Roger Lancashire was a surgeon aboard the cruiser HMS Exeter in her confrontation with the German battleship Graf Spee. As his ship came under fire he described dealing with the injured:
“The casualties were pretty devastating. There were two or three who literally died in my arms. These were people I had been living with, as it were, for three years. There were cases where, if I’d had the facilities and an endless supply of blood transfusions, things might have been different, but it wasn’t like that. I did a quick assessment of who was most likely to benefit and then went to work on them”.
Powerful personal testimonies such as this are part of the delight of the new generation of military history, exemplified by Anthony Beevor’s work over the past few decades. British broadcaster Jonathan Dimbleby has taken this model and applied it to this important theatre of World War 2. Through a range of mostly secondary sources he successfully sweeps from the broad strategic view down to the experiences of those on board the merchant vessels, navy ships and submarines that bore the brunt of the battle. As he points out, the term “Battle of the Atlantic” is a misnomer. It “not only lasted from the very first to the very last day of the war but, so far from being a single battle, it involved hundreds of hostile encounters on a wide variety of fronts” - more of a campaign according to Dimbleby.
He portrays the importance of the battle well, both through the views of war leaders such as Roosevelt and Churchill and through the everyday experiences of (often quoted) Nella Last of Barrow-on-Furness, dealing with the consequences of rationing. The drama is not just portrayed through the life and death struggle of the participants, but also with the battles within the participant powers. Churchill recognised the strategic importance of the theatre, but at the same time allowed the RAF to diminish the importance of Coastal Command’s efforts, resulting in a diversion of long range aircraft to bombing instead of maritime duties which almost let the German’s win the battle of attrition. On the German’s side Raeder and Donitz competed for Hitler’s attention and undermined each other with their visions of the relative importance of the surface and submarine fleets. Overarching these conflicts were the disagreements between the war leaders, especially Stalin’s displeasure and distrust of the US and Britain and their ability to meet their commitments for equipment supply via the Arctic convoys.
Interestingly having recently read [b:Enigma - The Battle for the Code|817512|Enigma - The Battle for the Code|Hugh Sebag-Montefiore|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348562133s/817512.jpg|145475] and seen the film The Imitation Game it was fascinating how little coverage Dimbleby gives Enigma. After getting the impression that the reading of Ultra (or not) directly correlated with success in the war against the U Boats, this book gives more subtlety, pointing out the many other factors especially the fact that the German’s could also read the merchant navy’s codes. This meant that when the convoys were diverted as a result of intel from Ultra the German’s were able to move their U Boats in response. Dimbleby’s viewpoint does carry some weight, as it explains why Donitz in particular, although suspicious never worked out that his communications with U Boats were being intercepted. Arguably in this theatre the two side’s efforts in code breaking almost nullified each other.
If I have one criticism of the book it is that at times the context about other theatres of war (for example the Russian front) are given a bit more attention that is necessary. This felt a bit like filler at times, although for someone reading this book without a good knowledge of the Second World War I’m sure these passages will be welcome. Overall this book provides a sound explanation of this vital theatre which places it in its justified historical context, providing well balanced coverage of the personalities, strategic decisionmaking, importance of the Atlantic lifeline and most of all conveying the struggles, discomfort and danger confronted by the sailors on the high seas. A recommended book. ( )

Jonathan Dimbleby, in The Battle of the Atlantic: How the Allies Won the War, argues quite effectively that this theater was most crucial to the success of the Allies. He makes this argument while also providing a very readable and well-researched volume contextualizing the events here within the overall war effort.

Dimbleby's ability to both personalize the events, whether from the view of war leaders or the people aboard the ships, while never losing sight of the larger picture of how these events affected the war effort makes this a particularly enjoyable read for both the historian and the general reader.

In questioning some accepted opinions he introduces little new information but rather views much of what is known from a different perspective. That perspective is no doubt influenced by what he does bring to the discussion that was not previously included.

I would highly recommend this to both professional historians and the general reader with an interest in World War II, military history or history in general.

Reviewed from an ARC made available by the publisher via NetGalley. ( )