During the last four years of the Second World War, the Western Allies secured Russian defences against Germany by supplying vital food and arms. The plight of those in Murmansk and Archangel who benefited is know well known, but few re 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 10,000 ton freighter was equal to a land battle in terms of destruction, the losses sustained were huge. Told from the perspective of heir crews, this is the inspiring story of the long-suffering merchant ships without which Russia would almost certainly have fallen to Nazi Germany.
'An admirable work of scholarship … It is also a gripping narrative, filled with stories of bravery, self-sacrifice and sheer doggedness which at times defy credibility'. - John Keegan – Daily Telegraph
'For sheer heroism and brazen drama the icy saga Woodman tells is hard to beat'. - Frank McLynn – Literary Review
Author: Richard Woodman
Publisher: Pen & Sword Military Books, 2013
532 pages