CAB80-32 — Page 266

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Enemy Intelligence.

14. The German main units in the Baltic have been engaged in intensive exercises during the week.

U-boats.

There has been a concentration of U-boats in the Gibraltar area throughout the week, and a smaller number have been working in the North-Western Approaches, but otherwise there has been little activity either in the North or South Atlantic. Fifteen or sixteen U-boats are believed to be operating in the Mediterranean.

Enemy Attack on Seaborne Trade.

15. Two ships, possibly three, of a homeward-bound convoy have been torpedoed and sunk 300 miles west of Ireland. Apart from this the shipping casualties reported during the period were all caused by mines. Two small vessels were sunk off Cromer and, in the same vicinity, a larger ship was beached and is likely to become a total loss. A small coaster was sunk near Cardiff. No reports have yet been received of shipping casualties in Far Eastern waters.

The shipping losses in November (details are given in Appendix I) were twenty-six ships and six small craft totalling 100,491 tons, of which twenty-three ships and five small craft (88,003 tons) were British. This total is about 97,000 tons lower than in the previous month. With the exception of March 1940 (98,000 tons), it represents the lowest monthly loss since the beginning of the war. U-boats sank eleven ships, five of which were to the eastward of the Belle Isle Strait and one as far south as the latitude of Walfish Bay. One ship and three small craft were mined in Home Waters. Seven ships were sunk by E-boats off the Norfolk coast. Aircraft sank seven ships and three small craft, of which six were off the East Coast, one off Southern Ireland, one off the Faeroes and two off the northern coast of Tunisia. In addition, four ships and two small craft, totalling 15,198 tons, which are included in Appendix I were reported in November although lost in previous months.

Protection of Seaborne Trade.

16. During the week ending the 10th December 978 ships, including 244 Allied and 26 neutral, were convoyed. Three cruisers, seven anti-aircraft ships, one armed merchant cruiser and one ocean boarding vessel, 82 destroyers (including 22 United States destroyers) and 83 sloops, corvettes and minesweepers were employed on escort duties. Since the beginning of the war, 94,684 ships have been convoyed, of which 478 have been lost by enemy action.

Imports into the United Kingdom during the week ending the 6th December totalled 973,000 tons, compared with an average for the past ten weeks of 922,600 tons. Oil imports were 276,705 tons.

British Minelaying.

17. During the week mines have been laid in the Butt of Lewis area. Mine- laying by aircraft has been carried out in daylight off the Frisian Islands.

Enemy Minelaying, British Minesweeping.

18. E-boats have again laid mines in the East Coast War Channel. Minelaying by aircraft took place on two nights of the week off the East Coast, between the Humber and the Tyne.

Forty-three magnetic and six acoustic mines have been destroyed during the week. The mine totals now are: magnetic 1,593, acoustic 1,182 and contact 1,063.

Enemy Merchant Shipping.

19. According to a Norwegian broadcast, the Norwegian Vestra (1,422 tons) was sunk by a British aircraft on the 4th December. The Swedish Equator (4,595 tons) is reported to have sunk after grounding.

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