Chapter 5 05. Carnage in the Arctic Ocean

In June 1941, while the Royal Navy and the German Navy were engaged in a life-and-death struggle in the Atlantic, the German Army and Air Force began to attack the Soviet Union.British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had always opposed communism, immediately announced that he would provide assistance to the Soviet Union.In order to persuade the British to agree with him, Churchill also made an interesting analogy: "If the Nazis invade hell, I am willing to cooperate with the devil." In October 1941, representatives of the United Kingdom, the United States, and the Soviet Union signed an agreement to determine three aid routes to the Soviet Union: the Iranian Railway, the Pacific Route and the Arctic Route.The long distances of the Iranian railways and the Pacific routes, with their limited freight volumes, played a minor role.Only the Arctic route has a short distance, a large cargo volume, and is close to the Soviet front, so it has become the main route for the allies to aid the Soviet Union.

As a result, a large number of merchant ships loaded with military supplies departed from the United Kingdom, assembled in Iceland, and then passed through Bear Island and Jan Mayen Island to the ports of Murmansk and Arkhangelsk in the Soviet Union.Of the two ports, Murmansk is the closest and is affected by the warm Atlantic current, making it a year-round ice-free port. However, the route is threatened by the German navy and air force stationed in northern Norway.The Arkhangelsk port route is farther away. Although it is safer, there is an ice-covered period of about half a year, and the shipping capacity is quite limited.

However, no matter how the fleet goes, it must cross the Arctic Ocean.The Arctic Ocean is a frightening world of ice and snow. Many seas are frozen all year round, and drift ice floats on the unfrozen sea, which is very dangerous. In winter, the strong wind howls in the polar night, and in summer, it is foggy, making navigation difficult.The Arctic Ocean is a paradise for explorers, and most ordinary merchant ships dare not trespass.What's even more frightening is that in the Norwegian Sea, the Luftwaffe, surface ships, and submarine forces were watching, waiting for an opportunity to hunt down the Allied merchant ships.Therefore, the Arctic route is even more eerie and daunting.

Even so, the Allies used the Arctic route to send large quantities of munitions to the Soviet Union.The British Navy named the cargo escort fleet sailing eastward from Iceland as the PQ fleet, and the empty fleet returning westward from the Soviet Union as the QP fleet. On September 28, 1941, the QP-1 fleet set off from Arkhangelsk, and the fleet was escorted by 1 heavy cruiser with 14 merchant ships; on September 30, the PQ-1 fleet was unmoored in Iceland, and the fleet was 1 heavy cruiser and 2 destroyers escorted 10 merchant ships.The safe arrival of the two fleets marks the official opening of the Arctic route.The harsh natural environment of the Arctic route was overcome by the fearless spirit of the Allied sailors.By the end of 1941, a total of 7 PQ fleets had arrived in the Soviet Union, sending 750 tanks, 800 fighter jets, 1,400 trucks and 100,000 tons of munitions.

These weapons were quickly put into the Soviet-German war. In the spring of 1942, the fleet on the Arctic route became more active, and more military supplies were transported to the Soviet Union.When the German army discovered a large amount of munitions produced by Britain and the United States on the Soviet-German battlefield, Hitler realized the important role of the Arctic route and immediately ordered the German Navy to cut off the Arctic route. The German Navy, which received the task, sent four submarine groups to the Norwegian sea area, and dispatched the battleship "Tirpitz", the battlecruiser "Scharnhorst", and the heavy cruiser "Admiral Scheer". , "Admiral Hipper" and "Prince Eugen" were stationed in Northern Norway, and more than 200 bombers from the Fifth Flying Squadron of the Luftwaffe were deployed to help strengthen the strike force.All of a sudden, murderous intent rose on the Arctic route.

Under the joint attack of the German navy and air force, the Arctic fleet suffered varying degrees of damage.Although Churchill attached great importance to the Arctic route and dispatched many aircraft carriers, battleships and cruisers to escort, the German army had the right time and place, and the situation became more and more dangerous. In the summer of 1942, the German army invaded Stalingrad, the Soviet town.Stalin wrote many times to ask Churchill to send merchant ships to deliver weapons as soon as possible to relieve the urgent need.Churchill was well aware of the strength of the German army attacking the Arctic route, so he did not order the ship to sail for a long time.On the other hand, Churchill wanted the Germans and the Soviets to fight each other.From the very beginning of the Second World War, Churchill hoped that the Soviet Union and Germany would fight each other until you were beaten to death, and the British would reap the benefits of the fishermen.Churchill once said: "The result of the war I hope to see is that the Germans fall in the grave, while the Russians lie on the operating table and groan in pain!" Deliver weapons.At this time, Churchill ordered the PQ-17 fleet to be launched.

The number of PQ-17 fleets is very large, and the cargo capacity is unprecedented.For this reason, the British Navy took great pains in the configuration of the fleet in order to allow the fleet to withstand fierce blows from the air, surface and underwater during the long voyage.The fleet is divided into 3 parts: escort fleet, emergency support fleet and strike fleet.The convoy consists of 34 merchant ships and a direct escort force, which includes 6 destroyers, 2 air defense ships, 2 submarines, 4 frigates, 4 submarine hunters and 3 minesweepers, and 3 ambulance ships And 1 supply tanker, the task of the direct escort force is only to deal with enemy aircraft and submarines, unable to fight against large German surface ships.The emergency support fleet has 2 British cruisers, 2 American cruisers and 3 destroyers, with British Rear Admiral Hamilton as the fleet commander.In addition, the fleet deployed 9 British submarines and 2 Soviet submarines as sentry posts off the coast of Norway. The main task was to monitor large German surface ships.The task of the emergency support fleet is mainly to entangle the German surface fleet with the "Tirpitz" as the main force, so that the strike fleet can destroy them.The strike fleet is a truly formidable force in the fleet, with the most powerful battleship "Duke of York", the US battleship "Washington" and the British aircraft carrier "Victory" as the main force, and 3 cruisers and a group of destroyers. Cover, with the ability to destroy the "Tirpitz".The commander of the strike fleet and the commander-in-chief of the PQ-17 operation is served by the commander of the British Home Fleet, Admiral Tovey.

From the perspective of troop configuration, the PQ-17 fleet is sufficient to cross the North Pole.But Churchill played hard when he wanted to, and he had even greater ambitions: to use the PQ-17 fleet as a bait to lure out the main force of the German navy, the "Tirpitz", and annihilate it in one fell swoop. . The German Navy preyed on the PQ-17 fleet, and the Allied strike fleet preyed on the German Navy.This has become a situation where the mantis catches the cicada and the oriole follows. On June 27, 1942, the mighty PQ-17 fleet set off from Iceland. On July 1, the convoy passed Jan Mayen Island on the 10th meridian west, and then diverted its course to the north, hoping to stay away from the Norwegian coast.At this time, a patrolling German U-boat discovered the fleet and notified the German combat command center by telegram, and the battle began.The German submarines scattered in the Norwegian Sea immediately assembled on the route of the PQ-17 fleet and waited for an opportunity to strike.However, the escort team had strong anti-submarine capabilities, and the German submarines could not take advantage of the forced attack, so they had to follow the fleet patiently.Several daring German submarine captains searched for an opportunity to attack the fleet, but found nothing except depth charges.The German command center also sent reconnaissance planes to reconnaissance convoys. After learning about the huge establishment of the PQ-17 fleet, they believed that the PQ-17 fleet could not be destroyed by submarines and aircraft alone, so they decided to dispatch the "Tirpitz" The main force of the large surface fleet.

Subsequently, a group of German torpedo bombers attacked the PQ-17 convoy, but under heavy anti-aircraft artillery fire, they found nothing. On July 4th, a large-scale air strike carefully planned by the German army began.The PQ-17 convoy sailing near Bear Island was attacked by wave after wave of German bombers and torpedo planes, and the fighting was fierce.Although German planes were constantly shot down, three cargo ships in the PQ-17 fleet sank and one was seriously injured. Major General Hamilton was under tremendous psychological pressure. Although his convoy and emergency support fleet could barely cope with air and underwater attacks, how would they resist once the "Tirpitz" was dispatched?The terrifying "Tirpitz" only needs to fire a 700kg giant bomb outside the range of the British ship's artillery, which is enough to sink its own merchant ships and warships one by one.

On the 5th, Major General Hamilton received a telegram from the Allied submarine monitoring the "Tirpitz": "The 'Tirpitz' left the Altenfjord and its destination is unknown." The Soviet submarine reported: "'Tirpitz' The powerful fleet consisting of the Pitts, the Scheer, and the Hipper has left Norway, and the submarines have attacked, with unknown effects." The British submarine discovered that the German army with the "Tirpitz" as the main force Fleet, heading northeast, speed 27 knots.Hamilton knew that in 10 hours his convoy would be within range of the Tirpitz's guns.

Hamilton immediately telegraphed the commander of the strike fleet, Admiral Tovey, and asked him to rush to the rescue.The strike fleet led by Tovey maintained a four-to-five-hour voyage with the PQ-17 fleet. In order to keep secret and lure the "Tirpitz", the Tovey fleet has maintained radio silence.After receiving the urgent telegram from Hamilton, Tovey calculated the distance between the two fleets in detail, as well as the weather during the voyage and drift ice conditions. In desperation, he broke the silence and told Hamilton: "We are blocked by drift ice and cannot arrive. It's up to you to handle the situation." A huge disaster is coming to the PQ-17 fleet. At this time, the British Royal Navy's plan to lure and annihilate all failed, and the PQ-17 fleet was facing the fate of annihilation.Admiral Pound, the British First Sea Lord who was thousands of miles away, was more anxious than Hamilton on the battlefield. Admiral Pound knew exactly where the PQ-17 fleet, the strike fleet, and the "Tirpitz" were, and understood that a huge disaster was approaching the PQ-17 fleet.Admiral Pound was a senior officer who was a staff officer. He made too many calculations and analyzes on paper, basically talking on paper, and thus came to a pessimistic conclusion.His heart was very painful and contradictory: if Hamilton was allowed to move forward, the escort ships would probably be lost together; if all the escort ships were allowed to return to the west, and the transport fleet was dispersed into single ships and then moved eastward, all the warships and some merchant ships could be preserved. Therefore, Admiral Pound issued an important order to the PQ-17 fleet in the name of the Ministry of the Navy: "Urgent notice: the cruiser should retreat to the west at the maximum speed. In view of the threat of enemy surface ships, the transport fleet should Scatter for Russian ports." After receiving Pound's telegram, Rear Admiral Hamilton reluctantly issued an order to the PQ-17 fleet.This means that merchant ships have to go alone through the Norwegian Sea and the Barents Sea, which are directly under the threat of the German army, without an escort at all.All merchant mariners felt immense anger and fear. After all the escort fleet withdrew westward, the merchant marine crew showed fearless heroism, put their lives at risk, and continued to drive to their destinations.The massacre of these unarmed transports was horrific! The formidable "Tirpitz" did not personally participate in the massacre, "Tirpitz" intercepted Tovey's telegram to Hamilton, although it did not decipher the telegram, it found that there was a powerful fleet following the PQ-17 ship After the team. When the "Tirpitz" sailed to a position only 4 hours away from the PQ-17 fleet, in order to preserve its strength, it turned back to China Southern Airlines. The massacre of the PQ-17 convoy was carried out by German submarines and aircraft.Sinking an unarmed transport ship is effortless for a well-trained German submarine captain.Merchant ships one after another were hit by torpedoes, fires rose from the ice sea, some ships sank slowly, and some ships broke quickly.Hundreds of crew members wore life jackets and floated in the near-zero ice sea. Many people froze to death immediately.Various bombers of the Luftwaffe's Fifth Flying Squadron also massacred merchant ships, dealing even greater blows to scattered merchant ships. The fate of the PQ-17 fleet is the worst in the Arctic route, and it is also a gruesome death voyage in the history of World War II.The Royal Navy was talking on paper, underestimated the drift ice, weather and difficulties in the voyage, and overestimated the power of the German ship "Tirpitz", so it panicked and made a huge mistake.As the price of this mistake, 24 merchant ships with 130,000 tons of excellent military supplies sank forever in the sand on the bottom of the Arctic. The tragedy of the PQ-17 fleet was a turning point.Since then, the Allied forces have learned their lessons, changed their tactics, and succeeded repeatedly, making the Arctic route an extremely important lifeline for the Soviet-German battlefield.