GAME OF BIRDS AND WOLVES

With novelistic flair, investigative journalist Simon Parkin shines a light on Operation Raspberry and these unsung heroines in this riveting true story of war at sea. Sub-titled 'The Secret Game that Revolutionised the War' here is a gripping narrative that shines fresh light on an important and little known facet of the war against the German U-boats. In his splendid new history of the war in the Atlantic, Parkin's book rips along at full sail and is full of personality and personalities. He celebrates the ingenuity of a British naval 'reject' and the accomplishments of the formerly faceless women never officially rewarded for their contribution to the Allied defeat of Germany. 1941 and the Battle of the Atlantic is a disaster. Thousands of supply ships ferrying vital food and fuel from North America to Britain are being torpedoed by German U-boats. Britain is only weeks away from starvation and with that, crushing defeat. In the first week of 1942 a group of unlikely heroes, a retired naval captain and a clutch of brilliant young women, gather to form a secret strategy unit. On the top floor of a bomb-bruised HQ in Liverpool, the Western Approaches Tactical Unit spends days and nights designing and playing war games in an effort to crack the U-boat tactics. As the U-boat wolf packs continue to prey upon the supply ships, the Wrens race against time to save Britain. With 16 pages of photos, index and notes, 307pp in paperback.