Niestlé, Axel Convoy Battles

The German U-boat campaign against Allied shipping, termed "the Battle of the Atlantic" by the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, was the longest continuous military operation during World War Two. It included numerous battles between Allied convoys and German U-boat groups sent out to interrupt the maritime lifelines between Britain and the rest of the world. However, with the art of operational history unjustly dismissed in historical circles for many decades, precise knowledge about the bitter fighting on the oceans is surprisingly incomplete even today. This book focuses on three exemplary convoy battles to tell their true stories, hour by hour, day by day, and to pay tribute to those who paid the utmost price in the fight against tyranny. The operations around Convoy S.C. 7 in 1940, Convoy S.C. 118 in 1943 and the combined convoy J.W. 66 / R.A. 66 just days before the end of the war in Europe 1945 also mark important way points during the course of the battle.

For three exemplary convoy battles, the book provides for the first time the correct course of the battles, hour by hour and day by day, and at the same time honours those who lost their lives in the fight against tyranny. The operations against the convoys S.C. 7 in 1940, S.C. 118 in 1943 and the double convoy J.W. 66 / R.A. 66 a few days before the end of the war in Europe in 1945 also represent significant milestones in the course of the fighting.