Nightmare Fight With U-Boats In North Atlantic

Northern Advocate, 2 October 1943, Page 5

Nightmare Fight With U-Boats In North Atlantic

(Rec. 2 p.m. MONTREAL, October 1

Survivors who arrived at an East Canadian port described as a nightmare the sea fight which Mr Churchill mentioned when addressing the House of Commons on September 21. A long running battle occurred in the Atlantic on the outer rim of the Arctic Circle, when an Allied convoy encountered a pack of U-boats, with the loss of the Canadian destroyer St. Croix, several Allied merchantmen and at least one U-boat.

Eye-witnesses said it was one of the starkest battles since the war. They told of ships breaking in half as torpedoes ripped their hulls, and of injured and dying men struggling for hours in icy oil-thick water. U-Boat Blasted From Water

A survivor of an American merchantman with an all-negro crew watched a U-boat blasted from the water after being caught in the beam of a warship’s searchlight.

“It was the best fireworks I have ever seen,” said the negro captain, and added that a shot must have hit the magazine. There was a tremendous blast of flame and the U-boat sank. The sinking of the St. Croix, of whose crew of 147 only one was rescued, is described as the heaviest single loss that the Canadian navy has suffered so far. 146 Lives Lost

This was the first big German Übcat attack reported in Atlantic waters for nearly four months. A Canadian destroyer was sunk in this action with the loss of 146 lives, and the British Admiralty announced the loss of a corvette and a frigate. It is stated in London that countermeasures against U-boats were successful, and that the action was in no way exceptional.