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Show Graf Spee leaves Harbor for Date With Destiny r NAZIS SAY 34 BRITISH PLANES SHOT DOWN IN F1ERCESTJIR BATTLE British Report 1 2 German Ships Blasted From Sky in War's Biggest Combat By JOSEPH W. GRIGG JR. BERLIN, Dec. 18 (UP) The biggest air.battle of Jhe war was fought over German North sea air and naval bases today, and the German command announced that 34 of 44 raiding .... ....... , f ..... . ,. . ... , - ... t t '. : , . , -: a r v . - i w" " .... mm - ' " . ' . nmwJ I ' - ! . , ,. - ; .,. , . ;. ..... t - - . . , ; . . 1 , i . ... .. . . ; - : . ,.'... ' . ' . - 4 f t : " " . m, ' y w m r . . -is T - m . r- . , I .: ; '"- s . JP ' - i urn,. '- . i- " ""w i',) ,s '- .- . ......... . . " ' .... ' - i - , - - ' '. ' -y " , . '' ' t , s 1 " 7 ' w jr- . IT" l AMaociated Press Radiophoto CROWD IN FOREGROUND WATCH E S WARSHIP STEAM OUT OF HARBOR They were waiting for a naval battle and saw a naval suicide British planes were shot down.' The Germans claimed the loss of only two planes, the crews of which escaped In parachutes. (Dispatches from Jutland said that one phase et the battle was ' clearly visible to residents of the Danish Island of Boem. who reported re-ported five Hours of fighting over the German air base on the island of Sylt. At least 14 bombs were dropped, according to the reports. The British also raided the south end of the German island of Hoer-num. Hoer-num. Jutland dispatches said.) Intense Activity The British air raids followed intense in-tense activity by German planes over the North sea yesterday. (In London the air ministry an-. an-. Bounced that Royal Air force planes had shot down It German Ger-man Meesenchmidt planes ever Helgoland. (Seven British planes have net returned to their bases, the announcement an-nouncement said, and presumably presum-ably were lost.) Wreckage from British planes already has been washed up on the Frisian islands, the official German announcement said. It was announced officially that several British bombers succeeded In reaching the German naval base at Wilhelmshaven where three bombs were dropped. No damage was caused, officials said. The British raiders concentrated their activity over the North sea In the neighborhood of Helgoland. Patrols Busy (For more than a week. It has been announced in London, the royal air force has maintained a regular "security patrol" of German Ger-man North sea bases to strike down German mine-laying planes before they can take off for British waters.) German pursuit planes engaged British bombers in several sharp air battles over the inner Helgoland Helgo-land bight, an official announcement announce-ment said. It added that in claiming claim-ing that 34 of 44 British planes ' were shot down the Germans were not counting "other possible losses." The official announcement said: "On the afternoon of December (CoWllnUrt om Pam TO ( Column Four! Tempting Target for British Air Raider In Thrusts Against Reich - ' , ',. - ' . .....'..- ' , ' ' . . ' i g ", - Aft.-: ..- . ;, : .j"P" : .v i -" . J AIK VIEW OF HEAVILY FORTIFIED ISLAND OF HELGOLAND OFF GEEMAN COAST IN NORTH SEA Thi "pock" is a veritable Gibraltar and aids Nazis in keeping pathways into Baltic closed GERMANS CRUET VICTORY IN AIR (C llnd tram Pss Om 18, the English undertook wholesale whole-sale flight with 44 modern fighting planes. "The enemy unit attempted to attack at several points along the North sea coast but on their flight to their objectives, the planes were intercepted by German pursuit planes north,of Helgoland and dispersed. dis-persed. "Several fierce struggles were fought above the inner German bight "In the course of these fights 34 English planes were shot down, according to reports so far available. avail-able. "In this number are not Included Includ-ed losses which the English presumably pre-sumably suffered on their return flight "A number of shot-down English Eng-lish planes have already been washed ashore. The crews of two English planes have been taken prisoner. "A few English planes succeeded succeed-ed in breaking through to Wll-helmshaven, Wll-helmshaven, where they ran into concentrated antiaircraft fire and were unable to drop their bombs. "Two German airplanes crashed, but their crews saved themselves by parachuting. "The victorious German pursuit planes are Messerschmltt machines, ma-chines, type 109, and belong to the pursuit squadron of Commander Schumacher, which previously distinguished dis-tinguished itself on December 14 by shooting down 10 out of 20 attacking at-tacking British planes, sending the adversary home with a 90 per cent loss." . |
