The Axis Shipping Crisis

Southland Times, Issue 24460, 13 June 1941, Page 4

The Axis Shipping Crisis

IT is not generally realized that while Britain is fighting her battle of the Atlantic Germany and Italy are engaged in a similar battle for the protection of their sea routes. Early this month it was stated by the Ministry of Economic Warfare that the Axis Powers had lost 3,000.000 tons of shipping since the war began, “and are facing a shipping crisis.” It is true that losses in merchant tonnage cannot become a basic peril for Germany in the way that the loss of the Atlantic supply line would threaten the foundations of Britain’s economy. Germany’s position as a continental Power enables her to depend on a vast system of interior communications. But the railway, river and canal services have been heavily overloaded by the flow of oil and war materials to the western submarine and invasion bases, and by the immense quantities of foodstuffs that are being sent from the occupied countries. They have also been bombed severely, especially at nerve centres like the junction of Hamm. The conjested state of the railways was revealed at the beginning of spring, when the Germans began to send more ships down the 1650 miles of coast from Sogne Fiord in Norway to Bordeaux. In less than three months 83 of these vessels were destroyed by R.A.F. bombers; 18 others were badly damaged. The coastal waters can be kept under a fairly constant air surveillance,. and the Germans are not likely to risk then’ naval forces—apart from motor- torpedo boats —on convoy duties. A similar position exists in the Mediterranean, where many transports and supply ships have been lost on the short route to Libya. More recently the acquisition of Greece and the neighbouring islands added a new strain to Axis shipping. It was reported on Wednesday that “all along the Axis coastlines, from the Black Sea to Genoa, Germans and Italians are scrambling for ships to carry petrol to the Aegean air bases, where stocks were depleted during the Crete campaign.” Although this message came from Ankara it is quite likely to be true, for rail and road communications in the Balkans must be heavily overloaded, and in any case the final stage of the journey down the Aegean Sea involves the use of tankers. Unless the enemy’s offensive capacity is to be restricted it will be necessary to gain control of more French ships. There seems no doubt that the Germans have already secured a large part of the French merchant fleet, and that they are now anxious to take over as many as possible of the remaining ships—especially the fairly numerous fast liners of shallow draught which could be used as troop transports. These facts are important because German aggression has reached a stage which implies an increasing activity across the Mediterranean. Both sides are engaged in a deadly struggle for the control of sea routes which are vital links in the strategy of a world war.