Entries

FORSYTH, Robert. Shadow Over the Atlantic: The Luftwaffe and the U-Boats 1943-45. 312p., bibliog., illus., index. Oxford: Osprey, 2017. ISBN: 9781472820457.

FAGr 5 flew Ju290’s from Western France on long range reconnaissance missions over the Atlantic, spotting convoys for U-boats. Draws on unpublished records to tell this story for the first time.

• The Atlantic Battle Won
• German Armed Forces
• Kriegsmarine: U-Boats

DIAMOND, Jon. The Invasion of Sicily (Images of War). 248p., illus. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2017. ISBN: 9781473896093.

A photographic record of Operation HUSKY and the battle for the island.

• Photographs
• Operation HUSKY: The Invasion of Sicily

FRANKS, Norman. The RAF Air Sea Rescue Service in the Second World War (Images of War). 144p., illus. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Aviation, 2016. ISBN: 9781473861305.

 A photographic record of the service.

• Photographs
• Rescue and Medical Services

FELTON, Mark. The Sea Devils: Operation Struggle and the Last Great Raid of World War Two. xviii, 334p., illus. London: Icon Books, 2015. ISBN: 9781785780493.

In August 1945, the midget submarines XE1 and XE3 executed a joint attack on Japanese warships within Singapore harbour. The heavy cruiser Takao was damaged beyond repair. Two VCs were amongst the many gallantry awards made.

• The Pacific Raiders
• X-Craft and Frogmen

DOHERTY, Richard. Churchill's Greatest Fear: The Battle of the Atlantic 3 September 1939 to 7 May 1945. xxii, 314p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Pen & Sword Military, 2015. ISBN: 9781473834002.

A leading Irish historian takes a fresh look at this well-worn ground.

• The Battle of the Atlantic

JANE, Mick. The History of H.M.S. Melbreak: Cockermouth’s Adopted Ship During World War Two. 36p., illus. Fletchertown: [author], 2008.

Mainly concerned with the work of the British Ship Adoption Society and in particular how the Hunt Class Destroyer Melbreak interacted with Cockermouth.

• Destroyers

GROVES, Robert E. Book of Warships of the British Empire. 40p., illus. London: Rolls House, 1941.

“An artist’s impressions of the Great Fleet which guards the shores of the Empire,” giving some details of the various classes.         

• Reference Works
• The Royal Navy

MASTERMAN, Brian. HMS Honeysuckle: The Ship that Goole Bought. iv,66p., illus. Goole: [author], 2000.

In 1942 Goole adopted the corvette after a fundraising drive which gathered over £320,000. Although there is an account of the corvette’s career and its interaction with the town, the focus is on how Warship Week raised large sums in Goole and the surrounding areas.

• The Royal Navy
• Corvettes

CRITCHLEY, Bert & DAWSON, William. HMS Ringtail: Royal Naval Air Station Burscough 1943-1946. ‘Ringtail – Retail’. 23p.illus.+ 11 loose pages. Burscough: [authors], 2017.

Mainly concerned with the creation of a memorial at the site of the base, now in part a retail park. Also has some contemporary pictures and memories.

• Fleet Air Arm
• Training
• Ports and Bases - UK

STEVENS, Jeff. HMS Ajax 1935-1949. 79p., bibliog., illus. [n.p., author], 2014. ISBN: 9781502475688.

The author’s father served as a Royal Marine on the cruiser. This is a somewhat sketchy history, full of interesting but poorly reproduced photographs and not well proof read.

• Cruisers

STEPHENS, Ronald Bruce, PARLOUR, Sue & PARLOUR, Andy. HMS Tarana: In at the Deep End. x, 147p., illus. Darlington: Serendipity, 2007. ISBN: 9781843942320.

An engaging autobiography. It mainly describes life aboard a clandestine trawler, as part of SOE’s secret operations in the Mediterranean, retrieving airman, escapers and agents from the South of France. Stephens was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his part in the work. The later part of the book describes the trawlers more mundane work in 1944-45 carrying supplies and ammunition around the Mediterranean.

• Autobiography
• Small Craft, Trawlers, and Coastal Forces

UPTON, Bernard. On the Road to Normandy and a Little Beyond: A Sailor’s Life Story. xiv, 142p., illus., index. [n.p.], author, 2017. ISBN: 9781527213081.

An autobiography. Born in 1919, he volunteered in 1939 and trained as a signalman. After brief convoy service he trained at King Alfred and was commissioned in 1941. In February 1942 he joined the minesweeper Cromarty and slowly sailed via the Cape, convoy duty and the Madagascar assault to join the fleet at Alexandria that October. After a year of active duty Cromarty was sunk by a mine in October 1943 near Sardinia. He saw out the war in a succession of minesweepers, including action off the Normandy invasion coast, slowly rising in rank. He continued sailing until the age of 94 and died in 2016. The book can almost be described as a scrapbook, full of photographs, documents and recollections. The first half of the book is autobiographical, with the second half assembled from information supplied by family and friends.

• Autobiography
• The Battle for the Mediterranean
• Mine Warfare
• Small Craft, Trawlers, and Coastal Forces

GOODEY, David & OSBORNE, Richard. Destroyer at War: The Fighting Life and Loss of HMS Havock from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean 1939-1942. Barnsley: Frontline, 2017. ISBN: 1526709007.

An excellent account of the war service of this hard worked destroyer with a dozen battle honours. She saw relentless and unremitting service and action from the Spanish Civil War until her sinking off Tunisia in 1942.

• The Norwegian Campaign
• The Fall of France
• The Battle for the Mediterranean
• The Battle of Matapan
• The Fall of Greece

HASTINGS, Max. Nemesis: the Battle for Japan 1944-45. xxv, 674p., bibliog., illus., index. London: HarperPress, 2007. ISBN: 9780007219827.

A sweeping authoritative history which gives due if limited weight to the Royal Naval contribution.

• Victory over Japan

MURRAY, Allan A. HMS Arawa: The Dramatic War Service of an Unglamorous Armed Merchant Cruiser. vii,46p., illus. [n.p.], The Family Murray Trust, 2016. ISBN: 9781519027436.

Built as the ss Esperance Bay she was converted to an AMC in Sydney in the autumn of 1939. She served firstly on the China Station then in late 1940 moved to Freetown and the South Atlantic Station. In July 1941 she was decommissioned and converted to a troopship.

• Armed Merchant Cruisers

HELLWINKEL, Lars. Hitler’s Gateway to the Atlantic: German Naval Bases in France 1940-1945. iii, 234p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2014. ISBN: 1848321996.

A comprehensively illustrated and detailed account of the occupation, creation of bases and Allied attacks. Based on his 2006 thesis.

• Ports and Bases - Europe
• Kriegsmarine: U-Boats

MURRAY, Allan A. HMAS Nepal: the Chameleon, 1939-43 (Men and Ships at War, Book 3). vii, 54p., illus. [n.p.], Family Murray Trust, 2017. ISBN: 9781521904572.

Describes the service in early World War II of the Australian-crewed destroyer Nepal when the author’s great uncle, Bobby Forbes, was a crew member. The ship started life intended for the Royal Navy as the Norseman, but was commissioned into the RAN. Soon after commissioning, she played the role of the fictional HMS Torrin in the 1942 film 'In Which We Serve'. She served mainly in the Indian Ocean.

• The Eastern Fleet Holds the Line
• Royal Australian Navy: Destroyers, Frigates and Sloops

MURRAY, Allan A. Get the Oars Out: When I-24 Sank the Iron Chieftain (Men and Ships at War, Book 2). vi, 68p., bibliog., illus. [n.p., Family Murray Trust, 2016. ISBN: 9781519027405.

        A description of the sinking of the ss Iron Chieftain by the Japanese submarine I-24 on 3 June 1942. Iron Chieftain was the first merchant vessel sunk off the south-east coast of Australia by submarines in World War II; twelve merchant seamen lost their lives. Thirty-seven survived, including twenty-five who spent more than a day rowing to shore in a lifeboat. Third Cook George Anderson, Allan Murray's maternal grandfather, was in the lifeboat.

• The Loss of the Far East
• Shipwrecks & Sinkings

MURRAY, Allan A. Sunk in Two Minutes: The Fatal Encounter between I-21, HMAS Mildura and the Iron Knight (Men and Ships at War, Book 4).vi, 68p., bibliog., illus. [n.p.], The Family Murray Trust, 2017. ISBN: 9781973117001.

        A description of the fatal encounter between Japanese submarine I-21, HMAS Mildura and ss Iron Knight off the south-east coast of Australia on 8 February 1943. Iron Knight was sunk in 2 minutes by I-21. The sinking occurred in full view of Mildura, the corvette escorting convoy, OC.68. Thirty-six merchant seamen lost their lives, many from Newcastle. Allan's great uncle, 'Dukesy' Forbes, also from Newcastle, was aboard Mildura.

• Biography
• Shipwrecks & Sinkings
• Royal Australian Navy: Corvettes

BENNETT, G. H. Admiralty Despatches: The Story of the War from the Battlefront, 1939-1945. 288p., bibliog., illus., index. Stroud: Amberley in Association with the National Archives, 2017. ISBN: 9781445662442.

        An introduction by the well-known naval historian leads to a reprinting of eight despatches chosen to depict different aspects of the war at sea. They were printed originally as supplements to the London Gazette and are: 38273 (Action off Calabria); 38023 (Carrier Operations against Taranto); 39041 (Convoys to North Russia); 38296 (The Battle of Crete); 38342 (Raid on Vaagso Island); 38045 (Dieppe Raid, August 1942); 38110 (Assault Phase of the Normandy Landings, June 1944); 38432 (Coastal Forces Actions, 1943-44).

• Reference Works
• Official Despatches