The battle of the Arctic: the overlooked crucible of WW2
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The US and UK supplied the USSR with vast amounts of military materiel during the Second World War via the Arctic convoys. For this episode of the History Extra podcast, Hugh C. Bagmontefiore, author of the new book Battle of the Arctic, The Maritime Epoch of World War II, chats with David Musgrove to explain just how important this campaign was in shaping the outcome of the war. detailing the many horrors faced by the merchant sailors who made the difficult and dangerous journey from Iceland to Russia. David's first question was to ask Hugh to explain the context of the convoys.
Most people who know about history, World War II history will know about the Battle of the Atlantic. That was the battle that was fought to supply Britain. And the battle of the Arctic is the battle that was fought to supply goods to the Soviet Union during World War II. It was in the context of Arctic convoys being sent to the Soviet Union from Iceland or from the north of Scotland, because Stalin asked Britain and America to supply aid after the Germans attacked in June 1941. When the Germans attacked,
the Russians were in a very vulnerable position because they didn't really have enough modern equipment to defeat the Germans. And that's the context in which Stalin asked whether the Allies could supply modern arms to the Soviet Union to replace the old arms that were destroyed by the initial German attack. The convoys ran from August 1941 until 1945. There were about 40 Arctic convoys, and they were attacked on the way to the Soviet Union as they passed north of Norway by the Germans, and around 800 shiploads were sent in these 40 convoys, and around 58 of the merchant ships were sunk, which is not bad in a way, because 58
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