THE ROOF OVER THE ATLANTIC

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 290, 7 December 1943, Page 2

THE ROOF OVER THE ATLANTIC

JyJO greater evidence of the extent of Britain's victory in the Battle of the Atlantic could be asked for than the fact that Mr. Churchill and most of his land, sea and air experts made the passage from London to Cairo by sea. The Navy was very certain of itself and of the complete nature of its control of the seaways when it permitted the Prime Minister to make the long voyage past, a dozen submarine bases over seas which for three years were sown thick with lurking assassins, through the narrow waters of Gibraltar, and up to the ceaselessly bombed and beleaguered island of Malta. The facts proved that the Navy had not over-estimated the extent of its victory, and though arrangements were complete for Mr. Churchill to take to the air at any time, the emergency did not arise. Of scarcely less significance was the fact, recorded yesterday, that of fifteen U-boats which attacked three of our convoys in the Atlantic six were destroyed without even getting a sight of their quarry. Here is a harsh warning for Admiral Doenitz, who is apparently now attempting a renewal of his offensive in the Atlantic. There is good ground for hoping that that offensive has been broken before it has well begun, for the Germans have not sufficient submarines or crews to sustain that toll for long. The convoys are getting through. By this month the Americans will have transported 1,500,000 soldiers and their munitions across the Atlantic, all ahead of schedule, and with infinitesimal losses in proportion to the huge tonnage, estimated now at 50,000,000, either at sea in the Atlantic or in British ports ready for any adventure which may be in the making. Freedom to conduct war does not exist without control of the sea. While Britain never lost that freedom, she was perilously close to it at times. Now she has regained it to a degree which must be striking dismay into the hearts of the Nazi leaders. The 'great ships are to-day shuttling back and forth with a degree of immunity which has not existed since September 3, 1939, when the first merchantman was sunk. The hunt has been on since then with an ever-increasing intensity. New techniques have been evolved, new tactics exploited, new weapons of offence constantly forged. The Navy has hunted the U-boats with surface escorting vessels, small at first but on a larger scale when more heavily armed undersea craft were employed, with aircraft operating from land bases, and finally with seaborne aircraft, which have assisted to put a complete roof over theAtlantic, making it a narrow sea, no square mile of which is safe from the overshadowing wings of the long-distance planes from both sides of the Atlantic and of the smaller bombers which, based on carriers, close the gaps between the two patrols. From the first days of the war the value of the Coastal Command's air reconnaissance has been increasingly proved. It has kept the enemy's "head down." A U-boat cannot live under the sea. Below the surface it is slow and almost blind. It cruises on the surface, diving only to attack or when itself attacked. The U-bcat packs must trail the convoys on the surface to keep up with them, which is just what they cannot do if there are escorting aircraft overhead. They were thus driven to the middle of the Atlantic, and when that gap was closed by the carriers they were brought back for rearmament with heavy anti-aircraft guns. Now the packs come to the surface to fight it out with the airmen, and they can put up a heavy barrage with their 4.7 in guns. But though their defence is now strong it is not impregnable, as the sinkings recorded yesterday prove. The submarine has only a matter of seconds in which to fight off the bomber. How many fail to keep out of range of his aerial torpedoes and depth charges we are not permitted to know, but we do know that the destruction goes on from week to week, that the convoys are getting through, and that every day the German hope of a crippling victory in the Atlantic vanishes further and further into the sea fog.