The daily monitor. (Mount Clemens, Mich.) 1940-1942, 1941-02-04
War


the apparently quickening war
at sea.
Hitlers high command .eport-
Cd -. 900 tons sent to the bot
tom 3o, 900 tons BY 1, German
warship operating overseas":
IL. 900 tons by q Maxi U-boat,
and 5000 tons by German dive
bombers.
Premier Mussolini's high conn.,
mand reported q spectacular
raid by Italian torpedo boats
last night against IAN enemy
convoy strongly escorted by
cruisers and destroyers" in the
Red Sea.
Attacking decisively," the
Fascist high command said. "our
vessels launched q total Of nine
torpedoes, If which seve; hit
ships.
"Our units, despite strong en-
envy reaction, succeeded in get
ting away and returned to their
base unframed"
The RATS one-two raid on
Brest was the 35th on the Ger
man-occupied port at the west
gateway Of the English channel.
Returning pilots said both At
tacks were successful.
The Raj assault followed a
night of intermittent raids on
Britain by lone German planes
which dropped incendiary
bombs on London and explosives
at two places in East Anglia.
The British said the German
raids at no time reached serious
proportions, and that fires star
ted in the capital were extin-
guished before much damage
was done. No casualties were
reported.
On the north African front,
the British reported last night
their bombers had carried out
violent attacks on the coastal
road from captured Derna to
Bengasi and on the area around
the important West Libyan port
of Tripoli, 400 air miles to the
west. Observers interpreted
these raids as preludes to an
about assault aimed at capture
OF Bengasi and swift completion
of the conquest of Eastern Lib
va.
There was no indication whe-
Their the attack on Tripoli was
launched from newly-won Bril-
fish bases in Libya or from the
Mediterranean base at Malta.
only 200 miles from the objec-
tive.
Reports from East Afric-. in
dicated the British offensive was
being speeded there in an at
tempt to crush italian resistance
before March, when sweltering
heat and torrential spring rains
might hold up operations.
The British declared they were
in undisputed possession of from
tier areas In Eritrea, Ethiopia
and Somaliland and driving
steadily deeper into all three
Italian colonies. Greatest pro-
sress was reported in Eritrea,
across which the British nave
driven q wedge half way to the
Red Sea.
Further Italian reverses W ere
reported on the Albanian bat
tlefront, where the Greeks said
they had gained control nf the
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Treble
shina mountain range north of
Klisura. Italian counter attacks
on Greek positions there were
said to have failed.
Indications of q German vic
tory on the diplomatic front
were seen by observers in re-
ports from Vichy that French
Chief Of State Marshal Petain
soon might restore former vice
premier Pierre Laval to his
cabinet to meet Nazi pressure.
Laval is regarded generally
as an advocate Of French-Ger-
man collaboration" toward
which little progress has been
made since his dismissal by Pc
tain last Dec. 13. French Naval
Minister Admiral Jean Darlan
conferred yesterday in Paris
with Laval and was expected to
report to Petain in Vichy today.
In Cuba, President Tulsencio
Batista-in q sudden series Of
actions during the night-ousted
chiefs of his nations armed
forces. charged them with "se-
ditious attitude" and suspended
constitutional guarantees for is
days.
He said q deep crisis which
endangered the stability Of the
republic has been overcome, and
order and tranquility prevail
again."
Machine-guns and barricades
were mounted at the entrance
to the presidential palace; ma
tional police headquarters also
were barricaded, and the army
took over public utilities.
Batista appointed new chiefs
of the army, navy and national