Product Description

An attack by a British destroyer on a German U-boat in the Eastern Mediterranean in October 1942 altered the course of the entire war. The capture of secret coding material from U-559, at the cost of two of HMS Petard's crew, enabled Bletchley Park's codebreakers to successfully crack the U-boat cypher. It was the crucial factor in defeating Hitler's Atlantic U-boat wolf packs before they succeeded in starving Britain into defeat in the winter of 1942-1943. Here is the true story of how HMS Petard attacked and captured U-559 in the darkness of a Mediterranean night. It describes how members of her crew swam across to the slowly sinking U-boat and captured vital German Enigma codebooks. But the damage sustained by U-559 in the earlier attack proved fatal and without warning she sank before Petard could take her in tow. Two of the destroyer's crew were trapped in the conning tower and went to the bottom with her. Both men were later recommended for posthumous awards of the Victoria Cross but the Admiralty, concerned this might draw unwanted attention from German Intelligence, instead ordered posthumous awards of the George Cross, the highest civilian award for bravery.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #568687 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

About the Author
Stephen Harper served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War as a coder on HMS Petard on her second commission, from 1945 to 1946. After the war he followed a career as a journalist and was Foreign Correspondent for the Daily Express for over twenty years, and later Chief Foreign Correspondent. He is the author of Last Sunset (Collins, 1978), Miracle of Deliverance (Sidgwick & Jackson, 1985), and two novels.