It was probably the most important battle of the Second World War, costing the Allies 30,000 merchant seamen's lives, and ranging from the waters of the St Lawrence, through the treacherous open sea of the North Atlantic, to the fjords of Norway and the Bay of Biscay.
Spencer Dunmore traces the complete history of the Battle of the Atlantic, looking at all aspects of the conflict: in the air, on the water, and below its surface. He follows the action from the earliest days, when surface raiders - such as the infamous "Bismarck" - were seen by the Allies as the greatest danger at sea, through the heyday of Germany's U-boats and the catastrophic damage the dreaded Wolfpacks wrought on the heavily laden convoys steaming their way to Britain. His is also one of the few books to acknowledge the pivotal role of the air-force in determining the final outcome of the battle.
Dunmore tells the story from both sides, including first-hand accounts of individual participants, both Allied and German. For all involved - whether on board merchant ships, in submarines prowling below or in aircraft patrolling above - life was a combination of awful anticipation of attack and nerve-shattering tension when it came.
Behind the scenes were the politicians and strategists, fully mindful of the stakes of this epic battle; the ingenious scientists and their race to improve radar technology, torpedoes, and depth charges; the brilliant code brakes of England's Bletchley Park; and, most remarkable of all, Admiral von Donitz, the extraordinary mastermind of Germany's U-boat campaign and eventual successor to Adolf Hitler.
