Killing the Bismarck: Destroying the Pride of Hitler's Fleet First Edition
Author(s): Iain Ballantyne (Author)
Publisher: Pen & Sword Maritime
Publication Date: 12 July 2010
Edition: First Edition
Language: English
Print length: 240 pages
ISBN-10: 9781844159833
ISBN-13: 1844159833
Book Description
‘A HARROWING INSIGHT INTO THE UNREMITTING CRUELTY OF WAR AT SEA, AS WELL AS THE COURAGE AND COMPASSION OF FRAIL HUMANS PITTED AGAINST SAVAGE WEATHER AND PLUNGED INTO BRUTAL COMBAT…’In May 1941, the German battleship Bismarck, accompanied by heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen, broke out into the Atlantic to attack Allied shipping. The Royal Navy ‘s pursuit and subsequent destruction of Bismarck was an epic of naval warfare. Astonishingly, nearly seventy years on, this new book by Iain Ballantyne, Killing the Bismarck, alters our perception of this legendary episode, by focusing on the eyewitness accounts of British sailors, marines and carrier aviators, some of them published for the first time in a compelling narrative. During this action-packed story we go aboard cruisers playing a lethal cat and mouse game as they shadow Bismarck and experience the horror of the British battlecruiser Hood’s destruction, a disaster that filled the men of pursuing Royal Navy units with a thirst for revenge. We fly in Swordfish torpedo-bombers as valiant aircrews take off in atrocious weather and defy storms of anti-aircraft fire during desperate bids to cripple Bismarck. We sail in destroyers as they make daring torpedo attacks, battling mountainous seas. During the final showdown battleships Rodney and King George V, supported by cruisers, destroy the pride of Hitler’s fleet in a close-quarters battle, the terrible reality of which has never been fully depicted in print before. We also experience Winston Churchill’s anxious vigil and learn of the key role the victory played in establishing the ‘Special Relationship’ between the USA and UK. The author analyses the myths surrounding Bismarck and her destruction, considering whether they have any substance. Included are portraits of the short fighting lives of legendary British warships, such as the battleship Prince of Wales and destroyer Cossack as well as men who sailed to death or glory in them. Providing a harrowing insight into the unremitting cruelty of war at sea, as well as the courage and compassion of frail humans pitted against savage weather and plunged into brutal combat, Killing the Bismarck is delivered with the verve of a novel, taking the reader on a roller-coaster ride in which each twist and turn yields new shocks.
Editorial Reviews
Review
`This well written and absorbing book clearly illustrates home truths about war at sea. I commend it to you.’ –From the Foreword to Killing the Bismarck by Admiral Sir Jonathon Band GCB Former First Sea Lord & Chief of Naval Staff
`Iain Ballantyne plunges you into the thick of the action. Lashed by salt spray, deafened by roaring guns and choked by cordite smoke, the sheer intensity of the battle scenes leaves you shell-shocked. Even so, you dare not put the book down. Killing the Bismarck does not release its grip until a final, macabre twist. This book surely confirms Iain Ballantyne’s position in the front rank of contemporary naval historians.’ –Captain John Roberts, MBE, Royal Navy, author of Safeguarding the Nation, the story of the modern Royal Navy.
Iain Ballantyne plunges you into the thick of the action. Lashed by salt spray, deafened by roaring guns and choked by cordite smoke, the sheer intensity of the battle scenes leaves you shell-shocked. Even so, you dare not put the book down. Killing the Bismarck does not release its grip until a final, macabre twist. This book surely confirms Iain Ballantyne’s position in the front rank of contemporary naval historians.’ –Captain John Roberts, MBE, Royal Navy, author of Safeguarding the Nation, the story of the modern Royal Navy.
‘I have just finished reading Iain Ballantyne’s magnum opus – an aphorism I use entirely without irony, for `Killing the Bismarck’ is a truly towering work. It will surely become – indeed I imagine it is already – a `must read’ for any future historian looking at these dramatic and terrible events. In `Killing the Bismarck’ the author superbly combines a literally blow-by-blow account of the campaign to destroy a Nazi battleship, with intensely human accounts from those who took part. He has left no stone unturned, no story untold, in his exposition of those vital days. Iain Ballantyne has also deftly placed the destruction of Bismarck in the wider context of the war as a whole, and its crucial importance, revealed as much implicitly through his account of the steely determination displayed by the Royal Navy.’ –Rob White, award-winning documentary film-maker, whose notable works include the remarkable `The Battle of Hood and Bismarck’.
About the Author
In addition to being the author of several naval history books, Iain Ballantyne is the award-winning editor of the globally renowned monthly naval affairs magazine WARSHIPS International Fleet Review, which is deeply respected as an essential forum for the world’s navies. A one-time Defence Reporter for a regional evening newspaper and former Defence and Diplomatic Correspondent for a London-based national news agency, Iain’s experiences covering front line naval operations around the world, from the Arctic to the Middle East, over the past two decades keenly inform his books. He is also a scriptwriter and has recently ventured into video production with a DVD on the mysterious loss of the Australian light cruiser HMAS Sydney during the Second World War – Sydney, Cipher and Search: The Inside Story.
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