Two from Bletchley Park: Arctic Convoys and Italy

davidbfpo · Nov 10, 2023

An event, a lecture @ BP, £15 (excludes BP itself), on 25/11/23 3pm:

Bletchley Park’s resident Research historian, Dr David Kenyon, will be delivering a talk about his new book Arctic Convoys: Bletchley Park and the War for the Seas in our first public event in our brand new Fellowship Auditorium.

The book was inspired in part by research for Bletchley Park’s new permanent exhibition The Intelligence Factory and examines the role Intelligence from Bletchley Park played in the battles to protect the Allied convoys sailing through the Arctic to Russia between 1941 and 1945.

These convoys delivered more than 800 shiploads of supplies to the Soviet Union. Each journey was a battle against the elements, with turbulent seas, extreme cold and the constant dread of torpedoes. The Arctic convoys have been portrayed as defenceless vessels at the mercy of deadly U-boats – but was this really the case?

David Kenyon will discuss the true story of the war in the Arctic, a contest more evenly balanced than previously thought, and describe the vital role played by Bletchley Park in these events. He will also discuss the inspiration for, and process of researching and writing the book.
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More on this link: Meet the Author: Dr David Kenyon

Via a BP email:

The fight up the Italian peninsula involved some of the most arduous battles of the war for Allied soldiers, but they were being supported at every stage by intelligence from Bletchley Park.

Ultra intelligence helped inform Allied strategy in Italy, kept commanders constantly up-to-date about enemy forces, and sometimes proved the difference between victory and defeat on the battlefield.

In this ‘It Happened Here’ episode, Bletchley Park’s Research Officer Dr Thomas Cheetham will tell us how this difficult and inconclusive campaign can also be seen as one of the most successful of the war for Bletchley Park.
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Link to podcast: Bletchley Park / E156 - Italian Tiebreaker

Chris C · Nov 10, 2023

That sounds like a very interesting book. I've read about the Arctic Convoys but I don't remember if Bletchley Park intelligence was included in them.

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Two from Bletchley Park: Arctic Convoys and Italy

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Two from Bletchley Park: Arctic Convoys and Italy

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