HEAVY DEFEAT OF U-BOATS

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 200, 22 May 1944, Page 5

HEAVY DEFEAT OF U-BOATS

Allied Convoy To Russia

LONDON, May 19. U-boat packs hunting in the Arctic Sea received one of the worst hammerings of the war when they alternated to interfere with the passage of an Allied convoy to Russia, says Reuter’s correspondent with the Home Fleet in northern waters in a delayed dispatch. The convoy was one of the largest so far sent to Russia. Two U-boats were sunk, two others probably sunk and many probably damaged. Not a single merchantman was lost, and the convoy delivered over a quarter of a million tons of tanks, guns, munitions and planes. Young destroyermen and Fleet Air Arm pilots blasted a way through the enemy force for the convoy. New Zealanders of the Fleet Air Arm, Sub-Lieutenants .1. N. Chois, Auckland, and R. E. Coeklin. Invercargill, participated in the action. ’l’he destroyer' H.M.S. Mahratta, the loss of which hns previously been announced. was sunk by a torpedo. Vice-Admiral Glennie, who commanded the convoy in the now British cruiser Black Prince, said of the men: “They were magnificent.’’ The battle was fought out in the Arctic Circle in appalling weather, It was so cold that a Swordfish pilot, when he got back, had to be lifted from the open cockpit. One of the heroes was a pilot who. though suffering from appendicitis, hit his Üboat al the first attack. It was a probable kill. Less than 24 hours later he underwent a successful operation in the sick bay.