This year marks seventy-five years from the day when military supplies began to arrive in Murmansk, delivered by America and Great Britain to fight the common enemy - fascist Germany. Their delivery was an unusually difficult task, but it was extremely necessary for the front, and the first Arctic convoy, which went down in history under the name "Dervish", laid the foundation for it.
Newly sought after experience of past centuries
The Arctic convoys of World War II were a continuation of the tradition, the beginning of which was laid by the Spaniards back in the 16th century. In those bygone days, they escorted galleons carrying tons of gold and silver stolen in South America across the Atlantic. Since it was very dangerous to follow such a load, the ships were going to the Havana raid, and already under the cover of the Spanish cannons, they went through the open spaces teeming with English pirates.
And so, when in July 1941 Moscow and London signed an agreement on mutual actions in the fight against Germany, and Churchill promised Stalin to help, in everything that was in his power, the British remembered the method by which sea carriers defended against four hundred years ago their aggressive compatriots.
This turned out to be very useful, since literally two weeks later the Soviet Union concluded an agreement on military supplies with America, the Congress of which adopted the state program for supplying the Union troops with ammunition, equipment, food and medicine, which went down in history under the name Lend-Lease. In this regard, the full question arose - how to deliver the cargo of the Allies to Soviet ports.
Ways to solve the problem
There were three options for solving this problem. One route ran through the Pacific Ocean, but of all the Soviet Far Eastern ports, only Vladivostok was connected by rail to the front-line areas. Allied ships regularly moored at its berths, and despite the fact that the Trans-Siberian Railway had a relatively low carrying capacity, during the years of the war 47% of military cargo was delivered through it. But, the problem was that this route took a very long time.
The second and safest route ran through the Persian Gulf and Iran. However, due to technical difficulties, they managed to use it only in the middle of 1942, while help to the front was required immediately. Therefore, the northern Arctic convoys, which were the third option for the delivery of goods considered by the Allied command, had several advantages over the other two.
Firstly, it took a relatively little time. The Arctic convoy could deliver the goods in only ten to twelve days, and secondly, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk, where the unloading was carried out, were quite close to the war zone and to the center of the country.
However, this path was fraught with dangers arising from the fact that the ships were forced to move along the coast of Norway, occupied by the Germans. They had to overcome a significant part of the route in the immediate vicinity of the enemy airfields and naval bases. However, in spite of everything, this path was indispensable, and the Arctic allied convoys of 1941-1945 made a significant contribution to the defeat of the enemy. Their role was especially great in the first war year.
Ship posting method
To repel possible enemy attacks, the Allied command developed a tactic thanks to which the Arctic convoy could maximize the security of the transported cargo. The transports were lined up not by a single caravan, but by short wake columns moving the front at a considerable distance from each other, and often changing course. This not only allowed them to be managed more efficiently, but created additional difficulties for the German submarines.
To combat the submarines, a small ship escort was intended, consisting of minesweepers, frigates and destroyers. They were at some distance from the ships escorted by them. In addition to them, the combat mission was carried out by larger ships, sailing closer to the coast, and designed to repel the surface forces of the enemy and his aircraft.
Throughout the journey up to Bear Island, located in the western part of the Barents Sea, the northern Arctic convoys were protected by the British Navy and aircraft. At the final stage, this duty fell on Soviet sailors and pilots.
The Allied Arctic convoys of 1941-1945 were formed, and took cargo into their holds in the Scottish port, located in Loch-Yu Bay. Further, their path lay in Reykjavik, where the ships filled the tanks with fuel, after which they headed to their destination. Given the ice conditions, the course was laid as far north as possible. This was done to maximize the distance from the coast occupied by the enemy.
Two different points of view
It is interesting to note one detail, which in those years was the cause of certain friction between the Soviet command and their British colleagues. According to the instructions issued by Her Majesty's Admiralty, and applicable to all warships, and not only those that were part of the Arctic naval convoys, from transports damaged or lost combat control, the crews switched to other vessels, and they themselves sought torpedoes and went to the bottom.
This was done because the life of sailors was put incomparably higher than material values, and any attempt to save a sinking ship put them at mortal risk. From a practical point of view, the British believed that preparing a first-class crew was much more difficult than building a ship. This approach was completely incomprehensible to the Soviet side, and often gave occasion to accuse the Allies of striving to deliver as little cargo as possible to the port of destination.
The luck that accompanied the Dervish
The first Arctic convoy, code-named "Dervish", left the port of Reykjavik on August 21, 1941. It consisted of six British transport ships and one Soviet. Their safety was provided by seven minesweepers and two destroyers. Having safely reached Arkhangelsk, on August 31 transports unloaded fifteen Hurricane fighters, about four thousand depth charges, several tens of trucks, as well as tons of rubber, wool and all kinds of uniforms.
Arctic Allied Convoys 1941-1945 in the summaries of the command, they had a code name beginning with the letters PQ. These were the first letters of the name of the officer of the British Admiralty Peter Quilin (Peter Quelyn), who was responsible for organizing the protection of transport ships. Following the letters was the serial number of the next convoy. Caravans traveling in the opposite direction were designated QP, and also had a serial number.
The first Arctic convoy, which went down in history as PQ-0, reached Arkhangelsk without much difficulty, mainly because the German command, focused on the "blitzkrieg" - lightning war, hoped to end the Eastern campaign before the onset of winter, and did not pay due attention to what happened in the Arctic. However, when it became obvious that the war would be long, the fight against the Arctic convoys acquired special significance.
The concentration of enemy forces in the fight against convoys of allies
It is worth noting that after the British fleet battleship Bismarck was sunk by the British in May 1941, Hitler generally prohibited the crews of his surface ships from engaging in open battles with the British. The reason was the simplest - he was afraid once again to give the enemy a reason for triumph. Now the picture has changed.
At the beginning of the winter of 1942, three heavy cruisers and one light cruiser were urgently transferred to the area of the possible appearance of British convoys. In addition, they were supposed to support five destroyers and fifteen submarines. At the same time, the number of aircraft based at the airfields of Norway was increased to five hundred units, which allowed in April of that year to begin regular air flights to Murmansk.
Such measures took effect, and the relative calm, in the atmosphere of which the first convoys made their transition, was replaced by a real combat situation. The Allies suffered their first loss in January 1942, when the Germans sunk the British transport ship Waziristan, which was part of the PQ-7 convoy.
Allied losses and their response
Building on the success, the German command organized a real hunt for the next PQ-8 convoy. The battleship Tirpitz, which was an exact copy of the previously sunk Bismarck, as well as three destroyers and several submarines, came to intercept it. However, despite all efforts, they did not succeed in timely detecting the Arctic convoy, and their only, but very unfortunate victim for us, was the Soviet transport ship Izhora, which for technical reasons lagged behind the main group.
Unfortunately, further losses of the allies increased significantly. According to the summaries of those days, in March 1942 the Germans managed to sink five British transports, and the following month, they were joined by another nine ships that were part of four convoys bound for Murmansk.
The British suffered a major military failure on April 30, when the cruiser Edinburgh, returning to the shores of Britain, was sunk by a torpedo fired from a German submarine. Together with him went to the bottom, which were in his artillery cellars, five and a half tons of gold received from the Soviet government in payment for military supplies, which were by no means free.
Subsequently, this gold was raised during the rescue operations that took place from 1961 to 1968. In accordance with the previously concluded agreement, all of it was divided between the Soviet Union, Britain, as well as firms that carried out underwater work.
Then in 1942, due to the complicated situation, the Allies took emergency measures. The US Navy sent a rather impressive squadron consisting of two battleships, two cruisers and six destroyers to guard the convoys. The Soviet command did not stand aside. If the Northern Fleet used to carry out transport vessels only with specially designated ships, now all available forces were sent to meet them.
The feat of the crew of the "Old Bolshevik"
Even in conditions when participation in each flight required courage and heroism from the crews, situations arose in which these qualities became especially necessary. An example of this is the rescue by the Soviet sailors of the Old Bolshevik transport vessel, which left Reykjavik with the PQ-16 convoy. On May 27, 1942, it was attacked by German aircraft, and as a result of a bomb, a fire started on board.
Despite the fact that there were tens of tons of explosives on board, the sailors refused the offer of their English colleagues to go aboard one of their ships, and the whole crew fought the fire. Eight hours later, the fire, which constantly threatened with an explosion, was put out, and the "Old Bolshevik" safely caught up with the rest of the vessels with which it continued on its way to Murmansk.
The accident of the Arctic convoy PQ-17
The fate of this convoy, which left the Hwal Fjord on June 27, 1942, was the biggest tragedy for the entire period of the delivery of allied cargo along the Arctic route. It happened, as was subsequently unanimously noted by military experts, solely through the fault of the head of the British Admiralty, Admiral Pound.
It all started with the fact that after four days, the convoy was discovered by German planes that controlled the waters of the Norwegian Sea. He was immediately intercepted by significant naval and air forces, the attacks of which the British repulsed for three days, while losing three transport ships. It is possible that the remaining vessels would have reached their destination, but on July 4, it became known that the largest ship of the German fleet, the battleship Tirpitz, had departed and was approaching them at that time.
This giant, equipped with eight fifteen-inch guns, was capable of destroying not only all the transport ships of the Allies, but with them the guard ships. Upon learning of this, Admiral Pound made a fateful decision. He ordered the guard ships not to engage in battle with the battleship, but to move a considerable distance. Transport ships, on the other hand, were to be dispersed, and individually go to Murmansk.
As a result, the Tirpitz, not finding the enemy’s accumulation, returned to the base, and the transports scattered by sea according to the admiral’s order became easy prey for enemy aircraft and submarines. The statistics of this tragedy are terrible. Of the thirty-six Allied transport ships, twenty-three were sunk, and with them went into the bottom, transported in their holds, three and a half thousand vehicles, four hundred and forty tanks, two hundred aircraft and about one hundred thousand tons of other cargoes. Two vessels turned back, and only eleven reached the port of destination. One hundred fifty-three people died, and the life of three hundred was saved only in time by the Soviet sailors who arrived in time.
Consequences of the tragedy
This tragedy almost became the reason for the cessation of deliveries of military goods to the Soviet Union, and only under pressure from Moscow, the British were forced to continue to fulfill their earlier obligations. However, after the next convoy lost three ships torpedoed by German submarines, further shipments were delayed until the beginning of the polar night.
After the tragically lost convoy, the British command changed the unfortunate, in their opinion, code name PQ to YW and RA. An attempt was also made to transport cargo by single transport vessels, but it also did not bring the desired result, also ending with their loss and loss of life.
Only in December 1942, military luck smiled at the British. Within a month, two of their convoys managed to reach Murmansk without loss. There is evidence that this led Hitler into an indescribable rage, and was worth the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Navy, Grand Admiral Raeder.
Good luck turning away from the Nazis
However, by that time, a clear turning point had come during the war. Most German surface ships were transferred to other areas, and for the period 1943-1945, almost exclusively submarines acted against the Allied convoys. Their number decreased due to combat losses, and German industry by that time was already unable to make up for them.
At the end of December 1943, the German fleet lost one of its best warships - the Scharnhorst cruiser, sunk by the British in an attempt to attack the Arctic convoy, called the YP-55. The flagship of the German naval forces - the battleship Tirpitz - shared the same sad fate. Without engaging in battle, he was destroyed by British aircraft right at the pier.
The contribution of the sailors of the Allied Powers to the common victory
Over the years of the war, the Arctic convoys, the photos of which are presented in the article, delivered four and a half million tons of various military cargoes and foodstuffs to our country, which amounted to about thirty percent of the size of all Union aid. As for the weapon itself, at least half of the total amount provided to the Soviet Union by England and America was delivered by the northern route. Altogether, 1398 transport vessels were carried out by the Arctic convoys in the immediate vicinity of the German-occupied shores.
This year, the public of our country, as well as the United States and Great Britain, celebrated the anniversary of the first Arctic convoy. It was a very significant date. Former allies celebrated his 75th birthday. The Arctic convoys have played such an important role in the defeat of fascist Germany that it is difficult to overestimate its importance, and therefore the celebrations organized on this occasion in Pomerania took on a proper scale. They were attended by delegations from nine countries.
In addition to Severodvinsk and Arkhangelsk, events dedicated to this celebration were also held in Murmansk and St. Petersburg, where a monument to the Arctic convoys appeared two years ago. Earlier, a monument in memory of the participants in those heroic events was erected in Murmansk.
In the days of the festivities, the documentary film "Arctic Union Convoys of 1941-1945", filmed by American filmmakers in 2001, was shown on Russian television. Thanks to this film, our compatriots were able to learn a lot about the events that unfolded during the war years on the sea in the northern latitudes.