Evening star., 1940-07-20
British Warship Sunk
In 3.Hour Battle,
Italians Claim
Rome Acknowledges Loss
Of Cruiser; kozi Attack
On Brituin Held Near
BULLETIN.

CAIRO F.-The British res
cued 545 men from the Bartolo-
meo Colleoni, Italian cruiser sunk
in a Mediterranean naval battle
yesterday, q British communique
asserted. No casualties were suf-
fered by the British in the ac-
ton, the British said. ..
~ the Associated Press.
ROME, July 20-1taly today
acknowledged Loss of the cruiser
Bartolomeo Colleoni. but claimed
the sinking Of q British warship in
three-hour naval battle In the
Middle Mediterranean yesterday. At
the same time she declared Ger
many's attack on Britain was only
"a question of days."
This word came from the authori-
tative Fascist weekly Relazoni In
ternationali, which described Nazi
air raids against England as merely
preliminary to a great naval oper-
alton.
"A certain time is necessary for
extending military operation over
English territory" the weekly said.
The English may be more clever
on defense than on attack - but
this war of constant offensives, in
which the initiative always is Ger
many's privilege"
The weekly said reconstruction of
Europe would be begun by Adolf
Hitler and Premier Mussolini alone
only after absolute and complete
victory"
The Balkan countries, particu-
larly Yugoslavia. were warned that
they would have to realize there is
new European order in which the
Rome-Berlin axis lit not inclined
to tolerate" outmoded "mentalities
and ideas"
Italians have objected to the way
Yugoslav newspapers accepted Brit
ish versions of the July naval bat
tie in the Mediterranean.
The italian high command de-
clared that two italian cruisers had
inflicted serious damage on British
warships in yesterdays naval battle
near the Greek Island of Crete.
The Italians reported the British
warship was sunk in flames by
bombs from an italian plane.
(The British Admiralty yester-
day reported sinking Of the Bar
tolomeo Colleoni in battle with
the Australian cruiser Sydney
and a small destroyer force, and
said second Italian cruiser had
fled. A British destroyer was
said to have rescued $50 of the
Bartolomeo Colleoni's crew. The
British did not report any losses
to their own forceD
The high commands S communioue
said the battle pitted the Italian
5,000-ton light cruisers Bartolomeo
Colleoni and Giovannia Dale Ban
dae Mere against British force
consisting of two 7,000-ton armored
cruisers "of the Sydney type" and
four destroyers. y
Despite the superiority of the
enemy forces" the communicate
said, "our cruisers engaged In battle,
infiicting serious damage on the
enemy"
Hood, Ark Royal May Move.
Stefani, the onicial italian news
agency, said British authorities at
Gibraltar are considering sending
the crack battle cruiser Hood and
the 22,000-ton aircraft carrier Ark
Royal elsewhere as soon as possible
because of italian bombings of the
British base.
Stefani said Italian planes In their
raids on Thursday dropped bombs
close to the dockyard where the
2,100-ton Hood and the Ark Royal
were being repaired and that other
bombs seriously damaged" supply
dumps and dockyard equipment and
caused "indescribable panic" among
the workers.
The agency,s new detailed account
Of the raids said the Italian planes.
(see ROME. Pare A-4o