CRITICAL ACCLAIM FOR
BATTLE OF THE ARCTIC: THE MARITIME EPIC OF WORLD WAR TWO
Daily Telegraph
Testimonies are the strongest part of Sebag-Montefiore’s book. Meticulously drawn from a range of archival sources…The stories of the sailors who were jammed into lifeboats, or clung to rafts are among the most heart rending.
The Times
Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the extraordinary bravery of the seamen who risked their lives on the convoys to Russia…Although their behaviour was often unprofessional, their contribution was heroic…It’s an impressive achievement.
Mail On Sunday
A story of such extraordinary courage, drama and triumph that you’ll be left wanting more. Sebag-Montefiore uncovers the treacherous journeys taken by Allied naval and merchant seamen, submariners and soldiers to deliver arms to Russia as they were being hunted across the Arctic by German aircraft and U-boats…Chilling stuff.
Times Literary Supplement
A remarkably comprehensive account, bringing in everything from naval battles to relations between Stalin, Churchill and Roosevelt … Sebag-Montefiore covers the four-year sweep of the campaign in impressive detail … The unique strength is that it brings in so many first-person accounts.
Daily Express
As thrillingly told as any movie…Sebag-Montefiore…has fixed his gimlet eye on another vital yet lesser-known episode, that of the Arctic Convoys that helped keep Russia supplied and onside…Scores of Allied convoys made the perilous voyage…The lifespan of a man overboard could be measured in minutes.
Daily Mail
Brilliantly researched…Sebag-Montefiore’s… book uncovers unheard testimonies.
The Naval Review
Its strength lies in the large number of testimonies that the author has managed to collect from survivors.
Military History Matters
The attention given by the author to the very limited medical care available to survivors once they were brought ashore in the Soviet Union is of particular interest…The subject rarely receives more than a cursory mention in most books, and certainly the full horror of the ‘treatment’ provided was largely new information for this reviewer…highly recommended.
History of War
It is the…the human stories of death, survival and sheer terror…woven into a seamless blend of narrative and historical research that rivet the reader’s attention
Wall Street Journal
Excellent. …While the horrors of war at sea are well-known, the Allies’ ill-fated supply convoys from Iceland to Russia are an often-overlooked theatre of the war… Sebag-Montefiore uses wartime diaries, interviews and newly available archives from Russia to focus on the officers, armed guards and the ordinary civilian seamen
Kirkus Reviews
A gripping chronicle of warfare in extreme conditions…Historian Sebag-Montefiore is a tireless researcher who has turned up letters, diaries and personal accounts. The author takes advantage of interviews and fresh documentation to emphasize the experiences of individual sailors.
Publishers Weekly
A rich and detailed chronicle of a crucial but seldom-sung naval struggle…A rousing history of Allied supply convoys to the Soviet Union. Historian Sebag-Montefiore recaps the exploits of British, American and Russian freighters ferrying wartime supplies from Scotland and Iceland to Russia’s arctic ports of Murmansk and Archangel.
Booklist
Granular details of personal experiences within a strategic context distinguish this naval history…Sebag-Montefiore takes a distinct approach by emphasizing the stories of survivors of sinkings on both sides.
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