The Waterbury Democrat., 1945-05-21

seas raiders, hunting in "wolfpacks" of from 10 to IS, were disrupting conveys and sinking freighterS without effective opposition from the foggy coast of Newfoundland to the bulge of Brazil. Armed with the latest lethal torpedoes and able to stay out for six weeks without re- fueling, an estimated 400 U-boats cruised the Atlantic lanes All sum- mer and fall they blasted an aver age of two Allied merchant vessels every day. Often first word of a sinking would come from a pathetic handful of survivors picked up after tossing for weeks on a lifeboat or raft.
 As a conference.-the, Washing ton dimmed out the U. s. Atlantic coast, including New York City, where night lights had silhouetted coastWise shipping, but the move seemed to have little effect. By November, shipping losses were eX- ceeding the combined replacement capacity of the Allies. Then there was a Hull for few months, but by February, 1943, Americas lines to the war zones were so nearly severed, she was threatened with losing the war without ever open ing a fighting front.
 In March and April, the situa- tion was no better with hints of darker prospects. The Allies, it appeared, had no effective answer to the submarine.
 Then, in May, without fanfare or warning, the break came. The bal ance swung and then tipped alto gether in favor of the Allies. Sink ings dropped off sharply and then almost ceased. At the time there was no official explanation. Then the general facts leaked out. What had happened was that the Allied commands, particularly the U. S.. Navy, quietly had developed highly secret, vastly-improved anti-subma- rine techniques.
 Step Up Plane Protection
 These techniques, it appeared, comprised number of closely synchronized measures. Tightly knit conveys and dozens of small aircraft carriers were involved, along with the new destroyer escorts, fast enough to catch the subs and heavily enough gunned to destroy them Radar played a significant role, it was reported, and a newly-developed long-range aerial patrol from both shores and mid-ocean stepping -stone bases completed the picture.
 In any event, from May to August, 1943, more than 4OOO Allied vessels crossed the Atlantic with a total loss of only one-half of one per cent. The raiders, armed with more and better anti-aircraft guns, made final brief come back late in August, but from then on their attacks were increasing feeble and more often than not fatal for the underseas craft. As Doenitz's first line crews and commanders were lost, the remainder of the U-boat fleet seemed to lose both it's boldness and it's skill. By October, 1943, Brit lsh Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden felt able to announce that the U- boat menace was not only held, but whipped for good.
 The British Home fleet, mean while, had won it's battle of con- stant vigilance to keep the enemy's $ surface Warcraft in port. Its un- failing alertness never permitted the German battleships to become a factor in the war. The few who managed to slip out to set met fates reminiscent of the Graf Spec. The German battleship Bismarck got out in May, 1941, but was surprised off Greenland and sunk off the coast of France after a four-day running battle. The Scharnhorst was caught and sunk off the North Cape in December 1943, p months after she escaped up the English Channel with her sister ship the Gneisenau.