Battle of the Atlantic (1): The U-Boat Campaign Against Britain, 1939-41

96 pages

Capt Andrew Welch (rtd)

Mark Stille is another of Osprey’s prolific authors (67 and, no doubt, counting), although most of his WWII output concerns the Pacific Theatre. This volume follows the normal format of the Osprey ‘Campaign’ series – Intro, Chronology, Opposing Commanders, Opposing Forces, Opposing Plans, the Campaign, Aftermath (as at the end of 1941) and further reading. As usual, in under 100 pages, it is heavy on facts and statistics. This is no bad thing and the volume provides a very good primer on the first couple of years of the Battle of the Atlantic. Volumes 2 and 3 have been commissioned, but it is not yet clear what periods of the Battle of the Atlantic they will cover or when they will be published.

As often in WWII history books written today, there are some lesser known facts – the Italian contribution to the U-boat campaign was much greater that I had realised or read in other books and, oddly, bearing in mind the book’s title (probably the series editor hadn’t actually read the book) in his Opposing Commanders chapter he states that Churchill “coined the inaccurate term ‘Battle of the Atlantic’ (the Atlantic Campaign would be more apt).” He also states that “Britain’s survival was hanging by a thread at points in the war in the face of the U-boat threat was not accurate.” A surprising point of view that he doesn’t justify in any way.

After that unpromising start, I found this book to be good value and a useful summary of the first three years of the U-boat campaign. The illustrations are, as always in Osprey’s books, plentiful and there are three ‘artist’s impressions’. One of the sinking of HMS Courageous shows her (as the first torpedo hits) with the jackstaff rigged and no sea ensign flying (although the destroyer in the background also has her jackstaff rigged and her ensign flying from the stern) and that of the Empress of Britain being bombed seems to show her taking no avoiding action at all (no heel as she tries to evade the Condor approaching from dead ahead…), whereas Luftwaffe photos online show the aircraft approaching from astern as the wake curves to port. This is not the first time I have seen Osprey artist’s impressions that don’t look right, which is a pity as the photos are usually well chosen.

Nevertheless, I would recommend this to members who need a fact heavy summary of the first phase of the Battle of the Atlantic in their library.