A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 291, 7 September 1942, Page 4

A BACKGROUND OF THE WAR

The Battle At Sea REASSURING NEWS GIVEN

The First Lord of the Admiralty, Mr. Alexander, had some most reassuring news to impart last week, when he announced that during July and August more U-boats were destroyed than, in any other two months since the war began. He dealt trenchantly, too, with critics of tlfe Royal Navy who say that the senior service is slow to meet new developments by the enemy of methods of submarine warfare. He told them that the development of new methods by the enemy was the direct outcome of the measures taken by th<? Navy, instead ot the measures following enemy development.

Mr. Alexander announced that new devices had been put into uso which made submarine operations increasingly dangerous. This is borne out by the German radio’s naval spokesman, an admiral, who only a few days ago was telling the German people that the -life of the submarine personnel was one of hardship and increasing danger. The Caribbean Sea

For several months after the United States came into the war the waters off the eastern seaboard of North America and in the Caribbean Sea were the happy hunting grounds of Axis underwater craft. Shipping losses were undoubtedly serious,. dangerously so. The United States, through lack of the necessary patrol and escort craft, was unable to institute an efficient convoy service, so that the losses had. to be faced and accepted to permit essential transport of oil from the Texan and Californian, oilfields to the battlefronts to be maintained. This caused the casualties to shipping to-fall specially-‘heavily in the tanker class, and as tankers have, throughout the war, been a special mark for attack, each loss was doubly serious. Tankers, like refrigerated tonnage, are not as easy to replace as ordinary freighters. Now, however, measures taken by Britain and the United States in collaboration, Mr. Alexander says, have driven, the submarines from these happy hunting grounds back to their .earlier haunts in the Atlantic, where the Royal Navy, the Royal Canadian Navy, and the United States Navy, have already given them some very hot times, and where the targets are more dangerous to approach. The Royal Canadian Navy The development of the Royal Canadian Navy has been one of the marvels of the war. Tributes to its increase and efficiency have been paid by British leaders and its great assistance in the Battle of the Atlantic acknowledged. The number of ships it possesses today is several hundred per cent, more than its pre-war strength, and most of them have been built in Canadian shipyards. Destroyers, coryettes, and' motor torpedoboats in considerable number have been built, and the men to man them trained. Many of the convoys across the Atlantic have been guarded solely by Canadian warships for the major part of the voyage, and losses, either •to mercantile or war vessels have been few and far between.

The Murmansk Convoys Another reference of Mr. Alexander’s was to the seasonal improvement now •

becoming appreciable in the conditions faced on the northern route to Russia. Through the northern summer the long daylight hours give great opportunity to the underwater and air attacks of the enemy. The winter, on the other hand, though it brings added hardships to crews through the intense cold, brings greater safety through the shield of darkness. Thus, for the time being, it can be said that the war of United Nations’ communications in the Atlantic—the most serious battleground—is on the improve. This may give opportunity for shipping production to get ahead of losses and build up the pool of .transport which is so necessary for United Nations’ operations in the global war.