recently.| The bomb damaged a flat normally occupied by stableman in t. tover

e ex-

the face of the clock in the tower overlooking Buckingham | Palace Road. All palace staff members were in shelters at the time and the King and Queen were| absent. Two hospitals were bombed in the London area yesterday and at one of them, doctors, nurses and porters worked all night beside rescue crews to move brick and fallen masonry to get into a section where a number of bed-ridden patients were trapped. A number of patients were killed instantly. The staff from the undamaged section of the hospital | rushed

‘through clouds of dust to start res-

cuing the trapped patients, whose cries could be heard plainly. The rescuers worked under shielded flashlights while raiders were still overhead. Houses near the hospital also caved in, trapping their occu-

i . pants.

The other hospital damaged was a maternity home in the London windows and doors were blown in, [but the upper floors escaped serious damage. The matron said 18 mothers and 14 children escaped injury. They were in an especially protected ground floor ward. | A London school used as a fire and ambulance station was hit ditly by a bomb, with some casu-

Albanian territory just north of the Greek frontier. Of possible significance in the Axis Mediterranean drive was a conference at Innsbruck near Brenner Pass of Wilhelm Keitel, chief of the German Supreme Command and Marshal Pietro Badoglio, top Italian commander.

Suner and Laval Confer

At the same time Ramon Serrano Suner, Spain’s Foreign Minister, and Vice Premier Pierre Laval of France, went to Paris. Suner soon will visit Berlin on invitation of the German Foreign Minister, Joachim von Ribbentrop, the official. news agency D. NB. reported. The British Admiralty reported that it had been confirmed with “certainty” that three Italian battleships were damaged in the attack on Taranto and it was revealed that the British Mediterranean fleet stood off Taranto during the attack in the hope the Italians would come out and give battle. Stockholm reported that German troops were leaving Finland, possibly in response to suggestions by Molotov, and the Domei Japanese news agency alleged that the French in Indo-China had repulsed an Armistic Day incursion by wellarmed and equipped Chinese troops. The War Ministry in Athens said that Greek forces still held the offensive in infantry, artillery and aerial battles raging along the whole 125-mile length of the GreekAlbanian frontier. Greek naval sources reported that Italy was encountering great difficulty in transporting men and material across the Otranto Straits from Italy to Albania because of the British and Greek naval and aerial attacks.

Fewer Italian Transports

The number of Italian transports recently has been drastically reduced, it was reported. These sources said also that the entire Aegean Sea was free of Italian naval craft except for a few submarines and that the Greek” naval vessels

ties. | The Germans said that eight

Reporter Describes How British Trapped Snug Italian Fleet in Taranto Harbor

(Continued from Page Poet way, and was shown beyond doubt

_ that the British control the sea.

After steaming to every corner of the Mediterranean, and loitering in the narrow Straits of Pantellaria off Sicily in a vain effort to lure the Italian fleet from port, it) was decided that the only chance to get a decisive battle would be to make a rousing blow on Taranto, where the main body of Italy's Navy was known to be. or * We approached the Greek islands at night at 30-knot Speed, all crews at battle stations. Against the skyline I could see big battl

floating fortresses on the ing waters. In the lead were a dozen

IN INDIANAPOLIS ON PAGE SIX OF THIS EDITION

{i rd

were patrolling the - coast unmolested.

HAVOC IN BERLIN ERIL ITALIAN BASE

. y War Moves Today

By J. W. T. MASON United Press War Expert

German disquietude over the initial failure of Italy's offensive in Greece is indicated by Berlin's announcement today that Field Marshal Wilhelm

- Marshal Pietro Badoglio, chief of the Italian General Staff, have met at Innsbruck for a conference. The fact that each commander is accompanied by a number of officers suggests plans of military significance are being discussed. Marshal Badoglio is reported to have flown to the Albanian front a few days ago for personal inquiry into the reasons why his troops have shown such ineptitude for mountain warfare.

the German High Command, and

His investigation

ized German force. An alternative to this plan would be to incite Bulgaria to attack Greece, with the promise of a port on the Aegean Sea as a reward.

offers serious initial difficulties. At the same time the Turks have intimated that they will fight if Bulgaria becomes a belligerent. Though there is some uncertainty regarding Turkey, vet a Bulgarian declaration of war against Greece would entail risks of embroiling all the Balkans. The same chance would be associated with a German thrust through Jugoslavia. The Innsbruck conference, therefore, is fraught with the most serious possibilities for all of southeastern Europe. If Marshal Badoglio believes the Albanian front is too difficult or too costly for continuation of major operations, the Axis powers will have to decide whether to attack Greece elsewhere at the possible expense of pan-Balkan peace. Whether Russian Foreign Commissar Molotov’s conversations with Hitler may apply to any change in the Balkan situation is uncertain. Russia may hold the key through her power over Turkey; but that too can be known only by future results.

German entente points primarily to some solution of the armed frontier situation. This is shown by today’s report that German troops are being withdrawn from western Finland, where they were recently con= centrated. as a counter-gesture following Russian military concentrations in northwestern areas.

NAZI BOMBERS RUIN COVENTRY

1000 Killed or Hurt in Revenge Raid by 500 German Planes.

(Continued from Page One)

air raid on Munich during the Nazi party celebration at which Adolf Hitler spoke last Friday. Casualties included policemen and

posts, accepting certain death in the rain of bombs. One bomb fell directly on a hospital and rescuers were driven back by fire. It was feared that casualties were heavy among bed-ridden patients. Six persons were killed in a garage where they had fled after their home was bombed. High explosive bombs hit four public shelters and caused many casualties. Several fire fighters were killed at their jobs. There were many heroic acts amid the turmoil, most of which, probably, never will be recorded because no one lived to tell them. Many survivors told of seeing civil defenders brave the hail

and feeding centers. In one hospital, the windows were blown out of an operating room where a patient was on the table, but the operation continued. The city is famed in both history and legend. In olden times it was walled, with 12 gates. ‘It had few mediaeval traces left, but many buildings of the Reformation period still stood. A popular phrase “to send to Coventry’—to refuse to associate with a person—derives from the city, but the derivation has been forgotten. A trained observer who went through the Coventry raid said that the noise of the attack was tremendous, even in comparison to previous mass raids. “There was a constant flash and crash, mingled with the whistle of falling bombs and then their explosions,” he said. “A pall of smoke rose over the town and was turned red by the glare thrown up against the sky. The glare was brighter than the moon.” Coventry is 85 miles northwest of London, It had famous pageants, including the triennial procession honoring Lady Godiva, who unwittingly tempted “Peeping Tom of Coventry” into an indiscretion.

destroyers churning the ocean until it seemed to boil. On both sides of us cruisers, light and heavy, loomed out as far as I could see. Our cruiser knifed the turquoise waters and hooded men moved around the guns. They worked silently. Some of them wore lamb wool coats with hoods like those of the. Arabian burnous; others wore white anti-flash gear resembling asbestos diving suits to protect their skin from cannon flashes. Slinking about the guns, they seemed like creatures from another planet. ; Suddenly pompom fire lit the sky. A false alarm‘'had been given. In the distance there was a thunder of heavy guns as the advance force in the Taranto Straits encountered an Italian convoy bound for Albania. Simultaneously the air was filled with 8 O S calls from sinking Italian ships. : (In reporting on this incident, the Admiralty in London said British

units had sunk two and damaged

the third ship of an Italian convoy and had driven off two escorting Italian destroyers, one of which was ph” ‘ a RAS .

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believed damaged.) Then the British airplanes took off. I saw them disappear over the Italian coast line, then sweep down upon the harbor. I could hear heavy explosions inside the bay. Back and forth, all night long, the planes operated. Toward dawn the fleet began another sweep that lasted well into the afternoon. Not even so much as an Italian plane was sighted. Meanwhile, scout planes from the aircraft carrier Illustrious went back to Taranto in daylight. They saw a smashed, derelict warship -on the bottom of the bay, the waves lapping over her funnels, and other ships lying nearby, damaged. The fleet started home (Alexandria is the base) from Taranto, despairing of a battle with the Italians. The spirit of the men, especially those of the air men, was high. On the decks, sailors sang the Navy's newest ditty, “The Man Who Invented Beer,” whose hero is a man named “Mops, the originator of hops.” Overhead, fighting and

The Bulgar-Greek frontier, how=-| ever, is largely mountainous and|

The first result of the new Russo-

civil defenders who kept at their},

of bombs to shepherd dazed men,| women and children to rest stations}.

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