The Battle Of The Atlantic - Hardcover

Williams, Andrew

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465091539 ISBN 13: 9780465091539

Publisher: Basic Books, 2003

Synopsis

What history calls the "Battle of the Atlantic" was really a full-scale war-within-a-war, fought from the beginning of hostilities in 1939 to the moment of cease-fire in 1945. Andrew Williams focuses on the first four years of this bitter conflict, during which time German submarines sank an astounding twelve million tons of Allied shipping. The story reaches its climax in May 1943, when the introduction of new weapons and tactics turned the tide of the battle and enabled the Allies to contain and finally defeat the dreaded German "wolf packs." Interweaving scores of first-person accounts from survivors of both sides, The Battle of the Atlantic follows the exploits of the charismatic U-boat commanders who led their crews to the hunt-and often to their deaths. It goes aboard the merchantmen and escort ships that were both victim and nemesis to the "gray wolves" of the sea. And it enters the war rooms of the German, British, and American navies, where code-breakers and strategists angled for any advantage in a race that spelled doom to its loser. This dramatic chronicle sheds new light on one of the most dangerous conflicts of the Second World War.

About this title

About the Author

Andrew Williams is a writer and producer for the BBC. He has produced such internationally acclaimed programs as "A Journey Home," a documentary on the famine in Somalia, as well as the Emmy-nominated "War Crime: Five Days in Hell," an investigation into war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, and "Provos: The IRA and Sinn Fein." He lives in London.

Reviews

The Battle of the Atlantic (1939-1945) was one of the most crucial of World War II; tens of thousands of sailors were killed on each side, and German U-boats almost succeeded in choking off the supply lines on which Britain's survival depended. This hard-fought conflict gets an engrossing retelling in this companion to the History Channel series. Williams, producer of War Crime: Five Days in Hell for the BBC, covers every aspect of the cat-and-mouse game in which U-boats stalked merchant convoys across the ocean and were in turn hunted by Allied planes and destroyers. It's a harrowing tale, full of torpedo attacks, depth-chargings and drownings in the icy North Atlantic, and Williams draws on many first-hand accounts, both German and Allied, to bring it to life. He also pulls back to examine the strategic dimensions of the battle, exploring the development of German wolf-pack tactics, the initially bumbling Allied efforts to organize convoys and escorts, and the increasingly sophisticated anti-submarine warfare techniques that eventually drove the wolf packs from the North Atlantic. Williams is especially good at explaining the vital development of sonar, radar, detection and decryption technologies that enabled Allied escorts to locate, evade and destroy the stealthy U-boats with ever greater success. The conflict was both a nerve-wracking battle of wits and an epic of self-sacrifice, and Williams's thorough research and skillful storytelling does it full justice. B&w photos.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This companion to a History Channel miniseries is a thoroughly sound, readable popular naval history. The U-boats seriously endangered Britain's survival only during 1940-41 but remained dangerous until well into 1943. Both sides fought hard and ingeniously, but Allied intelligence, including code breaking, and production capacity carried the day and allowed further Allied victories while eventually ruining the morale of even the most determined U-boat crews. Williams' overview, which incorporates the viewpoints of a substantial number of survivors of specific incidents, betrays only a slight British slant. The informants, most of them well into their eighties, range from U-boat ace Erich Topp and British escort officer John Adams, who ended their careers as admirals, to British diver Sandy Robertson and German radio operator Heinz Wilde. All enlarge the dimension of Williams' account of the naval battle that was the longest in history and the most decisive one of World War II. This book deserves its place on the shelf occupied by Nicholas Monsarrat's classic, The Cruel Sea (1951). Roland Green
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Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465091539
• ISBN 13: 9780465091539
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 304