Evening star., 1940-12-20
100 Tons Of Shells
Poured on City,
English Report
By the Associated Press.

LONDON, Dec. 20.-BritiSh sea
power, consisting of battleships, a
cruiser and destroyers, has swept the
lower Adriatic and the battleshipS
poured nearly 100 tons of high-ex-
plosive shells into the Albanian port
of Valona, the Admiralty announced
today.
The raid, through the 50-mile-
wide Strait of Otranto, at the heel
of the Italian boot, was not chal-
lenged by the Italian Navy and no
Italian shipping was found, the Ad-
miralty said Valona is a vital sup
ply port for Italian forces in South
ern Albania.
British commentators pounced on
the failure of the Italians to engage
the warships as indication that Brit
ish domination of the Mediterranean
had been extended to the Adriatic,
although the British penetrated only
the lower part, as far north as Du-
razzo, on the Albanian side, and
Bari, on the Italian.
New evidence of British control of
the Mediterranean itself was found
in the intermittent, five-day bonn
bardment of Itely's beleaguered
Libyan base of Bardia.
Developments Expected.
The Admiralty itself drew no con-
clusions from the Adriatic and Bar
dia operations, but the naval cor
respondent of the British press asso-
citation declared:
TT would seem that the Italians,
driven from Taranto, and bounded
again by the r. A. F. at Naples, have
sought fresh bases where they hope
their fleet will keep out of the way
of our Mediterranean fleet
with the Adriatic Sea now open
to us, important developments may
be expected"
(The Admiraity's report would
tend to bear out reports that
fleets of German Junkers trans
port planes are ferrying Italian
troops to the Albanian battlefront
where they had been taken hith-
erto by sea-
The Adriatic raid was staged the
night of December 18, according to
Admiralty communiques.
Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham,
commander in chief of the British
Mediterranean feet, commanded the
battleship force in the Adriatic raid
and Vice Admiral M. D. Pridham
wippel, veteran of World War oper-
ations in the Adratic, the other war
ships. There were two phases of
the raid.
Number Of Ships Unstated.
While a cruiser and a screening
destroyer force swept the lower sea,
looking fruitlessly for Italian ship
ping, the battleships-how many
was not disclosed-plowed toward
Valona.
The extent of damage at that AL
banian port was not disclosed, but
commentators declared that the
''nearly 100 tons of high-explosive
Shells" referred to by the Admi-
ralty. could make debris of docking
facilities.
Durazzo, Albanian port to the
north of Valona, has considerably
inferior facilities and even these
have been subjected to repeated R.
A. F.. bombardment.
London sources expressed belief
that Italian forces in Albania were
threatened with isolation worse
than the encirclement of the British
and French at Dunkerque because
of Italy's naval failure to command
the lower Adriatic.
First Known Penetration.
This was the first known pene-
tration of the Adriatic by British
battleships in the present war, al
though on the night of November
Hip, while British naval planes
were pounding Italian warships at
anchor in the battle of Taranto. 2
squadron of light forces was re-
ported to have attacked an Italian
convoy off Valona.
OF the four supply ships, escorted
by two destroyers, one was sunk
outright, two were set seriously
afire and almost certainly sunk"
and the fourth, with the destroyers,
escaped in the protection of smoke
screen. although one of the Destroy
ers had been damaged, according to
the admiralty account.
Naval operations in support Of
(See ADRIATIC, Page A-3)