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The Arctic convoys of World War II travelled from the USA and the United Kingdom to the northern ports of the USSR - Archangel and Murmansk.
Convoys There were 78 convoys between August 1941 and May 1945 (although there were two gaps with no sailings between July and September 1942, and March and November 1943). At first the convoys sailed from Iceland but after September 1942 they assembled and sailed from Loch Ewe in Scotland. The route was around occupied Norway to the Russian ports and was particularly dangerous due to the proximity of German air, submarine and surface forces and also because of the severe weather.
Each convoy had two name-number identifiers: PQ <number> or JW <number> for the journey to Russia, and QP <number> or RA <number> for the return journey.
Three particular convoys are notable:
Strategic Impact As a result of early raids by destroyers on German coastal shipping and the Commando raid on Vaagso Hitler was led to believe that the British intended to invade Norway again. This, together with the obvious need to stop convoy supplies reaching Soviet Russia, caused him to direct that heavier ships, centred on the battleship Tirpitz, be sent to Norway. The Channel Dash was partly undertaken for this reason. As a "fleet in being" Tirpitz and the other German capital ships tied down British resources which might have been better used elsewhere. For example, they could have been used for commerce raiding in the Atlantic - as was shown by the success of Gneisenau and Scharnhorst in 1941. However as the air gap over the North Atlantic closed, Huff-Duff (radio triangulation equipment) improved, airborne centimetric radar was introduced and convoys received escort carrier protection, the scope for commerce raiding diminished. Aside from an abortive attempt to interdict PQ12 in March 1942 and a raid on Spitzbergen in September 1943, Tirpitz was sent to spend most of World War II in Norwegian fjords. She was penned in and successively attacked until she was finally sunk in Troms fjord on 11 November 1944 by the RAF. The other Kriegsmarine capital ships never got to Norway (eg. Gneisenau), were chased off or were sunk by superior forces (eg. Scharnhorst). The major change to naval dispositions on both sides that came about as a result of the Arctic convoys arguably had a major impact on the couse of events in other theatres of war.
Role of intelligence The cracking of the Enigma code machine at Bletchley Park played an important part in the eventual success of these convoys. Pre-emptive action was not always possible, but the intelligence did allow the Royal Navy to prepare for battle and convoys could be given appropriate escorting forces.
Summary In summary, about 1400 merchant ships delivered vital supplies to Russia. 85 merchant vessels and 16 Royal Navy warships were lost. The Germans lost a number of vessels including one battleship and at least 30 U-boats as well as a large number of aircraft. Towards the end of the war the material significance of the supplies was probably not as great as the symbolic value hence the continuation - at Stalin's insistence - of these convoys long after the Russians had turned the German land offensive.
See also
External links - MOD veterans' agency (http://www.veteransagency.mod.uk/medals/artic.htm)
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