Have U-Boat Commanders Lost Their Nerve?

Manawatu Times, Volume 69, Issue 63, 17 March 1944, Page 5

Have U-Boat Commanders Lost Their Nerve?

Received Thursday, 9.35 p.m. NEW YORK, March 15. U-boats although in considerable numbers in the Atlantic, particularly In Mid-Atlantic and towards the European side, never dare to attack /ell-protected American convoys, jays the New York Times. Naval jfficors say the convoys are so well guarded that it would be extremely dangerous for a submarine to bore in, out they are unable to understand why the U-boat commanders rarely even try. The U-boats mostly prey on slow freight convoys which have not the uelerity nor the overwhelming projection of the convoys carrying troops. It seems logical to wonder whether the growing disinclination to attack means that the Nazis have lost their nerve or their taste for war. If fear or defeatism lias actually gripped the once voracious woifpacks it is a highly significant development having an important bearing on the entire course of the war. If the Germans have gone soft it means that they recognise that they are licked and do not want to suffer any worse punishment than is absolutely necessary. The real work of submarine killing is rarely done by a convoy’s own screen but out ahead by task forces whoso specific job is to sight and sink submarines. The art of U-boat killing has been developed to a beautiful science which when it can be told will be one of the war’s most engrossing Bagas.