May 16, A significant fact emerges from the story of the Italian attempt to bomb a convoy in the western Mediterranean about which Rome has been doing a little untruthful boasting. It transpires now that the engagement took place while the convoy was steaming between the Italian naval base at Caglieti, on the south coast of Sardinia, and Sicily,' the distance between the two points being approximately 200 miles, so that the convoy could hardly have been more than 100 miles from either of the two islands, Thus it was possible for Italian bombers, assisted by Nazi Stukas and Messerschmitts, to take advantage of the favourable weather and lowlying clouds and carry out continuous raids. Despite these conditions the convoy assisted by British aircraft were able to put up such fight that the Ttalians completely failed to hit one ship either of the convoy or its escort, while seven of the enemy machines were destroyed and five others badly damaged.
Against overwhelming odds British fighters succeeded time after time in breaking up enemy formations, and the conclusion is to be drawn. that the British aircraft, inferior in numbers, were so able to harass the enemy that' all their plans went awry, and the convoy was able to proceed on its way to reach its destination safely. When the enemy indulges in so much song and dance about having secured control of the Mediterranean in the air and on the sea it is more than passing strange that the British navy and mercantile marine, duly escorted, should be able to go about' their occasions in the manner they do, After all no more dangerous spot could be conceived than the stretch between Caglieri and the westernmost tip of Sicily, for it can be easily controtied from air bases at both places. Yet British vessels do pass to and fro, not without, hindrance, but certainly with a de-wre of safety which speaks well for the navy and the ait force.
'The striking account of the engagement from Reuter's special correspondent on board H.MS. Atk Royal,—that vessel which has Been so repeatedly sunk—shows that for eight hours the enemy aeroplanes continued their' attacks on the convoy. During that period the ships' guns and British fighters from the Ark Royal gave the enemy. such a rough handling that they were completely unable to achieve their objective, namely, the destruction of, or at least damage to some of the vessels attacked. 'That the enemy' endeavoured to push his attacks well home the correspondent's account clearly shows, but against numerical superiority in the ait was opposed the superiority of men and equipment of the British air arm, and the result' was that the latter told in no mistakeable manner. Stuka bombers and the like lose most of their potentiality when they have to face the determined attacks of the British machines, and last week's engagement clearly shows that, once the British have reached parity inthe air with the enemy, there can be little doubt as to the outcome of the war.
Tt has been rightly said that who can secure command of two of the three theatres of war, namely, the air, the sea, and the Yand wilt surely' win this war. At sea Britain and her Allies are in complete control. Tu the air they are rapidly climbing the same goal. "Supremacy, with the growing
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