73 North: Battle of the Barents Sea Book

Dudley Pope turns his attention to what many consider the most decisive naval battle of WWII's European theatre-the Battle of the Barents Sea at the end of 1942. With his trademark research, Pope has pieced together the events and the decisions that culminated in the battle and the failure of eight of the German Navy's most powerful ships to sink a Russian convoy guarded by only four small British destroyers. When news of the defeat reached Hitler, he became so incensed that he ordered the German Fleet paid off and scrapped. But in the hands of Dudley Pope, the story is not only one of government decisions and world-shaking events. It is also the tale of men struggling to carry out their orders in the face of overwhelming obstacles: of British Captain R. St Vincent Sherbrooke, badly wounded and almost blinded, holding the line in his burning ship; of German Admiral Kummetz, ordered to win, yet handicapped by a directive from Hitler that the German ships "not take any serious risk"; of British and German sailors fighting the bitter cold and endless darkness of Arctic winter. Pope brings it all to life and ensures that the Battle of the Barents Sea and the men who fought it will not be forgotten.Read More