etter Submarine News
In all our operations in the war none matters so much as the 3rding of the sea-lanes, and first and foremost the main North !antic route between America and Britain. Nowhere else are ° so vulnerable, and it is not without reason that the Nazis are inlng their hopes of winning the war on intensified attacks on r shipping. The losses in April were reduced, but they followed bad period which cheered the enemy and caused concern to the Gies. Our counter-measures are of many kinds, but the promise improvement springs mainly from the greater number of escort ssels and long-range bombers at our disposal and better organisa- tion for making the fullest use of them. It was announced in Ottawa last week that the defence of convoys in the North Atlantic would
henceforward be the responsibility of Britain and Canada, while the United States would take charge of the Western Atlantic and retain its obligations in other zones. The immense growth of the
Canadian Navy and Air Force and the experience they have acquired fully qualify them to play a major role in the defence of the Atlantic. Henceforth the western half of the North Atlantic route will be under the care of naval fortes commanded by Rear-Admiral Murray, of the Royal Canadian Navy, and Canadian and American bombers will be commanded by Air Vice-Marshal Johnson, of the Canadian Air Force. The eastern half of the route will be under the opera- tional control of the British. Sea and air operations will be co- ordinated at each end, and the spheres of British and Canadian control will touch in mid-Atlantic. The new organisation is a consequence of the increased naval and aerial resources of Canada, and its appearance synchronises with the capacity of the Allies to afford a more complete protection for our vessels from end to end-of the North Atlantic route. It is significant that the Germans announce the sinking of 423,000 tons of Allied shipping in April, as against the alarming total of 926,000 (no doubt an exaggeration) in March, and Admiral Luetzow is hard put to it to furnish adequate reasons for the drop.
