GERMAN NAVY

Timaru Herald, Volume CLIV, Issue 22701, 30 September 1943, Page 5

GERMAN NAVY

Nearing Demoralisation (9.30 p.m.) WASHINGTON, Sept. 29. “The German navy is nearing demoralisation, similar to 1917, and has already been forced to draft U-boat crews which were previously only volunteers,” said RearAdmiral Low, Chief of Naval Operations against U-boats, in a broadcast. Rear-Admiral Low asserted that the Germans had failed once a d for all to break the Allied lifeline across the Atlantic. During the period, May to August, mojjc than 4000 Allied ships crossed the Atlantic with the loss of less than a half per cent. Moreover, the Üboat fleet was unable to stand the present rate of sinkings which were hastening the same kind of demoralisation that broke the U-boat warfare in the last war. Rear-Admiral Low said the most effective Allied weapon was the escort carrier, of which 36 had been built last month alone. Before the end of the year 260 will be completed. The German overseas radio says the Italian destroyer Vivaldi was sunk off the Spanish coast while trying to reach Gibraltar. Sixty survivors were interned at Cartagena.