Sea Shepherds, Wardens of Our Food Flocks

By Russell, Sir Herbert William Henry
1941, John Murray, London
247 pages, 12 photos

Descripton: Published in 1941, this book explains British strategies for safeguarding sea commerce in the present war by providing a historical context. About one quarter of the book is an overview of the earliest implementations of the convoy system in historical times; one half is devoted to the 1914-1918 U-boat war; and the final quarter outlines the course of the first two years of World War II. While this final section naturally suffers from a wartime bias and incomplete information, it is interesting for two reasons. First, it shows the contemporary (official) point of view on the Atlantic War's progression; and second, the author suggests that Allied air power will be the deciding factor in the war against the U-boats - not by helping to defend convoys, a function which did help turn the tide in the Allies' favor - but rather by bombing the U-boat bases and thus stopping the threat at its source, an activity which in fact did not have a great effect on the war's outcome.