Word: torpedoes
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Only one thing was lacking: actual invasion. Motor torpedo boats snarled along the Channel coasts of France and the Lowlands. A convoy of warships and troop ships appeared in mid-Channel, where German reconnaissance was sure to see them. The Germans saw, too clearly. Judging this display for what it was-a climax to extensive invasion maneuvers in Britain - the Luftwaffe sent up few planes to be shot down by lurking Allied airmen. But, through a night and the following day, the R.A.F. and the U.S. Eighth Air Force attacked a selected strip of French coastland, and targets behind...
...Navy took her over before the war. Three times she ran supplies into the Solomons under the bomb bays of Jap planes. On the fourth trip the Alchiba got it. Loaded with aviation gasoline, ammunition and bombs, she was riding at anchor off Guadal when a sub's torpedo blasted her. Gasoline and ammunition started going up. Her captain, Commander James S. Freeman, decided to try to save her, ordered up anchor and full speed ahead. Listing 18°, the Alchiba crunched on to the beach...
...skipper won the Navy Cross, eight others Silver Stars. The Alchiba herself received a unit citation. Her casualties were only three. One was in the hold where a torpedo exploded...
...nights, by air and sea, the U-boats were hunted and harried by the convoy escorts. The first attack was followed by another, 15 miles from the convoy. Depth charges brought oil slicks and splintered wreckage to the surface. Five more attacks were made on U-boats circling beyond torpedo range of the fat freighters. Lookouts reported no less than 20 submarines circling for the kill they could never make while planes and escort vessels crisscrossed the convoy's path...
...pocketed in a shrinkage triangle, some 60 miles wide at its base, 70 miles deep on each side. The German forces had lost so many of their airdromes, roads and railways that supply and communication between their units was seriously impeded. The U.S. and Royal Navies, including many U.S. torpedo boats, dominated the Mediterranean waters around the island; Allied airmen held as absolute air control as could be, short of enemy capitulation. The Italian troops still with the Germans were uncertain allies, now used mostly for labor. Behind them, Italy was crumbling...