The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-04-24
British Are Smashing Hard Upon Two Fronts
tContinued from Page l)


 CTS. One extremely heavy bomb hit one of the warships and another either hit 8 ship or hit the ad- jacent dock, the citations said, in connection with award of a distin- guished flying cross to Pilot Officer Grahame Robert Ross.
 Drop Was Too Short
 Experts said that the direct hit on the warShip might have done only superficial damage because 1t was dropped from about 1000 feet, whereas even a penetrating bomb must be dropped from high alti- tude to pierce the armor of @ modern battleship.
 The hit on a battleship was dur. ing raids on Brest this month but 1t was not indicated which raid had resulted in the citation. The harbor where the two battleships are berthed was raided Tuesday night and last nighttime 10th and 1lth raid on the warships and the 57th on Brest.
 In addition to the direct hit, 1t was disclosed by a Flying Cross award to Pilot Officer Robert Wareing, that in another instance an extremely heavy bomb burst either on one of the battlcships or on the dockside.
 A joint citation going with the award to Ross and the award of @ distinguished flying medal to Ser- geant Keith Ian Street, said that in April Ross and Street were captain and rear gunner respectively of e bomber detailed to attack the two battleships.
 Flying over the target area at a low altitude. Ross finally located hi, objective and in the face of intense and concentrated anti-aircraft fire and searchlights, descended to 1000 feet, scoring a direct hit on one of the ships with an extremely heavy bomb," the citation said. Difficult to Find Yt
 The Wareing citation said he had had difficulty finding the target but decided to make another attack and, regaining height, flew over the target area about 40 minutes. Final ly he made Q successful attack on one of the ships, dropping an ex- tremely heavy bomb which was seen to burst either on the ship or the dockside."
 The raid on Brest last night was heavy.
 The air ministry has never claimed @ direct hit on either ship, but has reported repeatedly that docks and the surrounding area were straddled by heavy bombs. Previous communiques have said the attacks were directed at "the naval base;" today's was the first to state specifically that the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau were the principal objectives ,indi- eating the attack was more than usually successful.
 Triploi Is Pounded
 London, April 24. -- (UP) - The British Mediterranean fleet poured l,l87, 200 pounds of explosives into Tripoli, Italian base ir North Africa, during its 42 minute bombardment Monday morning, the admiralty announced today.
 Declaring that the bombardmen, had been even more successful than first thought, the admiralty said that three transports or sup. ply ships lying in the naval basir were seriously set afire. one of thest was seen to actually sink.
 "A fourth ship in the naval basir appears to have been laden witt ammunition for when 1t was hit b, a l4-lnch shell, the ship exploded One supply ship moored off thu Spanish quay was hit by l5-incf shells and sank almost instantly.
 One supply ship (the commit nique continued) lying outside thu harbor off Karamanti Mole, wa, and seriously set afire. A destroyer moored at the Karamanu Mole wa. heavily hit. Clouds oi smoke were seen coming from at least thre, other ships in the harbor, but 4 was not possible to establish wheth' CT this was due to damage or ar attempt to create smoke screen
 Tt Is considered that other dam age was done to shipping. Harbol facilities also were seriously dam aged. Salvoes of l5-inch shells wer' seen to fall on the Spanish quay sending up large columns of smoke from warehouses and offices.
 "The quay which is the main un. loading quay at Tripoli was seen tt be continuously hit for 10 minute! by medium caliber shells. Salvoes of heavy shells were also seen tt fall on the narrow approach tt Spanish Quay from land. The gov ernor's office and naval headquar. ters were repeatedly hit. Severa salvoeS were seen to hit Karamant Mole.
 Other Damage Done
 Military objectives ashore (thl communique continued) also sus. tained serious damage. A large fir, and explosion was caused in tn, main oil fuel depot south of thu Karamanti Mole and many sur rounding building were set on fire A large block of government ol military buildings near the base e the Karamanti Mole was demol.