Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1943. MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 63, Issue 247, 29 July 1943, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit THURSDAY, JULY 29, 1943. MEDITERRANEAN SHIPPING.

One vitally important aspect of the position that would arise were Italy to be granted a separate peace would concern the shipping route through the Mediterranean. Since Italy entered the war the inland sea, though by no means an Italian lake, as Mussolini delighted to describe it, was closed to British maritime trade, being used only for trafhc of extreme urgency such as the provisioning of Malta during the period of intensive attacks by the Axis on that heroic island. Ihe greater part of Allied sea traffic toward the Middle Last and india had to be diverted via the Cape, the shipments including the all-iinport-ant supplies for the tighth Army. This involved a voyage occupying twice as long as by the direct route. Ihus a great strain was imposed on the mercantile shipping resources to supply essential tonnage and as great a strain on the Royal Navy to supply adequate cOnvoys. The Allied victory in North Africa was not long in yielding first fruits, for a week or two ago it was announced from Haifa that tor the hrst time since Italy’s entry into the war consignments of merchandise from Britain are arriving there via the Mediterranean. The voyage occupies under three weeks, io this relief to Allied shipping resources must be added the encouraging news of the success of the new technique adopted for the protection of the Atlantic convoys, resulting in a heavier casualty rate for the U-boats, and a definite drop in the number of Allied ships lost in recent months. Another encouraging fact is that, as the Admiralty announces, though enemy activity in the air against our ships has been reduced in recent months, the rate of destruction of Axis planes by the Fleet Air Arm has continued to increase. All these factors, plus the tremendous increase in new ships, combine to make an encouragingly brighter picture of the general situation in the war at sea, and particularly of the improving position of Allied shipping.