Belgian Navy

Before the war, there was no Belgian Navy. There was the state Marine, which existed principally for fishery protection and police duties, and which for a long time, worked with a single ship - the old British sloop ZINNIA & a sail training ship, the MERCATOR. Later on, during the war, a decision to form the 'Section Belge' of .he Royal Navy was made, and on April 3rd 1941, the Belgian Navy became officially a part of the Allied Nations navies.

Throughout the war no submarines were ever manned by the Belgians.

Danish Subs

The six submarines of the Danish Navy were all scuttled on August 29th 1943. These submarines did not become a part of the Allied Nations submarine war against the Axis powers.

General War Situation

Now to carry on with activities of our submarines and the general situation in the European Theater. The summer months in the more - northerly latitudes off Norway were treacherous for our (British) submarines.

The light nights, with only a few short hours of semi-darkness were a danger in themselves for our boats needed six to night hours of darkness for an adequate battery charge. Coupled with this danger was the efficiency of the enemy air patrols which inclined to slow speed flying boats whose experienced crews could detect the blurred outline of a submarine at depths as great as ninety feet under favorable conditions. Many of these aircraft were armed with depth charges long before our own anti-submarine aircraft were so armed.

The German air patrols were also backed up by an efficient wireless interception service. Furthermore, the Germans had broken our naval ciphers and their knowledge of our operations was extensive.

EDITOR NOTE - This was the b-dienst

Our submarine dispositions were known to the enemy and half the problem of fighting undersea craft is to know where to look for ‘em The German's task had been simplified for them.

The British submarine H-31 commanded by Lt E. B. Gibbs, whilst patrolling northwest of Terschelling on the morning of the 18th July, sighted the German submarine chaser UJ-126 and torpedoed her. C J-126 sinks within minutes after being hit

EDITOR NOTE -- The designation UJ was short for U-boot Jager, which translates loosely to 'submarine hunter'.

On July 19th Hitler made his Reichstag speech, the last peace appeal to Britain, which is rejected by Lord Halifax on the 22 July. The northernmost British submarine patrols, north of Narvik, were abandoned at the end of July and the submarines thus made available were sent to reinforce those in the North Sea and to establish the `Bay Patrol'. This patrol instituted in July was to I patrol the Biscay ports, following the German occupation of the French Atlantic ports and was maintained for the rest of the war.

(continued in KTB #155 next month)