Book Description
‘This convoy must not get through - U-boats pursue, attack and sink.’ This was the signal that Admiral Donitz sent to the commanders of the 21 U-boats of the Markgraf wolf-pack on the 9th September 1941, just before the United States entered the war. Sixty three merchant ships, many of them British; a large number old and dilapidated and all slow and heavy-laden with vital supplies for the United Kingdom, were strung out in 12 columns abreast, covering an area of 25 square miles of inhospitable ocean. This, the largest wartime convoy yet assembled, set sail from Nova Scotia at a time when the German U-boats were sinking more than one hundred ships each month. Their escort of one destroyer and three corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy, all untried in combat, was hopelessly outnumbered and outclassed when the battle for convoy SC42 commenced when in sight of the coast of Greenland. The battle lasted for seven days and covered 1,200 miles of ocean. Using first hand accounts from survivors on both sides, as well as official records, Captain Bernard Edwards, the author of SOS - Men Against the Sea and other books, including Blood & Bushido, The Return of the Coffin Ships - The Derbyshire Enigma, SALVO, The Grey Widow Maker, Masters Before God, Donitz and the Wolfpacks and They Sank the Red Dragon, has written another superb story of courage in the face of seemingly impossible odds. He has dedicated this book to all those who fought and died in the battle for convoy SC42 - and to those non-fighting men who survived and whose contribution to the final victory has never been fully acknowledged.
Synopsis
"This convoy must not get through - U-boats pursue, attack and sink." This was the signal that Admiral Donitz sent to the commanders of the 21 U-boats of the Markgraf wolf-pack on 9 September 1941 just before the US entered the war. Sixty-three merchant ships were strung out in 12 columns abreast, covering 25 miles of inhospitable ocean. They set sail from Nova Scotia at a time when the German U-boats were sinking more than one hundred ships a month and the US Navy could do nothing but stand by and watch (at least officially). The convoy's escort of one destroyer and three corvettes of the Royal Canadian Navy, all untried in combat, was hopelessly outclassed when the battle for SC42 commenced. The battle lasted for 7 days and covered 1200 miles of ocean.
