The Washington herald., 1918-10-05
U-BOAT BASES
NEARING FALL
Durazzo Rout and Raids on
Belgian Ports Threaten
Submarine Power.

The submarine aspect Of the war,
portance. became uppermost in the
discussion among naval men yesterday
afternoon in considering two great
blows to the U-boat that promise to
drive the German undersea spawn to
their last lair.
The naval raid on Durazzo by
Italian, British and American forces,
destroying the base that has been
used by German submarines operating
in the Mediterranean has removed the
last hampering of the lines of COM
munication from Italy, England and
Greece to the base at Corfu for the
allied drive in Albania. according to
a high naval official.
Pincer Against bases
The bombardment of the Belgian
coast by allied naval forces, in which
American craft are said to be partici-
pating, acting as the sea side of the
pincers, with Field Marshal Haig's
advance on the land side, to squeeze
the Germans from Belgium and their
submarine bases at Ostend, Zeebrugge
and other Belgian ports, will force the
U-boats to German ports, said this
official. restrict their operations very
considerably and clear the North Sea
so that lines of communication will
be opened up to the Belgian ports for
allied troops and supplies Immediately
behind the advance on that end of
the line, without 'Ong rail transpor-
tation.
In both ltions the submarines
are certain to be routed from their
positions that heretofore have enabled
them, in the instance Of the North
Sea base. to force the lines of COM
munication far to the southwark with
the hazard of freer U-boat operations
and, in the instance Of the Adriatic
base at Durazzo, to harass TRANSPORT
in the Mediterranean by creeping out
through the Straits of Otranto.
own Bases Unimportant
Now, forced from Belgian bases
as they will be by the combined
land and sea operations there, they
will have no place from which to
operate except their own ports, far
removed from transport lines. And
in the Adriatic the Durazzo victory.
which is said here to have been an
parently a much larger operation than
the Ostend and Zeebrugge raids, will
give to the allies complete control
of the Straits of Otranto. hitherto
contended for with the Germans and
Austrians. and clear the TRANSPORT
routes Of submarine menace for the
new thrust across the Balkans to-
ward Austria and Turkey.
According to the high naval Off
cial who discussed these two opera l.
tions and their effect on Germany's
submarine warfare as the most i'm
portant phases Of the war deveIop-
ment yesterday. the project of a
major operation now against the
great Austro-German naval base at
Pola, at the head Of the Adriatic
Is not only feasible. but imminent
and likely to succeed, with Durazzo
available for allied concentration.
No official confirmation of the press
reports that American warcraft par
ticipated in the Durazzo raid had
been received by the Navy Depart-
ment up to a late hour last night.
and official discussion was based
solely on unofficial sources. Concern.
ing the naval cooperation with the
British drive in Belgium to hasten
the German evacuation there. the
Navy Department, both officially and
unoffcially, declined to discuss the
question OF the units engaged, on
the grounds that no information of
the location and character of naval
forces could be given, especially with
the operation still going on.