ALLIES AND AXIS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 2 January 1942, Page 4

ALLIES AND AXIS

SHIPPING PROFIT AND LOSS. It is an interesting fact, generally overlooked, that losses of British merchant tonnage in the war at sea have been almost equalled by accretions of shipping from countries the Germans have over-run, notes the “New York Times.” Germany, on the other hand, was able to seize less than half the shipping of the conquered nations, and has been prevented by British sea and air power from making effective use of either the captured ships or harbours. That is the result of the constant hammering by aircraft and warships at Axis shipping and bases from Kirkenes to Stavanger, from Den Holder to La Pallice, from Genoa to Palermo, and from Catania to Taranto. Actual British and Allied shipping losses up to June, 1941, amounted to 7,118,122 tons. After the first of June the Admiralty stopped making public the monthly totals of losses, but they are believed not to have exceeded 400,000 tons in July and August, bringing the aggregate losses to roughly 7.500,000 tons. That is only about 500.000 tons more than the tonnage which was rescued from the Axis and placed in active service of Great -Britain and the free Governments of Europe. It can be argued, of course, that the acquisition of this tonnage does not represent a net gain for the British merchant marine, in as much as most of the Norwegian, Dutch, Greek and Belgian ships were carrying supplies to the British Isles before those countries were invaded by the Nazis. However, they were not then under British control, and there was always danger that German threats and terrorism in the war at sea would frighten them from the waters around the British Isles, as indeed it did in some cases. But that is only part of the story. Axis shipping has suffered greater proportionate losses than those suffered by Great Britain. Of the 13,000,000 tons of shipping owned originally by the conquered countries, Germany was able to seize approximately 6,000,000 tons. This, added to their own. total of a little less than 4,500,000 tons, made a merchant fleet of nearly 11,000,000 tons, which, with the addition of Italy’s 3,000,000 tons, brought the strength of Axis merchant shipping to 14,000,000 tons. Of this, 4,000,000 tons have been captured, sunk or scuttled, so that the Axis has lost twosevenths of its shipping. With Germany involved in overseas campaigns in Africa and Scandinavia, these losses are bound to be acutely felt.