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34. On the 7th three enemy patrol vessels opened intense and accurate anti- aircraft fire on one of our patrolling aircraft in the Bight, and were answered by two 250-lb. bombs, which fell some 15 yards wide. A search was made by a flying boat some 360 miles north of the Shetlands on the 12th March to look for enemy surface vessels which had been reported in the area, but nothing was seen.
British Air Forces in France.
35. The activity of the Army Co-operation squadrons during the period was limited to operational training, but there has been some fighter patrol activity and strategical reconnaissance. Sixty-four patrols, involving 86 aircraft, were flown by the fighters of the Air Component, and 44 patrols, involving 98 aircraft. by those of the Striking Force.
36. Reconnaissances were flown by Blenheim aircraft of No. 70 Wing, operating from Metz on the nights of the 8th-9th, 9th-10th and 11th-12th March to ascertain whether there was any rail or road movement between the Ruhr area and the Dutch frontier. Anti-aircraft fire and searchlights were encountered, but no ground movement of particular interest was seen.
Overseas Commands.
37. Anti-submarine patrols and convoy escorts were maintained as usual in the Mediterranean, without special incident.
French Air Force.
38. French air operations were confined to certain reconnaissances over the enemy lines and to a number of fighter patrols. No engagements with enemy aircraft are reported.
German Air Force.
Operations.
39. Offensive activity has been comparatively slight during the period. although reconnaissance aircraft and bombers have been off the East Coast in limited numbers on most days. There have been some raids on convoys, and on shipping in the Downs and off the Norfolk and Yorkshire Coasts as well as an apparent recrudescence of minelaying; but two aircraft have been shot down, and the only successful attack was that in which the Italian ship Amelia Lauro was set on fire on the 7th March.
German Civil Aviation.
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40. It has been announced that the Berlin-Amsterdam air service would reopen on the 11th March, to be operated in the first instance by the Lufthansa Company alone, without the co-operation of K.L.M., and to convey freight and mails only. German aircraft (Heinkels and Junkers) with German crews, are still operating the Lufthansa route to Spain from Italy, but do so under cloak of the "Iberia company, with Spanish civil markings and technical Spanish nationality. These aircraft are thus exempt from Allied interference in the Mediterranean, and are said to have been considerably used for the conveyance of non-bulky German exports. Baron de Sacro Lirio, and General Kindelan, late Chief of the Spanish Air Staff, who are intimately connected with the "Iberia company, have both recently been decorated with Grand Cross of the German Eagle. There are reports of a possible extension of this service as far as Lisbon.
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41. Negotiations are in progress for the opening of an air service from Germany to Manchuria, equipped with Focke-Wulf Condors, and there is also talk of the institution of a service to Chungking, as a possible means of importing raw materials.
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