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our fleet steering for Taranto at high speed. It was not possible to intercept them. Between the 29th September and the 2nd October attacks were made with bombs and torpedoes by enemy aircraft on our fleet, which, however, sustained no damage. Four enemy aircraft were shot down; three of our Fulmar aircraft made forced landings.

On the 29th two Swordfish of the Fleet Air Arm successfully attacked two merchant ships with a destroyer escort at Jezira el Marasheb.

West Africa.

8. The Free French forces under General de Gaulle arrived at Freetown on the 27th, and the British naval forces with H.M.S. Resolution in tow of H.M.S. Barham on the 29th. Temporary repairs to H.M.S. Cumberland have been effected, but dockyard assistance is considered necessary at an early date. The damage caused to the other ships is not serious and temporary repairs are being carried out at Freetown.

French aircraft flew over Freetown on the 27th and 28th September and have daily reconnoitred the harbour at Bathurst. A fleet reconnaissance aircraft was unsuccessfully attacked 200 miles north-west of Konakri. On the 28th a report was received from Tangier (which later proved to be incorrect) that a French force, including the battleship Richelieu, had left Dakar, and H.M.S. Renown, with four destroyers, was ordered to intercept them.

On the 1st October an air reconnaissance of Dakar showed that the Richelieu was still in the inner harbour with three destroyers, one submarine and one sloop. Two Gloire class cruisers were in the outer harbour, and tugs were standing by a Fantasque class destroyer which was beached near Rufisque.

Aden.

9. On the 27th September the French S.S. Espérance was intercepted south of Aden and ordered in under an armed guard.

Anti-Submarine Operations.

10. In Home Waters ten attacks, of which two were by aircraft, were carried out during the week without visible result.

In the Mediterranean a destroyer and two A/S trawlers sent to attack four submarines, which had been reported by aircraft southward of Malta, failed to locate them.

On the night of the 29th-30th September H.M.A.S. Stuart, 60 miles off Alexandria, made a series of attacks on a U-boat which forced her to the surface, whereupon she was bombed by a flying-boat and sank after the crew had abandoned her. Another U-boat was sunk on the 2nd October by H.M. Destroyers Havock and Hasty in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Enemy attack on Seaborne Trade.

11. During the period 80,000 tons of shipping have been sunk by enemy action, and in addition two ships (14,000 tons) have been included which were sunk previously but not reported, making a total of 88,000 tons. Seven British (50,506 tons) and three Norwegian ships (11,721 tons) were sunk by U-boats in the North-Western Approaches, and one Spanish ship (4,291 tons) was torpedoed and sunk in the Mediterranean. One small Dutch schoot was mined, and two British ships (13,236 tons) sunk by aircraft. East Coast convoys have been attacked by aircraft with increased frequency, particularly in the vicinity of Kinnaird Head. Two ships have been sunk and three damaged by these attacks. The British S.S. Sussex (11,063 tons) was bombed and machine-gunned by four aircraft 340 miles west of the Bloody Foreland and slightly damaged.

Full details will be found in Appendix I.

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