Arctic Convoys 1941-1945 [Paperback]

This book contains a lot of facts but don't let that scare you. It is written in a very reader friendly style.

I am interested in WWII history, especially around Scandinavia, and this book is one of the best I have seen. My thanks to the author for doing the research and writing the book.

My grandfather was a master of one of the Liberty ships in the Arctic Convoys. I am also helping to translate a debriefing of a German admiral in charge of the German naval defenses in northern Norway (Assmann). I started reading this book just to get background on the operation to help me translate the debriefing. To my surprise I found that the book is wonderfully written and thrilling to read. This book beats any battle thriller. The stories are heartbreaking, the suffering of the merchant marine, not just in casualties, but gruesome injuries due to frostbite are truly amazing. The courage of these men is without bounds. The fortitude of these men when their ships went down was amazing. One group was on a raft for 3 weeks eating fish and whatever waterfowl they could catch. As the author points out, the casualty rate among the merchant marine was greater percentage wise than any of the military services.

Another interesting facet of the book is the brutality of the Soviets. One of the worst managed convoys, PQ17, suffered 13 ships lost, one of which was a Soviet ship called the "Azerbajian". The survivors of this Soviet ship were marched off by the Soviets when they landed at Murmansk, never to be seen again. In another incident, a Soviet naval officer made a fool of himself drunk at a party for British, American and Soviet naval officers. The next day an American told his Soviet counterpart that they didn't mind this guy's fooling around and that he was welcome back to any party. The Soviet said "Oh, don't worry, we shot him."

Finally, it's clear, though not stated outright by the author, that the US Navy did an outstanding job protecting these convoys. The USN was under command of the British Navy. The British Navy did a poor job. Some of it was because of political pressure from Churchill to feed the Soviets and placate Stalin who was relentless in his demand for tanks, clothes, food, etc. The disaster of PQ17 was due to very poor judgment by British Admiralty.

Far too little credit is given to the role of the Merchant Marine of both Britain and the U.S. in helping win the war. It's clear that the Soviets would have lost without the materiel transported by the convoys-and the Soviets were totally ungrateful.

BTW, the facilities in Murmansk for the wounded and even for R&R were almost non-existent. One wonders how many men died due to bad medical treatment in Murmansk. The Brits and Americans offered to construct a hospital in Murmansk but the Soviets with their typical arrogance refused the request. The finally had to admit they were overwhelmed and allowed a temporary hospital to be built.

This is an excellent reference book for a World War II historian or anyone else interested in this area of the war. The author describes every convoy involved in the infamous "Murmansk Run."

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