Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The German battlecruiser Scharnhorst was sunk in the last action of its life, by a group of British ships led by Admiral Sir Bruce Fraser. The German admirals were easily depressed, as they were constantly being urged onwards to victory for Fuhrer and Fatherland, while at the same time being cautioned against taking any risks with their ships. #2 The Royal Navy has always known that the price of Admiralty is very high indeed, in blood and treasure. But one setback does not lose a war. In Bruce Fraser, the Home Fleet had a commander who knew who his opponent would be, and he had had ample time to prepare for it. #3 In 1941, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau were used to carry out a raid on commerce. They successfully sank 22 ships, of 115,622 tons, and totally disrupted Allied convoy schedules. They had also tempered valor with discretion, having adroitly withdrawn when they sighted an opposing capital ship with a convoy. #4 Scharnhorst was a German ship that had suffered many reverses and damage. But her crew was extremely proud of her, and they developed a great pride in their ship. They were lucky in their commanding officer, Kapitan zur See Kurt Caesar Hoffman, who had relieved Ciliax in September 1939.

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The Baltic Project was never carried out, but many of the ships for it were built, including three light cruisers named Furious, Courageous, and Glorious. Their names were reversed commas. #2 The ships had eighteen 4-inch BLIX guns in six Mark I triple mountings, twelve on each broadside, two 3-inch high-angle guns, four 3-pounder Hotchkiss saluting guns, five Maxim guns, and two submerged torpedo tubes. #3 In October, 1917, the British fleet searched for the German ships that carried out the raid on the Mary Rose Convoy. The minesweepers had been forced to sweep further and further until they were operating 150 miles from their bases. #4 The British Admiralty had accurate and timely intelligence on much of this activity. On 17 November, an ambitious sortie was planned involving a large force: the 1st Cruiser Squadron, of Courageous and Glorious, with four escorting destroyers.

When Germany occupied the originally ‘demilitarised’ Channel Islands in 1940, Hitler ordered the area to be staunchly fortified with colossal permanent structures like Battery Moltke on Jersey. As it was the only piece of the British Isles in Nazi control, he was determined that the islands should remain German forever. Churchill was equally obsessed, urging numerous commando raids and harebrained schemes for the invasion and liberation of the islands. But when France was freed in 1944, the Channel Islands were completely bypassed. German troops were cut off from their supplies and the island population began to starve. Occupied for almost the entire war, these quintessentially English islands serve as a fascinating microcosm of what Britain might have been like under Nazi rule. With one German soldier to every three islanders, resistance had to remain at a low level: possession of a radio merited a prison sentence.The Last Raid is an atmospheric account of life under German occupation, as well as the political manoeuvring behind the scenes. With the first detailed account in English of the Granville Raid, a unique German commando operation, Will Fowler combines the social experience of war with the military to form a fascinating chronicle of the fight for the Channel Islands during the Second World War.

In one of World War Two's great naval battles, the Royal Navy finally tracked down, cornered, and sank The Scharnhorst--a potent symbol of Nazi seagoing power that had wreaked havoc on Allied convoys. This gripping military tale reveals how the cruiser was lured out of her Norwegian haven on Christmas Day 1943...and in a climactic fight, perished under the big guns of the battleship Duke of York. Eyewitnesses recount this crucial victory that was helped by the cracking of German codes.

Dawn, 24 May 1941, two groups of ships, one British, one German meet in the Denmark Strait. Here two giants of maritime history 'HMS Hood' and the 'Bismarck' meet. Within minutes of the battle beginning 'HMS Hood' blows up with a catastrophic loss of life. Out of a crew of 1,418 only three survive. Coupled with this, the Royal Navy's newest battleship is outfought. While this is a cause of celebration for the Germans, 'Bismarck' has been wounded curtailing her Atlantic raiding sortie. Despite the wealth of documentary information and photographic evidence available on the battle, there continues to be controversy as to how the conflict was actually fought. This book analyses the events of 24 May 1941 to both shed new light and provide clarifications on how the battle was fought, the damage that different ships sustained, and how it was that the pride of the Royal Navy was destroyed in such a catastrophic manner.

The Royal Navy in World War II is a comprehensive annotated bibliography of all monographs describing the role of British, Dominion, and minor allied forces in the naval war against the Axis. This second edition contains 1,400 more entries than its predecessor and although mainly concerned with the Royal Navy, it does offer extensive coverage on the Dominion Navies of Australia, Canada, India, and South Africa as well as the minor allied navies of the occupied European countries. Coverage of the US Navy's involvement in the Atlantic and Caribbean Theaters is also included. A wonderful reference for historians, librarians, and navy buffs.

This major new work fundamentally reassesses the operations by the Western allies to deliver war supplies to Russia via the Arctic sea route between 1941 and 1945. It explores the motives underpinning Western aid, its real impact on the Soviet war effort, and its influence on wider Allied and German strategy as the war developed. It brings to life key participants, political and military, describes the interaction of intelligence with high policy and tactics, and brings a fresh perspective to key events, including the notorious convoy PQ 17. The book disputes the long-standing view that aid to Russia was essentially discretionary, lacking military rationale and undertaken primarily to meet political objectives, with only a minor impact on Soviet war potential. It shows that aid was always grounded in strategic necessity, with the Arctic supply route a constant preoccupation of British and American leaders, absorbing perhaps twenty per cent of Royal Navy resources after 1941 and a significant share of Allied merchant shipping badly needed in other theaters. The Soviet claim, determinedly promoted through the Cold War, that aid was marginal, still influences attitudes in Vladimir Putin’s Russia and contemporary Western opinion. It even resonates through the present war in Ukraine. Andrew Boyd demonstrates that in reality, Western aid through the Arctic was a critical multiplier of Soviet military power throughout the war and perhaps even enabled Russia’s very survival in 1942; and he makes plain that the British contribution to the aid effort was greater than generally acknowledged. The book also emphasises that the Arctic conflict was not framed solely by the supply convoys, important though they were. British, German and Russian operations in a theater – defined by Adolph Hitler in early 1942 as the ‘zone of destiny’ – were shaped by other perceived opportunities and threats. For instance, Germany concentrated its fleet in Norway to forestall a potential British attack while attempting land offensives to cut Russia’s links with its northern ports. It also had vital raw materials to protect. Britain explored potential operations with Russia to dislodge Germany from the Arctic coast and sever her access to important resources. Elegantly written written and incorporating many new perspectives on the Arctic theater, this new work should find a place on the shelves of every historian, scholar and enthusiast whose interests extend to the Russian dimension of the Second World War.