• A SPECTATOR'S NOTEBOOK
THE statement that in the first fortnight of this month over 400,000 tons of Axis shipping was destroyed in the Medi- terranean by Allied aircraft and submarines is only seen in its true significance if some estimate of the Axis tonnage available is set against it. Axis shipping in the Mediterranean is from the nature of things almost exclusively Italian shipping, for no German ships can get there. According to the Statesman's Year-Book, on June 3oth, 1939, Italy's mercantile marine con-. sisted of about 3,61) sailing, steam and motor vessels, of a total tonnage of 2,078,700. The equivalent, therefore, of roughly a fifth of that original amount has been disposed of in a fortnight. No doubt Italian shipyards have been busy in the last two years. But so have Allied submarines. Since the figures quoted above were issued something like another oo,000 tons have been accounted for. The prospect of a serious shortage of transport for the forces in Libya must be considerable.
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