Surviving The Arctic Convoys

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Surviving the Arctic Convoys

Author : John R. McKay
Publisher : Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN 13 : 1399013041
Total Pages : 242 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving the Arctic Convoys by : John R. McKay

Download or read book Surviving the Arctic Convoys written by John R. McKay and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2021-07-21 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell saw much more than his fair share of action during the Second World War. He was present at the 1942 landing in North Africa (Operation TORCH), D-Day and the liberation of Norway. But his main area of operations was that of the Arctic Convoys, escorting merchant ships taking essential war supplies to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. In addition to contending with relentless U-boat and Luftwaffe attacks, crews endured the extreme sea conditions and appalling weather. This involved clearing ice and snow in temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees Celsius. No wonder Winston Churchill described it as ‘the worst journey in the world’. Fortunately, Charlie, who served on two destroyers, HMS Milne and Savage, kept a record of his experiences and is alive today to describe them. His story, published to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the first convoy, is more than one man’s account. It is an inspiring tribute to his colleagues, many of whom were killed in action. No-one reading Surviving The Arctic Convoys could fail to be moved by the bravery and endurance of these outstanding men.

Surviving the Arctic Convoys

Author : John McKay
Publisher : Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN 13 : 9781399013031
Total Pages : 192 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Surviving the Arctic Convoys by : John McKay

Download or read book Surviving the Arctic Convoys written by John McKay and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2021-08-30 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell saw much more than his fair share of action during the Second World War. He was present at the 1942 landing in North Africa (Operation TORCH), D-Day and the liberation of Norway. But his main area of operations was that of the Arctic Convoys, escorting merchant ships taking essential war supplies to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel. In addition to contending with relentless U-boat and Luftwaffe attacks, crews endured the extreme sea conditions and appalling weather. This involved clearing ice and snow in temperatures as low as minus thirty degrees Celsius. No wonder Winston Churchill described it as 'the worst journey in the world'. Fortunately, Charlie, who served on two destroyers, HMS Milne and Savage, kept a record of his experiences and is alive today to describe them. His story, published to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the first convoy, is more than one man's account. It is an inspiring tribute to his colleagues, many of whom were killed in action. No-one reading Surviving The Arctic Convoys could fail to be moved by the bravery and endurance of these outstanding men.

Arctic Convoys, 1941–1945

Author : Richard Woodman
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1526714264
Total Pages : 640 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (267 download)

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Book Synopsis Arctic Convoys, 1941–1945 by : Richard Woodman

Download or read book Arctic Convoys, 1941–1945 written by Richard Woodman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2018-01-30 with total page 640 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of Allied merchant ships and crews who braved the frigid far north to extend a lifeline to Russia, filled with “sheer heroism and brazen drama” (Literary Review). During the last four years of the Second World War, the Western Allies secured Russian defenses against Germany by supplying vital food and arms. The plight of those in Murmansk and Archangel who benefited is now well known, but few are aware of the courage, determination, and sacrifice of Allied merchant ships, which withstood unremitting U-boat attacks and aerial bombardment to maintain the lifeline to Russia. In the storms, fog, and numbing cold of the Arctic, where the sinking of a ten thousand–ton freighter was equal to a land battle in terms of destruction, the losses sustained were huge. Told from the perspective of their crews, this is the inspiring story of the long-suffering merchant ships without which Russia would almost certainly have fallen to Nazi Germany.

Ordeal Below Zero

Author : Georges Blond
Publisher : Firecrest/Chivers Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 200 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (9 download)

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Book Synopsis Ordeal Below Zero by : Georges Blond

Download or read book Ordeal Below Zero written by Georges Blond and published by Firecrest/Chivers Press. This book was released on 1987 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From August 1941 convoys of merchant ships gathered in Scottish ports or at Reykjavik and crossed the Arctic Ocean carrying war materials and Red Cross supplies for the Russian cities of Murmansk and Archangel. Each voyage was a struggle for survival through treacherous seas, ice-packs, snowstorms, and the Arctic darkness. The sailors struggled against German bomber planes, U-Boats, and destroyers, as well as the battleship Tirpitz. To survive the sea crossing was just the beginning as they also had to survive the Arctic winter. Georges Blond recreates these voyages, and the heroism of the ships' crews, through official documents, ships' logs, and eye-witness testimony. He conveys the drama and feats of endurance that led Winston Churchill to describe the Arctic convoys as "the worst journey in the world."

Forgotten Sacrifice

Author : Michael G. Walling
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1782002901
Total Pages : 365 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (82 download)

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Book Synopsis Forgotten Sacrifice by : Michael G. Walling

Download or read book Forgotten Sacrifice written by Michael G. Walling and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-20 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Award-winning historian Mike Walling captures the essence of the Arctic Convoys of World War II. In 1941, Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the largest offensive operation ever undertaken. Operation Barbarossa saw defeat after defeat heaped on the Soviet army. With Russia's forces left staggering under the strain and in desperate need of supplies, Britain and the United States launched an ambitious operation to resupply the Soviet Union using convoys sent through the Arctic. Their journey was punctuated by torpedo attacks in freezing conditions, Stuka dive bombers, naval gun fire, and weeks of total darkness in the Arctic winter, with ships disappearing below the waves weighed down by the ice and snow on their decks. Drawing on hundreds of oral histories from eyewitnesses and veterans of the convoys, plus original research into the Russian Navy archives at Murmansk, historian Michael G. Walling offers a fresh retelling of one of World War II's pivotal yet largely overlooked campaigns.

Arctic Convoy Pq18

Author : John R McKay
Publisher : Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN 13 : 9781399036603
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (366 download)

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Book Synopsis Arctic Convoy Pq18 by : John R McKay

Download or read book Arctic Convoy Pq18 written by John R McKay and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superbly researched book tells the story of one of the most significant maritime operations of the Second World War. The importance of the Arctic convoys providing the Soviets with the necessary equipment needed to win the war on the Eastern Front has too often been underestimated. This book puts that right. Following PQ17, the worst Allied maritime disaster of the Second World War, it was imperative that PQ18 got through. So when the convoy left Loch Ewe on 2 September 1942 the stakes could not have been higher. The Battle of Stalingrad was hanging in the balance. Had the convoy suffered unacceptable shipping and war supply losses, the Arctic route would have had to be suspended with potentially war-changing consequences not just for the Soviets but the whole Allied war effort. Consequently, as this work vividly describes, it was both the most heavily defended and the most heavily attacked convoy of the whole war. The author draws on contemporaneous accounts of the combatants from both sides including U-boat crews, airmen and, of course, the crews of the warships and merchantmen. Offering newly discovered facts about the convoy's turbulent passage, this book is a valuable addition to the history of the campaign which will appeal to historians and laymen alike.

Arctic Convoys

Author : David Kenyon
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300275013
Total Pages : 345 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

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Book Synopsis Arctic Convoys by : David Kenyon

Download or read book Arctic Convoys written by David Kenyon and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2023-11-21 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An incisive account of the Arctic convoys, and the essential role Bletchley Park and Special Intelligence played in Allied success Between 1941 and 1945, more than eight hundred shiploads of supplies were delivered to the Soviet Union protected by allied naval forces. Each journey was a battle against the elements, with turbulent seas, extreme cold, and the constant dread of torpedoes. These Arctic convoys have been mythologized as defenseless vessels at the mercy of deadly U-boats—but was this really the case? David Kenyon explores the story of the war in the Arctic, revealing that the contest was more evenly balanced that previously thought. Battles included major ship engagements, aircraft carriers, and combat between surface ships. Amid this wide range of forces, Bletchley Park’s Naval Section played a decisive role in Arctic operations, with both sides relying heavily on Signals Intelligence to intercept and break each other’s codes. Kenyon presents a vivid picture of the Arctic theater of war, unearthing the full-scale campaign for naval supremacy in northern waters.

Arctic Convoy PQ18

Author : John R McKay
Publisher : Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN 13 : 1399036645
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Arctic Convoy PQ18 by : John R McKay

Download or read book Arctic Convoy PQ18 written by John R McKay and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2024-01-30 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This superbly researched book tells the story of one of the most significant maritime operations of the Second World War. The importance of the Arctic convoys providing the Soviets with the necessary equipment needed to win the war on the Eastern Front has too often been underestimated. This book puts that right. Following PQ17, the worst Allied maritime disaster of the Second World War, it was imperative that PQ18 got through. So when the convoy left Loch Ewe on 2 September 1942 the stakes could not have been higher. The Battle of Stalingrad was hanging in the balance. Had the convoy suffered unacceptable shipping and war supply losses, the Arctic route would have had to be suspended with potentially war-changing consequences not just for the Soviets but the whole Allied war effort. Consequently, as this work vividly describes, it was both the most heavily defended and the most heavily attacked convoy of the whole war. The Author draws on contemporaneous accounts of the combatants from both sides including U-boat crews, airmen and, of course, the crews of the warships and merchantmen. Offering newly discovered facts about the convoy’s turbulent passage, this book is a valuable addition to the history of the campaign which will appeal to historians and laymen alike.

Voices from the Arctic Convoys

Author : Peter C. Brown
Publisher : Fonthill Media
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Voices from the Arctic Convoys by : Peter C. Brown

Download or read book Voices from the Arctic Convoys written by Peter C. Brown and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-01-24 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the invasion of Russia by Germany in 1941, Britain gained a new ally and a responsibility to provide material for the new front. More than four million tonnes of supplies such as tanks, fighters, bombers, ammunition, raw materials and food were transported to Russia during a four-year period. The cost was high and by May 1945, the campaign had seen the loss of 104 merchant ships and sixteen military vessels, and the thousands of seamen they carried. The Arctic route was the most arduous of all convoy routes. The ever-present threat of attack from German U-boats and Luftwaffe bombers such as the dreaded Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condor were not all the Arctic convoys had to contend with. They had to deal with severe cold, storms, fog, ice floes and waves so huge they tore at the ships armour plating. It is to the memory of these brave men that this book is dedicated and the stories of the immeasurable contribution they made to the Allied efforts during the Second World War have been collected for this book by their veteran comrades.

The Road to Russia

Author : Bernard Edwards
Publisher : Casemate Publishers
ISBN 13 : 0850528984
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (55 download)

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Book Synopsis The Road to Russia by : Bernard Edwards

Download or read book The Road to Russia written by Bernard Edwards and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2002-01-01 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bernard Edwards, the formidable naval historian, has researched the fate of Convoys PQ13 and PQ17 bound from Iceland to Northern Russia as well as the westbound Convoy QP13. Attacked relentlessly by aircraft and U-boats, the former lost a total of thirty ships while QP13 ran into a British minefield off Iceland, losing seven vessels. The Road to Russia is an important addition to the bibliography of this bitterly fought campaign.

The Worst Journey

Author : John Lewis-Stempel
Publisher : Robinson
ISBN 13 : 9781472137937
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (379 download)

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Book Synopsis The Worst Journey by : John Lewis-Stempel

Download or read book The Worst Journey written by John Lewis-Stempel and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2018-05-08 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the terrible voyage, from the extreme north-west of Scotland to Russia's Arctic coast, the sailors faced 50- and even 100-foot waves, icebergs and hurricane-force winds. Such winds could peel the steel shields from the ships' guns and regularly blew men overboard. In summer, Oerlikon gunners would be at their guns for twenty hours a day; in the winter they often froze to death. Even when the convoys reached Murmansk or Archangel there was no respite. Murmansk was about 25 miles from the front, which meant that there were enemy raids all day and food was short. Despite all this the Royal Navy stuck to the convoys for four years, supplying Russia with planes, oil and other vital material, but, more importantly, by reassuring Stalin of Britain's commitment, the men of the Arctic convoys succeeded in keeping Russia in the war. This is a book about the men of the convoys, about life aboard ship, drawing extensively on letters, diaries and reports, many from previously unpublished archives, as well as new interviews with the last surviving veterans. The Worst Journey shadows the experience of the sailors on the seventy-eight Arctic convoys: from enlistment, through training, joining a ship, shore leave, action and death - or survival - at sea. It follows the fortunes of twenty-five sailors drawn from the bottom, middle and top of the navy's ranks. A sailor's position aboard ship played a critical role in whether he survived an attack or sinking, depending on where the ship was hit, or holed.

Through Ice and Fire

Author : Leona J. Thomas
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781781554401
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (544 download)

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Book Synopsis Through Ice and Fire by : Leona J. Thomas

Download or read book Through Ice and Fire written by Leona J. Thomas and published by . This book was released on 2015 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the Russian Arctic convoys in 1942, Leonard H. Thomas kept a secret notebook from which he later wrote his memoirs. These contained many well-observed details of life onboard his ship, HMS Ulster Queen. He detailed observations of the hardships that followed when they endured being at action stations and locked in the engine room, under fire from the skies above and the sea below, and only able to guess at what was happening from the cacophony of sounds they could hear. Thomas tells of how the crew suffered from an appalling lack of food, the intense cold, and the stark conditions endured for weeks on end berthed in Archangel in the cold of the approaching Russian winter. There are also insights about the morale of the men and lighter moments when their humor kept them going. These stories can now be told as his daughter has edited them into an account that illustrates the fortitude and bravery of the men who sailed through ice and fire to further the war effort so far from home.

The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys

Author : Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134730101
Total Pages : 280 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (347 download)

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Book Synopsis The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys by : Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones

Download or read book The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys written by Malcolm Llewellyn-Jones and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-05-13 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is a masterpiece of operational history, and is written with surprising candour, given that the author was a member of the Naval Staff. The men who took part in these operations were drawn from Britain, Canada, America (particularly for the merchant service). This book provides a detailed account of naval actions (with maps) based on close examination of all relevant documentation and interviews with principal participants.

The Ghost Ships of Archangel

Author : William Geroux
Publisher : Viking Adult
ISBN 13 : 0525557466
Total Pages : 370 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (255 download)

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Book Synopsis The Ghost Ships of Archangel by : William Geroux

Download or read book The Ghost Ships of Archangel written by William Geroux and published by Viking Adult. This book was released on 2019 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic separated from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole, seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. Despite the risks, they had a better chance of survival than the rest of Convoy PQ-17, a fleet of thirty-five cargo ships carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel--the limited help Roosevelt and Churchill extended to Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance, even as they avoided joining the fight in Europe while the Eastern Front raged"--

Arctic Convoys 1942

Author : Mark Lardas
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1472852443
Total Pages : 190 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (728 download)

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Book Synopsis Arctic Convoys 1942 by : Mark Lardas

Download or read book Arctic Convoys 1942 written by Mark Lardas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2022-09-15 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A new history of the most crucial few months of the Arctic Convoys, when Germany's air power forced the Allies to retreat to the cover of winter. Between spring and autumn 1942, Germany was winning the battle of the Arctic Convoys. Half of PQ-15 was sunk in May, PQ-17 was virtually obliterated in July, and in September 30 percent of PQ-18 was sunk. The Allies were forced to suspend the convoys until December, when the long Arctic nights would shield them. Mark Lardas argues that in 1942, it was Luftwaffe air power that made the difference. With convoys sailing in endless daylight, German strike aircraft now equipped and trained for torpedo attacks, and bases in northern Norway available, the Luftwaffe could wreak havoc. Three-quarters of the losses of PQ-18 were due to air attacks. But in November, the Luftwaffe was redeployed south to challenge the Allied landings in North Africa, and the advantage was lost. Despite that, the Allies never again sailed an Arctic convoy in the summer months. Fully illustrated with archive photos, striking new artwork, maps and diagrams, this is the remarkable history of the Luftwaffe's last strategic victory of World War II.

The Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945

Author : Richard Woodman
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9780719550799
Total Pages : 532 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (57 download)

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Book Synopsis The Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 by : Richard Woodman

Download or read book The Arctic Convoys, 1941-1945 written by Richard Woodman and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 532 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For the last four gruelling years of the war, the Western Allies supplied arms and ammunition to Soviet Russia. These supplies were essential to the Russian war effort, and so the Germans were determined to cut them off. Allied merchant ships ran the gauntlet of the icy Barents Sea, outflanked by German bases in Norway, from where bombers, surface warships and U-boats could attack without warning. Each delivery of arms was an epic achievement. In fact an eminent British historian described it as undertaking the impossible.;Under pressure from both Stalin and Roosevelt, Churchill compelled the hardpressed British navy to fight convoy after convoy through to Murmansk and Archangel, with considerable loss in a campaign which was war a l'outrance, where the sinking of a single 10,000-ton freighter was the equivalent, in terms of material destroyed, of a land battle. It was the Arctic that saw the last concentration of the U-boats, driven from their former French bases; the Arctic that saw the last Royal Naval ship sunk in European waters; and the Arctic that saw the greatest defeat of a convoy in modern history. It was a theatre dominated by the weather: fog, storm-force winds and the ever-present numbing cold. Accretions of ice could, and did, deprive ships of their stability and cause them to capsize, while either the Arctic gloom or the midnight sun mocked embattled men haggard with exhaustion.;The debacle of PQ17, the surface actions, the U-boat attacks and running air battles culminating in the final destruction of the Scharnhorst are fully covered, but so too are the personal angle and the perspective of the long-suffering merchant ships and their crews, together with the political implications. The author, himself a professional seaman, has carried out a major and comprehensive review of naval operations in the Arctic which, ironically for Britain and the United States, left Stalin's Russia the dominating power in postwar Europe.

Churchill's Arctic Convoys

Author : William Smith
Publisher : Pen and Sword Maritime
ISBN 13 : 1399072307
Total Pages : 234 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (99 download)

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Book Synopsis Churchill's Arctic Convoys by : William Smith

Download or read book Churchill's Arctic Convoys written by William Smith and published by Pen and Sword Maritime. This book was released on 2022-09-21 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The threat of Operation Barbarossa, Hitler’s surprise invasion of Russia in June 1941, succeeding prompted Churchill to decide to send vital military supplies to Britain’s new ally. The early sailings to Northern Russia via the Arctic Ocean between August 1941 and February 1942 were largely unopposed. But this changed dramatically during the course of 1942 when German naval and air operations inflicted heavy losses on both merchantmen and their escorts. Problems were exacerbated by the need to divert Royal Navy warships to support the North African landing. Strained Anglo-Soviet relations coupled with mounting losses and atrocious weather and sea conditions led to the near termination of the program in early 1943. Again, competing operational priorities, namely the invasion of Sicily and preparations for D-Day, affected the convoy schedules. In the event, despite often crippling losses of lives, ships and supplies, the convoys continued until shortly before VE-Day. This thoroughly researched and comprehensive account examines both the political, maritime and logistic aspects of the Arctic convoy campaign. Controversially it reveals that the losses of merchant vessels were significantly greater than hitherto understood. While Churchill may not have described the convoys as ‘the worst journey in the world’, for the brave men who undertook he mission often at the cost of their lives, it most definitely was.