The Wilmington morning star., 1940-07-20
R AF BOMBS GERMANY
At Least IL OF Aerial In
vaders Downed By Brit
ish Defense Forces
OFFER WAS EXPECTED
English Navy Confronted
With Threat OF Fresh
Sea Raider At Large

LONDON, July 19.-R-Britain
scorned Adolf Hitler's peace offer
tonight as unworthy of reply ex-
cept in the easily understood LAM
guage of bomb blast and gunfire.
The German dictator gave point
to his threats of total destruction
by launching one of the widest and
heaviest air raids Britain ever has
experienced.
But the Royal Air force ranged
far over Germany and German
subjugated lands to bomb factories
and military storage places, includ-
ing the Krupp plant at Essen, and
the royal navy sent to the bottom
of the Mediterranean the Italian
cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni, a 40
knot warship rated as n OF the
worlds fastest.
Eleven Planes Downed
The British defense forces shot
down at least II of the German
aerial raiders-four bombers and
seven fighters, at a cost OF five
British fighter planes.
More than $50 German and Brit
ish planes participated in two big
battles off the southeast coast this
afternoon. Nearly 70 Nazi bomb
ers and fighters were engaged IN
the first, and more than so in the
second.
Britons, both Of high and low
degree, took the attitude that Hit
ler's latest peace overture had
been answered in advance five
days ago by Prime Minister Win
ston Churchill's declaration:
"Be the ordeal sharp or long, or
both, we shall seek no terms; we
shall tolerate no parley."
Gesture Expected
Though Hitler is well aware of
this consistent Churchill stand, and
knew in advance what
sort of reception his peace scheme
would get, the British had been ex-
pecting him to make just such a
gesture ever since the fall of
France and the determined British
actions which kept him from lay
ing hands on the French fleet.
The general opinion was that the
only surprising thing about it was
the lack of anything concrete or
even novel.
Of Hitler's threat to destroy the
British empire, the ordinary Brit
ain scoffed: LET him try it."
There were many to recall that
this is the 352nd anniversary of
the Spanish Armada's arrival off
Britain, and that the only Span
iards to land then we're prisoners
If the British navy.
Tired of specializing on when the
German attack will come, the Brit
.sh did not even try to guess wheth-
ar the Hitler speech presaged an
immediate attempt at invasion.
At the same time the British
navy was confronted with the
threat of a fresh German sea raid
sr "at large in the Atlantic" when
it was announced that two British
merchant ships, had been sunk
near the West Indies.
The 5,069-ton Italian cruiser Bar
tolomeo Colleoni was sunk by the
Australian cruiser Sydney off the
Greek isle of Crete, the admiralty
announced.
Another Flees
Another Italian cruiser was put
TO flight by the six-inch guns Of the
Sydney and the smaller artillery
Of accompanying destroyers, the
admiralty said.
The scene of the battle was near
that which began July 8 when the
reported chasing the Ital-
ian fleet into the Ionian sea
1t was that action, which served
notice that Britain is ~contesting
[taly's line of communications with
North Africa.
British aircraft, meanwhile,
made repeated daylight attacks on
barge ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
being prepared for attack on Brit
Rotterdam and Bou-
ogne.
Other targets, the air ministry
laid, included warehouses at LIE
on Page Two; Col 81