Galeria

 

> TURNING THE CORNER

Convoy O.N.S.2 sets out for what became the turning point in the Battle of the Atlantic, eventually losing thirteen of its forty-two ships, a total load of 344,680 tons, BUT the convoy sank 5 of its attacking U-boats Two more U-boats were destroyed by allied aircraft, for a total of 15 U-boats sunk in April, as a result of new equipment and tactics being used by the Allies. At the same time, production of “Victory” and “Liberty” merchant ships increased at an explosive rate. Keels that were being laid on one day became a launched ship the next.

The German losses caused Doenitz to order all U-boats to concentrate in the South Atlan. tic and Indian Oceans (off the Azores.) April 1843, loss of Ailied shipping was 344,680 tons, and the South Atlantic was home to many successful German surface raider-supply ships.

U-boat losses for the same period totaled 15. The central Atlantic no longer offered a have for the German underseas fleet. The score for May (1943)--- 299,428 tons of shipping, versus 4 U-boats sunk, and the losses grew to huge numbers of expensive boats and experienced crews that were lost forever. Could it become another disaster for Nazi Spring?

One person in the world who understood what Japan could expect in reprisals as a result of it attack on Pearl Harbor on Sunday, December 7, 1941, was Admiral Isoruku Yarrzamoto.

Yamamoto was hunted down for the remainder of th war, and a squadron of P-38 Lightnings was designated as the Yamarnoto Team for hunting and elimenating Chief Enemy No. One. Through the breaking of the Japenese Naval code, it was learned that the Marshal General would be flying from Tokyo to occupied areas in the Borneo on a V.I.P. inspection tour.on a certain date. This time the Americans had completed their plans for their attack on Yamamoto’s “Betty”, twin-engined transport.

There was no place for the aircrew or the Naval Marshal to escape the screaming twin-engined Locheed P-38s as their 50-caliber machine guns penetrated the non-armored walls of the “Betty”, which resulted in the fiery exit of the perpetrator of the “day of infamy”—December 7, 1941. Tojo did not succeed in dictating his terms in the Capitol building in Washington.

The SS William Pepper is decked out for launching, with patriotic bunting around the shipway offices. It seems as if everyone stopped work to watch the event. Bethlehem-Fairfield launched 384 Liberty ships, plus an additional 94 Victory ships (the larger, faster follow-on to the Liberty).

 

Danzig Report   Nr. 160 - 2nd Quarter 2013, Page 9.