Fighting the enemy in his own back yard, the navy has swept clean the areas around St. Nazaire, Lorient, Brest and St. Malo—lair of the undersea raiders until - the Allied invasion of France. The release said the Biscay blockade is "revenge with a vengeance.'' Not only are tough striking units such as the destroyers Haida, Huron and Iroquois pasting the enemy, but former escort 'groups are now tasting reward and some excitement for their patient North Atlantic convoyduties.

Crushing Blow

A naval writer puts it this way: Now, since the invasion of France, we are joining with the Allied navies and air forces in handing the German Navy crushing blows in the Channel and along the west coast of France. Patient seamen are having their heyday.

U-boats, E-boats, destroyers and merchant shipping, sneaking out of ports are fleeing like rats and running a fatal gauntlet of ships sitting offshore ready for the kill. In the last few weeks, since Brittany was overrun by the Americans, Canadian ships have helped take a large toll of German ships. Security prevents any information about U-boats being released but it can be said they are feeling and the same sting  they gave our merchant ships in the North Atlantic during the last five years of war.

Conditions Tough

 Living conditions out here, often within sight of German coast, aren't very nice. We go for days without a change of clothing. We eat at action stations and seldom ever see hammocks or bunks. The entire ship's company closes up to action stations when darkness falls and no one leaves his post until the following break of day. We don't take any chances when operating  in enemy waters.

Shore time for one ship since the invasion of France totals only three hours. Their range is only a few days, and it has been one continuous round of operations—out for a few days, in to fuel, out again only seeing their home port long enough to pull alongside the fuel ship in harbor and then out to sea a few hours later. A few months ago these ships couldn't risk venturing within several miles of the enemy coast. Now they speed in to within one and a half or two miles, shoot up everything in sight and speed away under  heavy fire from shore batteries.