A superbly researched and authoritative account of the darkest hours of the Battle of the Atlantic.

Maritime Advisor

This book brings those tragic events to life through the eyes of those involved, as well as giving an overview of the German tactics and the inadequacy of Allied countermeasures, it would have benefited from listings of the individual ships and escorts in each convoy, and of the U-boats ranged against them, but is otherwise a useful addition to the bookshelf.

Ships Monthly, Feb 2013

Nobody recreated dramatic wartime naval action better than Captain Bernard Edwards. Highly recommended.

The England, Winter 2012

This is the fascinating account of the early days of the Battle of the Atlantic when, in the autumn of 1940, German u-boats began to hunt the North Atlantic in organised packs. The immediate effect on the poorly defended convoys was nothing less that catastrophic.
This is a superbly researched and authoritative account of those darkest hours, written in a stirring narrative style by this well established and popular naval historian.
An excellent account.

The Great War, March 2012

This is a valuable reminder of just how desperate the situation was in the North Atlantic early in the battle of the Atlantic. Many books on this topic tend to focus on the way in which the battle was won as more escort ships, better equipment and ever improving air cover turned the tide, but here we only see those desperate early days in which a handful of normally outclassed escorts bravely attempted to protect their convoys against deadly attack. In the four convoys at the centre of this book a total of forty-eight ships were sunk, taking with them hundreds of experienced crewmen and hundreds of thousands of tons of cargo.
This is an excellent book that really gives the reader an idea of how desperate the Battle of the Atlantic was, and how close to defeat Britain came in the Atlantic in 1940.

History of War

...well researched account

Britain at War Magazine, Feb 2012