Bloody Winter

Waters, J.M.: 1984 Naval Insitute Press USA, hardcover with dutjacket 285 pages, with photos. This is the story of the bitter six months of fighting that climaxed the Battle of the Atlantic, and ended with the defeat and withdrawal of the U-boat wolf packs from the shipping lanes in the Spring of 1943. This narrative is confined to the North Atlantic convoy routes between America and the United Kingdom, for it was there around the great trade convoys that the issue had to be decided. Only by stopping the flow of men and materiel to Britain did the Axis have any chance of ultimate victory. This, then, is the story of the winter crisis of 1942-43, World War II, and of some of the men, ships, and planes who fought through it, turning the spectre of defeat that faced them in March into the victory of the escorts in May. It is also a story of the men of the U-boat fleet, who came within a measurable distance of bringing the Allies to their knees; finally failing to do so, most of them paid with their lives while fighting to the bitter end a battle that had already been decided. ISBN 0870210912 In very good condition