Evening star., 1940-07-07
French Fleet
Al Alexandra
Is |sDemobiIized
British WorpIones
Hammer Italians
And Ex-AIIies
BY the Associated Press.

BY the Associated Press.
LONDON. July 7 Brit
ish warplanes hammered a double
blow at italian and French sea-
power yesterday in far-ranging at
tacks, while dispatch from Cairo,
Egypt, said the French fleet in Alex
andria had been demobilized with
out difficulty.
Col. Salisbury Jones. until lately
chief British liaison officer in Syria.
said in a broadcast at Cairo last
night that thanks to the bonds of
friendship formed between the Brit
ish and French crews the demobili-
cation of the French fleet in Alex
andria has been carried out without
difficulty in spirit of complete
understanding.
Reuters, British news agency. said
today in a dispatch from Vichy,
France, that the French Naval Min
istry had acknowledged that French
planes had participated in raids on
the British base at Gibraltar yes
terday
At home, Britain enrolled another
100000 men in her constantly ex-
panding armed manpower, poised
now for invasion.
Successful Action" Claimed.
Successful action" by naval and
Royal Air Force planes against Ital-
ian warships in Tobruk. Libya, was
announced by the Admiralty.
1t said other units of the fleet
air arm also had raided an air.
drome at Catania, Sicily. leaving
hangers and workshops in flaming
ruins.
Naval mopup planes made sure
that the damaged French battleship
Dunkerque was out of the war for
good. They revisited Oran, Algiers,
where the British attack on the
French fleet Wednesday crippled the
Dunkerque and forced her aground,
and scored six bomb hits on the
26500-ton battleship.
1T was considered essential" the
Admiralty explained, that the ship
should be in no condition to take
part in the war in case she should
fall under enemy control ="
200 Reported Killed.
The planes attacked without
warning because the French COM
mander had declared his ships hors
de combat and said they were to be
abandoned, communique disclosed.
But its report that two British craft
failed to return indicated that some
resistance may have been encoun-
tered.
A Reuters dispatch from Vichy to-
day quoted an Algiers dispatch as
saying the French battleships Dun
kerque and Provence and the de-
stroyer Mogador lost 200 killed and
$50 seriously wounded in the naval
battle with British warships last
Wednesday.
The dispatch also said there were
only 200 survivors from the French
battleship Bretagne. Her normal
complement was 1888 but she was
in port at the time of the battle and
probably many of the crew were
ashore on leave.
The four ships were reported
ashore as result of the fight. It
was said engineers were studying
means of relocating them.
Hopes in Vast Army.
The foundation of British hopes
for successful resistance against
Nazi invasion, now regarded as in
evitable and imminent. is in the
vast army she is training.
Clement r. Attlee, deputy govern
ment leader, cautioned the nation
last night that it soon will face the
full onslaught of our enemies" but
declared: Il believe we shall meet it
with caNrage and defeat it in what
ever Ss>FEyl it may come"
Dipping into her reservoir of men
in their 30s, Britain called her 1909
class-30-year -olds-and before the
end of the month three more groups
will have registered, the 1908 class
next Saturday, the 1907 class a week
later and the 1906 class two weeks
later.
Potentially, this is an army of
1000 900 men which Britain expects
will be stronger than the Maginot
line which failed France
You can't buy safety with bricks
and mortar" Prime Minister
(See LONDON, Page A-4)