The Battle of the Atlantic

From the opening months of the Second World War, Britain depended on Atlantic shipping for food, fuel, weapons and the forces needed to continue the conflict. Jonathan Dimbleby traces the struggle between Allied convoys and German U-boats across the North Atlantic, showing how submarine tactics, escort groups, aircraft, radar, intelligence and industrial production changed the balance of the campaign.

The book connects decisions made by Churchill, Roosevelt, Hitler and Admiral Karl Dönitz with the experience of merchant seamen and naval crews who fought through years of attrition. It follows the crisis of the U-boat offensive and the gradual Allied recovery that secured the sea lanes. By treating the Atlantic as a strategic campaign rather than a sequence of isolated naval actions, Dimbleby shows why control of the ocean was essential to Britain’s survival and the liberation of Europe.