[Old Sarge]

In two separate attacks, U-boats sunk the SS Saganaga and SS Lord Strathcona followed by the SS Rose Castle, the Free French vessel PLM 27 and the loading wharf on Bell Island. In all, 69 men were killed. The sheer temerity of the attack signaled to North Americans that they were now on the front line of the Battle of the Atlantic.

This was the period of Operation Paukenschlag, the German U-boat campaign that began hitting every ship on the Eastern Seaboard - ships that were skylined by the lights of the cities at night and were easy targets for them

The U-boat commanders spoke of this as "the happy time", where the Allies didn't have their act together yet for anti-sub warfare. That changed in the course of a year...

[1010RD]

I thought FDR covered it up for more than a year.