World Battlefronts: BATTLE OF THE SEAS: Skies Clearing

The Arctic dawn was grey and dismal and the carriers tossed in a heavy sea, but the Barracuda dive bombers and the fighters went up. Off Bodö in northern Norway, through wind-tossed snow and rain, they sighted a German convoy — four merchantmen and five escorts. The British attacked. They hit all nine ships, set fires on several, sent one to the beach and one, they believed, to the bottom.

The importance of this action was evident. A year ago carriers could not have penetrated Norwegian waters without grave risk; the Nazis were keeping up a stout cover of land-based fighters over the shipping which must supplement Norway’s rudimentary railroad system. The carrier-borne attack which crippled the Tirpitz showed that the cover was thinning. Last week’s communique indicated that it was practically nonexistent. The Germans needed all their fighters to protect the heartland.

The Russians were getting in their licks at German shipping too. Their land-based planes caught an enemy convoy in the

Barents Sea, made five low-level bomb and torpedo attacks, sank four transports and three escort craft, damaged two other transports, peppered a patrol ship and an E-boat.