Show War mar Front Moves to North Atlantic Sea As Nazis Kazis Unleash Ul eash Bombers Submarines Y By ROGER SHAW Released by Western Newspaper Union NEW YORK This This is a funny war but no longer a phoney war The phoney phase if any passed with the Norwegian campaign of a year ago Since then things have been grimmer and grimier Various fronts have evolved There are the Bal Bal- Balkans kans There is Gibraltar There is North Africa and East Africa Africa- and Albania There are the fifth columns all over Europe that favor German rule and the op op- opposition opposition op- op opposition position fifth columns that detest German rule the treadmill of the Nazi mili mili- military military military tary boot Then there is the hammer and the anvil phase England is the sturdy anvil Germany is the vengeful hammer The Spitfires and Hurri Hurri- Hurricanes Hurrin canes n nos and and Messer- Messer o fight it out in the third dimension on an aerial front such su h as BS mortal man never saw before There are and and all aU manner of hapless ties But arc are these antics decisive Apparently not to date London may be gutted but it still laughs and goes to the movies and sings Therell Always Be an Eng Eng- land In Berlin only houses have been damaged according to recent reports British factory power has been slowed up but the arsenal of democracy democracy- so-called so is gaining momentum and hasten hasten- hastening hastenIng hastening ing replacements to the scenes of insular carnage The line life-line of empire no longer runs up by the Medi Medi- Mediterranean Mediterranean Mediterranean and on to India Instead it runs across the North Atlantic from Roosevelt to Churchill and back again Most Important Front This is where the most important front comes in as this is written It Itis ItIs Itis is the watery U-boat U front The pur pur- purpose purpose purpose pose of the U-boat U is to cut the new line life of empire nullify the Amer Amer- American American American ican arsenal and leave the damaged damaged dam dam- aged British factories to shift for forth themselves th s as they face the hideous hammer of Thor It is also intended to cut down on foodstuffs and thereby loose still another of the terrible horsemen of the vaunted apocalypse In the minds of many critics the U-boat U threat outweighs the Balkans North Africa the late lamented battle of ot France and even the airplanes It is Is as they say of the essence All this remains to tobe tobe tobe be seen but the weather is getting better which better which means that things may be getting worse The high point of the U-boat U threat in the first World war was April 1917 It was the same month in which America entered the conflict co There was a connection between these events But in those days the active U-boats U were not too nu nu- nu- nu Seldom m were there more than 30 at sea at any given time They operated only from such limited spots as Cuxhaven and Kiel Klel KielIn Kielin In Germany Ostend Os tend in Belgium and Austria's old Adriatic ports for the Mediterranean trade In 1914 Ger Ger- Germany Germany Germany many started the war with less than 30 submarines and perhaps 10 more moreIn morein moreIn In the process of building In the course of the war there was some some- something something something thing like laid down Long Training Needed It takes t kes a long time to produce and arid train a good boat U-boat command command- commander er some er-some some critics say all of five years years Despite the hundreds of German submarines between 1914 and 1918 half a dozen experts ac ac- accounted accounted ac- ac accounted counted for no less than 70 per cent of the Allied ship losses Naval statistics verify this astonishing fact p. p r t x c. c Y is r r re e 1 v i f ft t r Winston Churchill recognizes the tb e true state of or affairs Ills His cry Is 1 s ever for sub-fighters sub destroyers fo for r convoys COD y r x r t S Sw i w z C f r Y YAK Germany isn't the only nation conscious of or the submarines submarine's power Another new addition to Americas America's large submarine fleet is shown being christened by Mrs Wilhelm at Vallejo Calif In this war the Germans have bave an anair anair anair air fleet schooled to operate co-operate per cent with the subs Of these Ulese in 1939 there were about 60 to 70 What the figure now is nobody accurately knows Its It's on the up and up for fast streamline production pro has been introduced in the German shipyards and in located interior-located factories U- U boats can easily be shipped about on railroad flatcars flatcars even even up over the Alps like Hannibal's H Ils Il's elephants Further most of the British navy Is now busy in the Mediterranean In the last war it was based on Scot Scot- Scotland Scotland Scotland land and therefore in a far handier handler position than is now the case The French coast is a great basic con con- convenience convenience convenience to Hitler's Admiral Rae- Rae Raeder Raeder Raeder der and are the reach north ing lag Norwegian fjords The Kaiser w. w r s ar f 4 jr 7 Germanys Germany's outstanding submarine hero Is Captain Guenther Prien who steered his craft Into Scapa Flow In 1939 to sink Britain's Royal Roal Oak In the first fUst World war 70 10 per cent of Allied ship losses were attributed to only six such experts didn't have such an advantageous frontage The royal air force is constantly bombing German U-nests U along the vast coastal stretch when they might better be hammering German factories in the interior This costs men planes explosives time and money Meanwhile the Germans have been concentrating on small submarines These can be built more quickly they cost less and they are Just as effective for short trips around the British Isles and west of Ireland Another very important im im- important important factor is this They require much smaller crews and submarine submarine submarine rine crews are singularly hard to train When it comes to tactics U-tactics Germany may be more pressed now for U-men U than for U Asfor As Asfor Asfor for sub commanders to date there are no outstanding individuals ex ex- except except except the well-known well Gunther Prien the the of the second world war Even ven Churchill admires Prien and has said so Small Craft Needed What the British need is small craft to hunt the subs They have produced a sort of corvette a a type modeled on the fast little chasers that professional whalers use today The British have lost heavily In shipping in the past year and a half haU They had never made up their losses from the last war and the fresh inroads cut seriously Into the sum total of his majesty's ton tan nage The British shipyards at New New- Newcastle Newcastle Newcastle castle and Glasgow and elsewhere are trying to speed up production as best they can But Its It's far easier to sink ships than to build them and in some cases the shipyards are under aerial bombardment to boot At night there are blackouts and these delay dellY loadings and un- un loadings in the e ports The ports too have taken a terrific hammer hammer- hammering hammerIng hammering ing from Herr Goering and in some cases their dock facilities are badly damaged or even ev n closed up No longer may floodlights be used to hasten a hour 24 schedule In short the German planes dovetail nice nicely nicely nicely ly with the U-boats U and the French and Scandinavian ports to produce an round all-round picture of ill omen Churchill Churchilll has ha's h s a clear naval head He recognizes the true state of af af- af- af fairs He relegates subs and to second or third place His cry is ever the same For the new corvettes for destroyers for convoys for sub sub- submarine submarine submarine marine detection devices to catch the U-boats U sitting Meanwhile in the German naval ranks two or three small submarines are arc taking taki g the place of any single big one of the 1918 type The mutinous mer mer- mermaids mermaids mermaids maids will soon be learning of mass production at its deadliest and in its most sinister form The no-man's no land of of 1941 is the billowy north Atlantic and its dough dough- doughboys doughboys boys are old salts Watch it Its It's the Hindenburg Line |