Evening star., 1943-12-16
1000 Dead or Hurt in Nozi Raid
On Ships at Bari, Stimson Says;
Churchill Is III With Pneumonia
5 Of u Cargo Vessels
Sunk Were American,
Secretary Reveals
By the Associated Press

Seventeen United Nations
merchant ships, including five
American vessels, were sunk De-
cember 2 by German bombers
in the Allied port at Bari, Italy.
approximately 1000 persons,
among them 81 American naval
men, were killed or injured.
Secretary of War Stimson dis
closed, casualty details and the loss
of American ships at a press con-
ference today after other sources of
unquestionable authority had placed
the total number of vessels lost at
II approximately so per cent of the
total amount of shipping in Bari
Harbor at the time.
In official quarters here there was
no disposition to deny that the blow
was serious. reducing British Army
supplies for two or three days-and
In some respects the worst defeat in
side a protected harbor since the
japanese raided Pearl Harbor two
years ago.
Most of Cargo Discharged.
fortunately, most of the cargo
had been discharged prior to the
attack and the loss of supplies was
not great Mr.. Stimson said.
About 80 German bombers partic
ipated in the raid Mr.. Stimson said
much of the damage resulted when
two ammunition ships were hit and
exploded, spreading fires and de-
struction over the harbor.
The Secretary's report Of the at
tack came during the course of his
weekly review of the war.
while we have definite air supe-
riority in Southern Italy and in
most of the Mediterranean" he said,
"the Germans have appreciably in
creased their air strength in this
area, Sharp fighter resistance has
been encountered at times and some
heavy bomber attacks have been
made on Allied ports and shipping"
Full U. S. Toll Not Known.
Mr.. Stimson told questioners the
War Department did not know the
full number of Americans included
In the estimated total of 1000 cas-
ualties. and did not know whether
the two ammunition ships were
among the five American vessels re-
ported destroyed
He said the Bari bombing had
been announced by Gen. Dwight D.
Eisenhower on December 4. The
communique issued that day at AL
lied headquarters, Algiers, said in
part:
"On the evening of December .,
enemy aircraft attacked the Bari
area and damage was done There
were number of casualties"
The wave of German bombers
came over the Bari area Just at
dawn, flying very low and very fast,
They caught the city's defenses en-
tirely by surprise.
Concentrated on Ships.
The raiders were not as interested
In port installations as in the ships
in harbor. A convoy apparently had
arrived only day or so before and
the work of unloading ships had
been going forward at top speed.
The attack lasted only few min
utes. When it was over, harbor
shipping was a shambles and the II
merchant vessels lay useless on the
bottom of the harbor
The 9th Army suffered badly In
supplies for two or three days, but
rapidly recouped its supply position.
Obviously Fine Planning.
The assault was carried out with
obviously fine planning and bril-
liant execution. In some respects
1t was like the attacks made by
American Army and Navy Air
Forces on japanese sitting ducks"
in the harbor at Rabaul, enemy base
in the Southwest Pacific. American
planes there went in under condi-
tions of surprise caught defenses
off balance and caused extremely
heavy damage.
One of the main difficulties with
the defenses at Bari appears to have
been that they we're weak in fighter