History & Learning

Books we recommend

Richard Woodman, Arctic Convoys 1941-1945Bob Ruegg & Arnold Hague, Convoys to Russia: Allied Convoys and Naval Surface Operations in Arctic Waters, 1941-45 (World Ship Society, 1992)

Richard Woodman, Arctic Convoys 1941-1945 (Pen & Sword Military, 2007)

Leona Thomas, Through Ice & Fire: A Russian Arctic Convoy Diary 1942 (Fonthill Media, 2015)

Steve Chadwick, Loch Ewe During WWII (Wilderness Guides, 2014)

Michael Wadsworth, Arctic Convoy PQ8 – The Story of Capt Robert Brundle and the SS Harmatris (Pen & Sword Maritime, 2009)

Ivan Hall, Christmas in Archangel – A Memoir of Life in the Merchant Navy 1939-1946 (Trafford Publishing, 2009)

Russian Arctic Convoy Museum, Commemorative Brochure: Russian Arctic Convoy Veterans Reunion (2014)

Arnold Melhuish, Commodore Robin Aveline Melhuish (Wordworks Ltd, 2013)

Vice Admiral Sir John Hayes, Face The Music – A Sailor’s Story (The Pentland Press, 1993)

Ted Hancox, From Matelot to Miner (Personal Heritage Publications, 2015)

Bernard Pearson, Steaming Light – A Memoir of Commander John C. Pearson OBE, RN (William P. Cross, Book Midden Publishing, 2012)

Steve Chadwick, The Wreck of the SS William H. Welch (Wilderness Guides, 2012)

Chris B. Tye, The Real Cold War: Featuring Jack in Joe’s land (1995)

E.E. Barringer, Alone on a Wide, Wide,Sea: The Story of 835 Naval Air Squadron in the Second World War (Leo Cooper: London, 1995)

Michael G. Walling, Forgotten Sacrifice: The Arctic Convoys of World War II (Bloomsbury Publishing: 2016)

Peter C. Smith, Arctic Victory: The Story of Convoy PQ18 (Crecy Publishing: Cheshire, 1994)

Peter C. Brown, Voices from the Arctic Convoys (Fonthill Media, 2014)

Bernard Edwards, The Road to Russia: Arctic Convoys 1942 (Pen & Sword Books Ltd: Barnsley, 2002)

Alfred Grossmith Mason, Arctic Warriors: A Personal Account of Convoy PQ18 (Pen & Sword Books Ltd: South Yorkshire, 2013)

Paul Kemp, Convoy! Drama in Arctic Waters (Orion Publishing Co, 2000)

David Wragg, Sacrifice for Stalin: The Cost and Value of the Arctic Convoys Re-Assessed (Pen & Sword Books Ltd, 2005)

Georges Blong, Ordeal Below Zero: The Heroic Story of the Arctic Convoys in World War II (Souvenir Press, 1956)

Jak P. Mallmann Showell, Swastikas in the Arctic: U-Boat Alley through the Frozen Hell (Fonthill Media, 2014)

Lawrence Paterson, Steel and Ice: The U-Boat Battle in the Arctic and Black Sea 1941-1945 (Stroud: The History Press Ltd, 2016)

Geoffrey Brooke, Alarm Starboard! A Remarkable True Story of the War at Sea (PSL, 1982)

Bill Linskey, No Longer Required: My War in the Merchant Marine (Pisces Press, 1999)

Paul Kemp, Warships Illustrated No. 9: The Russian Convoys 1941-1945 (Arms and Armour Press: Poole, 1987)

R. B. Le Page, Luck of the Devil: Flying Swordfish in WWII (Pen & Sword Aviation, 2011)

Donald Macintyre, U-Boat Killer: Fighting the U-Boats in the Battle of the Atlantic (Phoenix, 1999)

Len Chester, Bugle Boy (Long Barn Books, 2007)

Evan Mawdsley, The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of WWII (Yale University Press, 2019)

Ian Carter, The Second World War in Colour ( Imperial War Museum; Illustrated edition, 2017)

Bernard Edwards, The Quiet Heroes: British Merchant Seamen at War ( Pen & Sword Maritime; Reprint edition, 2010)

Colin Turbett, The Anglo Soviet Alliance: Comrades and Allies During WW2 (Pen and Sword Military, 2021)

John R McKay, Surviving the Arctic Convoys: The Wartime Memoirs of Leading Seaman Charlie Erswell (Pen & Sword Maritime, 2021)

Richard Slocombe, British Posters of the Second World War (Imperial War Museum; Illustrated edition, 2010)

 Eric Dietrich-Berryman, Charlotte Hammond & Ronald White, Passport Not Required: U.S. Volunteers in the Royal Navy, 1939-1941 (Naval Institute Press; Illustrated edition, 2013)

Ken Waldie, Gathering Place (Envisage Books, 2015)

Ian Blake, Disciplines of War (Three Cats Press, 2014)

Gerald O’Driscoll, A Dictionary of Naval Slang (Swift Press, 2021)

Paul G. Gill, Armageddon in the Arctic Ocean (Hellgate Press, 2022)

Patrick Shirley, Two Worlds Collide: The Richly Illustrated True Story of the Arctic Convoys and the German Submariners in WW2 (Austin Macauley Publishers, 2022)

William Smith, Churchill’s Arctic Convoys: (Pen & Sword Maritime, 2022)

Fictional reads

Nicholas Monsarrat, The Cruel SeaNicholas Monsarrat, The Cruel Sea (Cassell & Co: London, 1951)

Alistair MacLean, HMS Ulysses (Collins, 1955)

Lothar-Günther Buchheim, Das Boot (1973)

C. S. Forester, The Good Shepherd (Simon Publications, 1955)

Jan de Hartog, The Captain (Atheneum, 1966)

Donald Moore, Scramble Six Hurricanes (Doubleday & Company, Inc, 1958)

Donald Moore, All of One Company (Hodder and Stoughton, 1957)

Donald Moore, The Judgement of Oleron (Hodder and Stoughton, 1960)

Dudley Pope, Convoy (House of Stratus, 2008)

Taffrail [Henry Taprell Dorling], Arctic Convoy (Hodder & Stoughton, 1956)

Anthony Trew, Kleber’s Convoy (Robert Hale Ltd, 2002)

Fiona Valpy, The Skylark’s Secret (Thomas & Mercer, 2020)

Vanessa de Haan, The Restless Sea (HarperCollins, 2019)

Tom Palmer, Arctic Star (Barrington Stoke, 2021)

Martin Campbell, Sailor’s Heart (Martin Campbell, 2021)