six enemy aircraft attacking from the north. Laubs commander radioed Captain Hartman who signalled the destroyers to make smoke and prepare for action. The thousands of soldiers and civilians were also ordered to go below deck and remain there until the threat was over. A moment later, USS Tillman picked up an enemy aircraft and opened fire at a range of , too far to be accurate but the shots served as a warning to the other nearby escorts. German forces included Heinkel He 111s with F5B torpedoes, Dornier Do 217s with Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs and Junkers Ju 88s. They were separated into small groups and attacked at a low altitude, around above the surface of the sea. First, the Americans sent out friend or foe signals to the approaching enemy, but when one of the aircraft was identified as German, Hartman was informed and he ordered the escorts to open fire. As the German planes came within range, both the escorts and the transports opened fire toward the sky with a massive hail of machine gun, anti-aircraft and naval gunfire. Seconds later, the Germans began firing their missiles and launching torpedoes. The battle last under 30 minutes but in that time thousands of pounds of ordnance were expended. USS Beatty, under Commander William Outerson, first observed machine gun fire at 18:03 and picked up five incoming planes followed by a bomb explosion at 18:04. At 18:05, she opened fire on two more incoming Ju 88 torpedo planes, away, which were trying to pass themselves off as friendly. Most of the attacking aircraft seemed to be after Tillman, but she avoided being hit due to her captain who expertly steered his ship through the bombing. The first aircraft sighted by Tillman was a Dornier, which dropped a gliding bomb about off the beam while under heavy fire from the destroyer's main battery. When the projectile was from the ship, machine gun fire from Tillman struck the bomb and it fell into a steep dive, crashing off the port side. The bomber was then struck and blown up by Tillmans 5-inch (130 mm) guns while another bomb exploded off the starboard beam. Though Tillman escaped being hit, concussion damaged the destroyer's fire-control radar and aft plates. At 18:13, one of the German torpedo planes launched a torpedo from 500 yards at Beatty, 30 seconds later, the missile struck the