FIGHTING U-BOATS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 80, Issue 24535, 18 March 1943, Page 3

FIGHTING U-BOATS

TIIE STRUGGLE AHEAD LINK WITH SECOND FRONT WASHINGTON CONFERENCE (Rocd. 7.30 p.m.) LONDON, March TO "A conference of American, British and Canadian officers has recently been held in Washington, under the chairmanship of Admiral E. J. King, Commander-in-Chief of the United States Fleet, at which anti-U-boat warfare was discussed," states an Admiralty and Air Ministry communique. "This conference was one of a series of Allied conferences which have been and will continue to bo held in order that all phases of the anti-U-boat campaign can be kept constantly under review, views exchanged and anti-U-boat measures adjusted to tho best advantage. "Complete agreement was reached on the policy to be pursued in the protection of Allied shipping in the Atlantic and the best methods of employing Allied escort vessels against submarine craft and aircraft in defeating the submarine menace." The conference may bo linked closely with Allied plans for a second front in Europe in 19-13, says the Washington correspondent of tho Now York Times. The Secretary of War, Mr. H. L. Stimson, recently stated that troops would be sent to the combat zones in increasing numbers, and for this protection against U-boats wr.s, therefore, most essential. The prominent part taken by Canadians in the conferences emphasises the importance of tho North Atlantic route to England'. High naval authorities, ho adds, intimate that the U-boat campaign will be unleashed on an unprecedented scale this spring. Hitler is reputed to have 400 to 600 reserve submarines for uso on the widest possible scalo in a desperate attempt to cripple tho Allies before the Axis situation on the eastern and North African fronts deteriorates further. However, he conolnded, the forthcoming straggle will not be one-sided. The navy is building a new type of escort vessel, which is expected to prove highly effective. Other protective arms, both sea and air, have been strengthened. FIRST PLACE IN PLANS BOMBING'S LEADING PART LONDON, March 17 In the House of Commons to-day Mr. Churchill reminded the House of tho statement he made five weeks ago that the task of overcoming U-boats had been given first priority in all British and American plans and that the destruction of U-boat bases was an essential part of this strategy. He added that very heavy blows had already been delivered by the Royal Air Force and the United States Army Air Corps against U-boat bases in Germany and occupied France. "We have repeatedly urged tho French population to leave coastal areas," Mr. Churchill said. " A largo part of the civil population of Brest and Lorient has been evacuated and the Germans have attempted to conceal the severity of the raids from the German crews expected to use Lorient." YUGOSLAV PROTESTS ATROCITIES BY ITALIANS (Eccd. G.o p.m.) LONDON, March 16 Church leaders in Croatia and Dalmatia have protested to tho Axis authorities against atrocities, and against the order made in February by the German Commander in Croatia that all resistance, even passive resistance, will be punishable, without trial, by death, and that villages harbouring rebels, or where arms have been discovered, should bo wiped out. Thirtyone villages have already been destroyed in one district under this order. The Archbishop of Zagreb, Stepinac, made the following protest to tho Italian Minister: "I protest most energetically against the hitherto unheard-of atrocities perpetrated by Italian troops, who burned down villages on the pretext that the inhabitants wore Communists." The Bishop of Sibenik protested to the Italian Governor of Dal matin as follows: "Those who fled to the forest are not Communists; they fled in fear of the Italians, who are even entering churches and killing women and children in them with the utmost cruelty. Nevertheless, these Italians want to be regarded as good Catholics." GOERING VISITS ITALY UNITED STATES OF EUROPE NEW YORK, March 15 A private report from Rome that Goering has concluded a nine days' incognito visit to Italy is quoted by the Berne correspondent of the New York Times, It i.s stated that Goering held a conference with Mussolini concerning the German plan for the proclamation of a "United States of Europe," in which each unit would be liable to furnish soldiers and workers to "protect the old continent against its natural enemies—the Anglo-Saxons." BRITISH PRODUCTION COMMITTEES ESTABLISHED (Reed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, March 10 Nearly 2,000,000 people in tho engineering industries in Britain are now represented on over 2000 properly-con-stituted joint production committees which have been set up in large engineering firms throughout the country, pays the Production and Engineering Bulletin issued by the Ministry of Labour. An agreement to form these committees was reached in March by the Engineering and Allied Employers' federation and various trade unions. It laid down that firms employing less (ban 150 people need not l'orm joint production committees, but actually over 000 of these smaller engineering firms have done so, in addition to 2000 largo linns. HOME FRONT NEEDS NEW YORK, March 16 The United States must gear food production for a long war. said Mr. Herbert Hoover, a former President of the United States, in an address to a conference of 12 Governors of Mid-Western States. Mr. Hoover said the United States, which was a partly-blockaded nation, was diverting too much farm labour to army factories and too much fertiliser into explosives. He pointed out that similar mistakes were largely responsible for the collapse of Russia and Germany in the last war, and added that unless the situation was rectified efficiency on the home and fighting fronts would bo impaired. JEWISH REFUGEES CANBERRA, March 17 Jewish refugee children, numbering 150, from Vichy, France, will be brought to Australia. The request of the Jewish Welfare Society to permit children to come to Australia has been granted. The children are aged' between seven and 14, and are at present under the care of the Roman Catholic Church authorities. The Jewish Welfare Society will undertake the responsibility for the transport of tho children and their oaro in Australia.