SL-125 Under Attack

On 27 October 1942, the German wolfpack “Battleaxe” attacked Convoy SL-125, a group of 37 merchant ships sailing from Sierra Leone to the United Kingdom. The attack began west of the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa. It continued through 31 October. The convoy was crossing a stretch of the Atlantic where the fight over merchant shipping had become a central campaign: German U-boats targeted merchant vessels, while the Allies relied on convoys to move supplies across the ocean.

The losses were stark. Twelve merchant ships, with a combined 80,005 gross tons, were sunk; seven more were damaged. Those totals described more than a loss of ships. They also showed the pressure German submarines could still put on Allied shipping at a moment when the Allies were preparing a major operation on the North African coast. The ships of SL-125 had been bound for Britain, while the approaching invasion called for a steady flow of Allied shipping toward another destination.

While the U-boats were busy with SL-125, the convoys carrying troops for the coming Torch landings in North Africa passed through undetected. Operation Torch began on 8 November, when 107,000 American and British troops landed in French North Africa. That did not undo the losses suffered by SL-125, but it placed the attack within a wider logistical contest: ships had to reach Britain and support the new operation while German submarines hunted them at sea. The fight around one convoy therefore touched the movement of shipping beyond its own 37 vessels. “Battleaxe” had struck a convoy on its way north; meanwhile, the invasion convoys went through unseen as the North African landings drew closer.