The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942-1945

192 Pages·2002·1.28 MB·English

by  Edwards

By the same author
Masters Next to God
They Sank the Red Dragon
The Fighting Tramps
The Grey Widow Maker
Blood and Bushido
SOS – Men Against the Sea
Salvo!
Attack and Sink
Dönitz and the Wolf Packs
Return of the Coffin Ships
Beware Raiders!

First published in Great Britain in 2002 by LEO COOPER
an imprint of Pen & Sword Books 47 Church Street,
Barnsley,
South Yorkshire,
S70 2AS
Copyright © 2002 by Bernard Edwards ISBN 0 85052 898 4
eISBN 978 1 78337 941 5
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Typeset in 11/13pt Sabon by Phoenix
Typesetting, Burley-in-Wharfedale, West Yorkshire Printed in England by CPI UK
This book is dedicated to all those who fought and died on the road to Russia.
‘Death barred the way to Russia, but you crosst.’ John Masefield, For All
Seafarers
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Epilogue
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank the following for their help in the research for this
book:
George C. Bean, Thomas R. Bowerman, Mike Buckingham, C. Bernard
Covington, Richard Elvin, Leo Hogan, Albert Kelder, Charles A. Lloyd, Arthur
MacLaren, Ian A. Millar, Frits Noorbergen, Peter L. Price, Mike Raymond,
Barbara Reher, Neil Staples, Tony Thomas, Barry L. Zerby, and Flower Class
Corvette Association, Merchant Navy Association, National Archives & Records
Administration, National Headquarters American Merchant Marine Veterans,
Public Record Office, Registry of Shipping & Seamen, US Armed Guard WW II
Veterans.
Introduction
This is the story of a very gallant company of men, who in the dark days of 1942
brought their ships through to Russia by the Arctic route. They were drawn from
a dozen diverse nations, but united by a common cause; to bring aid to a
beleaguered ally. If by doing so they helped to change the fortunes of a war, then
being dictated by the crushing superiority of the Axis Powers, they considered
their work well done.
In a single voyage, the men who sailed the convoys to North Russia faced
more dangers than many others faced in six years of war. Their age-old enemy,
the weather, was relentless. It fluctuated from violent storms that threatened to
swamp the grossly overloaded merchantmen and crush the thin-hulled escorts, to
flat calms and dense fogs. Caught in fog, the ships, unable to stand still, were
forced to steam blind, under constant threat of collision with each other and ever
watchful for the silent approach of icebergs and growlers, some big enough to
rip their bottoms open from stem to stern.
If the weather was overcome – or at least held at bay – there was still the
other enemy to contend with. He, too, was relentless, attacking from the air with
high-level bombers, dive-bombers and torpedo bombers, on the surface with
fast, powerful warships, and from beneath the sea with the shadowing U-boat.
For much of the year, overlaying and aggravating all these dangers, was the
awful, bone-chilling cold of the Arctic; a cold so intense that it immobilized the
body and numbed the brain. Death followed within two minutes for any man
entering the water, and those who found themselves adrift in open boats were
promised a slow death by exposure or, at the very least, the pain and indignities
of frostbite and immersion foot, which so often led to the horrors of amputation.
For those who won through to Russia against such fearful odds, there was no
safe haven at the end. The German bombers followed them into port, and
continued to rain down death and destruction as they struggled to discharge the
guns and tanks they had so diligently carried across the sea. All too often, their
efforts were brought to nothing as ship and cargo were blown asunder or
consumed by fire. But perhaps the most bitter blow they had to take was the
rejection by the people they had endured so much to help. The ordinary Russian
citizen was too cowed by authority to openly fraternize, and Soviet officialdom
regarded them as agents of the hated capitalist system, and put every possible
obstacle in their way.
The sea road to Russia was long and fraught with many dangers and
frustrations, but these men did not hesitate to tread it, not just once, but voyage
after voyage. They were true heroes.