Evening star., 1943-10-03
The U-Bouts Come Back

Grln tales by survivors OF an Allied
convoy landed at Canadian east
coast port reveal the unpleasant fact
that the German U-boats are very
much on the job again. This was
the West-bound convoy mentioned
by Mr.. Churchill in his address be-
fore Parliament on September 18 as
then being under attack. BY dra-
matte coincidence. the attacking
U-boatS made their first kill only
few minutes after the Prime Min
1ster'S disclosure. Thenceforth the
convoy was harried continuously by
a "Wolf-pack" which hung to their
quarry for ten days until almost
within sight Of land. The U-boats
did not come off unscathed. At least
two are known to have been de-
stroyed. But the convoy suffered
heavily. AS one survivor described
the battle amid heavy seas and
murky fog, They stuck to us like
leeches. They picked on our escorts
just as much as on the merchant
ships"
The Uboats' boldness in standing
up to surface warships is a disagree
able novelty, to be considered with
their use Of a new type of torpedo
powerful enough to blow destroyers
to fragments and split large mer-
chant ships in twain by single hit.
These facts square with other recent
news items which indicate that the
U-boats are equipped with antiair-
craft guns big enough to battle
planes on the surface and shoot down
blimps. 1t also is noteworthy that
a Brazilian passenger steamer has
just been torpedoed in the South
Atlantic, which indicates that the
U-boats are spreading widely in
search of prey.
All this was to have been expected.
When the U-boats were called home
after the slaughter inflicted on them
in May and June, naval experts
warned that this was not the end of
the story; that the Germans would
strain every nerve to devise new
weapons, methods and battle tactics
to cope with the Allied antisubmarine
devices which had given them the
upper hand in the war at sea. The
whole history of warfare is a con-
tinuous See-saW between the Of
fense and the defense, and so re-
sourceful an enemy as the Germans
could be expected to evolve new i'm
provement, especially when spurred
on by pressing necessity. For the
U-boat is obviously their one hope
Of preventing the full mobilization
of Allied might against Germany
which would render certain its even
tual defeat.
With such supreme stakes involved
on both sides, we can expect new
intenSiflcation of sea warfare, where
in each will strain every nerve to
obtain and hold the mastery. We
need not be surprised if the Germans
spring disconcerting novelties which
will result in temporary losses. Yet
we may be confident that Allied re-
sourcefulness and 1nventiveness will
ultimately solve the U-boat problem
or at least reduce it to a minor
factor, as happened in the First
World War. Mr.. Churchill put the
matter clearly when, admitting that
a new U-boat campaign had been
launched which might alter the
favorable situation of recent months,
he added, 81 can 60 so far as to say
we could only be defeated by U-boats
if we we're guilty of gross neglect Of
duty in shipyards and on the sea and
Of ineXcusably falling off in that
scientific and technical ability on
both sides Of the Atlantic which
hitherto has stood us in good stead"