The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-02-13

| SeEau ard PrinZ EuRen lett BreSt,
where they had sheltered. Wednes-
/ day night and reached the south
west English coast. approximately
AZ Exmout, at a. m. yesterday.
They had waited for weeks for
bad weather which would cover
| them, ard II was not until IL a. IN.
that British reconnaissance planes
sighted them, west Of the 20-mile
| Dover Strait and 800 miles from
| Helgoland.
| Naval experts were divided IN
opinion whether the German fleet
chose its course past the English
coast because the three big ships
had been damaged by bombs az Brest
| or in sheer audacity.
1T might just have been German
cheek, which has worked so well
in the past" one commentator said.
British Naval Disaster
The German naval exploit which,
pending further word from the adj
miralty and the air ministry, the
British public regarded as q British
naval disaster, came as imperial
forces were fighting for their very
lives at Singapore, and it threatened
TO rip the government wide open
even if it did not jeopardize the
position of Prime Minister Winston
Churchill himself.
In the most dramatic naval fight
in British home waters since the
days when the Dutch fleet ruled the
sea in the dark days OF Charles IL,
Britain admitted the loss OF AZ
planes and said that casualties In
the. British destroyers which, after
four hours and As minutes, joined
airplanes and small surface craft in
the attack, were mot heavy" Ger
man plane losses were put at 10
fighters.
A preliminary communique Said 1t
was indicated that a navy plane hit
heavy German fleet unit and pos
sibly hit a motor torpedo boat; that
Beaufort planes of the coastal COM
mand claimed" three torpedo hits
and that bomber command crews
were confident" that bombs struck
each OF the three main German
fleet units.
Dun lllt liz 81 A.2SiN'
jointly by the admiralty and the ar
ministry, did not claim single def
mite direct hit on a single German
Warship.
Britons could only hope that later
communicates would show q more
successful attack by the British
forces, and remember that such
British naval victories as the sinking
of the German pocket battleship
Admiral Graf Spec and even the
battle of Jutland had appeared at
first to be British disaster
because the admiralty had given
itself the worst OF it in its first re-
port
Through Dover Strait
The German fleet, the $4,000 ton
battleships Scharnhorst and Gnei-
senau and the heavy 10000 ton
cruiser Prinz Eugen, with a power
full escort OF motor torpedo boats,
mine sweeperS and fighter planes,
sailed through the Dover Strait and,
at dark, steaming through heavy
mist and their own thick smoke
screen, were headed for the German
naval base at Helgoland Island off
the mouth of the River Elbe.
The three big ships had been
sheltered for almost a year at Brest,
on the French invasion coast, under
frequent attack by British planes
Including America built flying fort
reSSeS.
They picked up their escort of
smaller ships and planes yesterday
morning and made some $50 miles,
past Plymouth from which Drake
set out to meet the Spanish Armada,
before they were sighted at about
III a. m yesterday. They were then
approaching the 20 mile Dover
Strait, between England and France.
A swarm Of small craft screened
the larger ships and squadron after
squadron OF fighter planes blanket
ed the air above them.
Clouds hung low. Visibility ranged
from three TO five miles, and the
ships could not be seen from the
English coast.
Mosquito craft raced out at once
from Dover TO the attack. Navy
sWordfish planes were next in the
fight, roaring over the heads of the
motor torpedo boats, and then
Royal Air Force fighter planes head
ed for the strait.
For hours afterward, fleets of
British planes from the fastest
fighters TO the greatest bomberS
We're soaring out over the sea and
nobody ashore knew what was hap
pening. They thought it was a raid
on The French coast.
A great blast of gun fire went mp
from the German fleet as the sur
face craft and the planes got into
action, and German planes engaged
the British aircraft in Wild dog
! fights over miles of the channel
The German ships at once laid o.
heavy smoke screen which, with the
mist, reduced visibility almost to
nothing
That, the admiralty and air min
iStry said. was one reason definite
hits could not be claimed in the
first communique.
Something Seems Wrong
Dover, Feb. 13-(UP)-Cha
| coast residents said today they
heard a continuous drone of heavy
| bomberS going out to sea all night
/ long and believed the British planes
| carried out night attacks on the
| Scharnhorst, Genisenau and Prinz
| Eugen.
| Residents of this front-row battle
area expressed anger and beWi.der.
| ment at the success of the German
warships in running the channel
gauntlet.
Something seems wrong some
where, one resident said, summing
up the general opinion.
The duel Of long range guns across
tha channel yesterday resulted in
rurnors of "a NaM invasion attempt.
The reports spread SO widely
that many persons sought shelter
throughout the day in the many
tunnels in the area.