Category: The Atlantic Battle Won

A detailed academic account of the period April-December 1943.

KLUGER, Michael & EVANS, Richard. Roosevelt’s and Churchill’s Atlantic Charter: A Risky Meeting at Sea That Saved Democracy. 248p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Frontline, 2020. ISBN: 9781526786302.

 A good account of how the Atlantic Charter was created, which describes the stormy sea journey from Britain to Placentia Bay and uses a good biographical approach to show how the main players engaged n their negotiations.

WARNER, Guy. Atlantic Linchpin: The Azores in Two World Wars. 160p., bibliog., illus., index. Annapolis: USNIP: Barnsley: Seaforth, 2021. ISBN: 9781399010900.

The role of the Azores in the Battle of the Atlantic has been largely neglected and this well written work attempts to fill the gap.

JOURDAN, David W. Operation Rising Sun: The Sinking of Japan’s Secret Submarine I-52. xviii, 288p., bibliog., illus., index. Lincoln, NE: Potomac Books, 2020. ISBN: 9781640121690.

An account of the journey of the submarine on a Yanagi mission carrying goods – including gold - and technicians from Japan to Germany in mid-1944. She was sunk in the Atlantic by a US Task Force. The second half of the book describes the discovery of the wreck by salvors in the mid-1990s. But the gold remains unrecovered.

POOLMAN, Kenneth. Escort Carrier 1941-1945: An Account of British Escort Carriers in Trade Protection. 160p., illus., index. London: Ian Allan, 1972. ISBN: 711002738.

An operational history of the so-called Woolworth carriers in the Atlantic and Arctic.

HAMILTON, Aaron S. Total Undersea War: The Evolutionary Role of the Snorkel in Donitz’s U-Boat Fleet, 1944-1945. 416p., bibliog., illus., index. Barnsley: Seaforth, 2020. ISBN: 9781526778802.

Charts the last year of the Battle of the Atlantic, when new technologies such as the snorkel allowed the U-boats to move from the deep water of mid-Atlantic to the coastal waters of Europe and the US East Coast.  A well-researched and written account.

JOHNSON, Brian. The Secret War. 352p., bibliog., illus. London: British Broadcasting Corporation, 1978. ISBN: 0563174250.

Based on a six part television series, the book covers relevant topics as varied as the development of radar, Enigma, magnetic mines and the various new technologies deployed in the Battle of the Atlantic. A corrected edition was printed in 1979 (ISBN: 0563174250), and there have been several reprints since then.

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.

MACLEOD, Malcolm. HMCS Preserver (Fairmile Depot Ship 1942-1945). (CFHQ Reports, No. 10). 48, [4]p. Ottawa: Combined Forces Headquarters, 1966.

The first Preserver was employed as a depot ship supporting the Fairmile motor launch flotillas operating off Canada's East Coast during the Battle of the Atlantic. As a depot ship she provided services required to maintain, supply and refuel the motor launches assigned to patrol coastal waters and escort local convoys. The CO of Preserver controlled the operations of such flotillas, operating out of the bays and inlets of Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. Available online at http://www.cmp-cpm.forces.gc.ca/dhh-dhp/his/rep-rap/doc/cfhq/cfhq010.pdf .

JONES, Geoffrey P. Defeat of the Wolfpacks. 223p., illus., index. London:  Kimber, 1986; Novato: Presidio, 1987. ISBN: 0718305892.

Catalogues the loss of 35 U-boats in the winter of 1943–44, in the style of his earlier work.

Reviews the profound influence of the American support groups, whose "jeep" carriers were credited with over 50 U-boat kills.

The bitterly fought Atlantic battles of the 1942-43 winter described by an officer who served in the US Coastguard. A new edition was published by the Naval Institute Press in 1984 and there have been numerous subsequent editions.

A personal memoir by one of the participants of the circumstances in which the ancient treaties with Portugal were invoked to allow the setting up of airbases in the Azores in 1943. Transcripts of these treaties and of various wartime memoranda are reproduced. The naval expedition to set up the bases is then briefly described.

A detailed and authoritative account by the air intelligence officer of the Atlantic Fleet Airship Commander. Blimps flew 37,000 operational sorties protecting seaborne trade off the American East Coast.

A rare local history. Based on survivors' accounts, this is the story of the ferry Caribou and its sinking off Nova Scotia on 14 October 1942 by U 69. Some 136 passengers died.

A scholarly operational history of the convoy battles that led to the defeat of the U-boats in May 1943.

Deals with the capture of submarines, but principally that of U 110, captured intact during attacks on convoy OB318 in May 1941. The story was suppressed throughout the war and is first revealed here.

A very readable account of the winning of the Atlantic Battle.

Presents the definitive account of the attack on convoy HX-305 in the North Channel in autumn 1944 and unravels the mystery of the fate of U 482.

An American journalist gives a good basic account of the battles of spring 1943, full of personal stories.

The sub-title reveals all.

A sequel to his earlier work, showing how the RCN grew in strength and quality and became an effective fighting force.

A photo-essay concerned especially with the aircraft.

Looks at May 1943 and individually examines the fates of the 41 U-boats lost in that period.

An ordinary but well-illustrated account that deals with the twilight of the U-boats in the autumn Atlantic Campaign of 1943.

An hour by hour account of the last voyage of the Nova Scotia-to-Newfoundland ferry Caribou, sunk by U 69. The heavy loss of life makes this still a controversial incident in the history of Canada's war.

Tells the tale of the surrender of the German U-boats in 1945. Many were sent to Loch Eriboll in Scotland.

A very American view of the little known operation to take control of the islands in late 1943. The author participated as an engineering corporal in the Seabees at that time and has tracked down the official sources to produce a creditable work on an episode of bickering and rivalry.

A lurid and overblown account of high Scottish criminals were virtually pressganged into signing up as crewmen for the ss George Washington, briefly taken up by the Ministry of War Transport as a troopship.

The 6th Air Force and Antilles Air Command defended the Panama Canal and won the sub war in the Caribbean.