Word: u-boats
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Atlantic. War Reporters Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill prepared their monthly statement on U-boat warfare, which in October went swimmingly for the Allies, sinkingly for the Nazis. U-boats were out in force. They not only failed to press home their attacks but were sunk in large numbers, as planes from U.S. "baby flattops" (converted merchantmen) pounded them silly. Allied production, plus a net gain of 170,000 tons of Italian shipping, put the Allies far in the black...
...example, we have promised to keep you posted (and have kept you posted) on such news stories as the rat-race in Spain and how Franco's stanchest supporters are getting set to run out on him . . . on the latest tricks of the U-boat packs that may mean rising losses on the Atlantic again ... on the nervous lootings of Britain's shipping magnates at the prospect of a big, permanent U.S. merchant fleet ... on the strength of Lord Louis Mountbatten's command in Southeast Asia and the signs that action over there cannot be far away...
...U-Boat Construction: Attacks on 13 yards, accounting for 80% of production. Hamburg (three yards) most severely, Kiel (three yards) and Vegesack all heavily damaged; Wilhelmshaven (considerably), Flensburg (lightly), Danzig (two yards), Bremen and Emden all negligibly...
...U-Boat Bases: Eight of eleven operational bases attacked. Brest (very light), Lorient (considerable), St. Nazaire (very heavy), La Pallice (severe), Trondheim (most severe), Helgoland (very light), Bordeaux (very light permanent damage), Gdynia (negligible material damage, considerable morale destruction by shattering sense of security). Concrete pens for U-boats, heavily bombed many times, were damaged only at Trondheim...
...forms of war, offense and defense have constantly seesawed in the U-boat campaign. For a time-the worst time for the Allies-the subs had everything their way. Stronger escorts, improved depth charges, air attack, many secret devices then bested the U-boats. Now that the packs have returned with some new tricks of their own, Allied losses will rise for a while...