DECISIVE VICTORY OVER GERMAN U-BOAT PACKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 6 December 1943, Page 3

DECISIVE VICTORY

OVER GERMAN U-BOAT PACKS

Won by British and American Aircraft

IN FIERCE ENGAGEMENTS IN NORTH ATLANTIC-

AT LEAST SIX SUBMARINES DESTROYED

AND CONVOYS SAFEGUARDED

LONDON, December 5. At least six German U-boats have been sunk by British and American aircraft in an eight-day battle in the Atlantic. The U-boats were part of two big packs which attempted to attack three Allied convoys. The Air Ministry describes the operation as a major action in which the enemy suffered two severe and decisive defeats. Heavy and concentrated attacks by Allied aircraft caused such severe losses to the U-boats that they were forced to abandon their attempts to join battle with the convoys. Three submarines were destroyed in each of the two engagements. Nine others were attacked and only bad weather and poor visibility saved the enemy additional losses. The first engagement occurred when a U-boat pack was sighted approaching two convoys south of Iceland. Liberators and Hudsons of the Coastal Command and Venturas of the United States Navy were sent out to hunt them. Three U-boats were sighted and attacked on the first day, but it was on the following morning that the battle developed, when aircraft saw the U v boats running at full speed on the surface in an attempt to close with the two convoys. The first kill was made by an American Ventura, which straddled the U-boat with depth charges. Two hours later a Liberator destroyed another U-boat in face of anti-aircraft fire. Soon after dawn the next day a Hudson sent a third submarine to the bottom. The U-boats broke off their attempt to reach the convoy. Soon afterwards another convoy further south was reported to be sailing into a formidable concentration of U-boats. Liberators and Sunderlands of the Royal Canadian Air Force and Hudsons of the Coastal Command attacked the enemy, in the closest co-operation with the naval escorts of the convoy. More and more U-boats were located by the Navy in hot pursuit of the convoy. The submarines. were attacked by aircraft from Northern Ireland and Iceland. Despite appalling weather, the aircraft located the U-boats and fought an engagement in which they scored one of the most decisive victories of the anti-sub-marine campaign. Depth charges from a Liberator blew the first U-boat almost out of the water. Another Liberator accounted for a second submarine in the same way and a Canadian Sunderland destroyed the third by flying straight at it, regardless of its anti-aircraft fire. The battle raged for ten hours and the surviving submarines, battered by the attack, broke off the attempt to close on the convoy. Not one merchant ship was attacked.