Admiralty Despatches: The Story of the War from the Battlefront 1939-45

2017 | History & Politics

From the eighteenth century onwards it became a tradition that, following operations involving the Royal Navy, the commanding Admiral would report to the Admiralty in the form of an official dispatch. Following the French wars 1792-1815 the dispatches were collected and published and that set a precedent that Admirals' dispatches would become a matter of public record. After the Second World War the relevant dispatches for 1939-45 were published (1947 onwards) but only as supplements to The London Gazette. The dispatches cover events like the sinking of the Bismarck, Scharnhorst and Graf Spee, the Convoys in the Mediterranean and to Russia, major amphibious operations and raids such as St Nazaire, D-Day, Dunkirk and the landings in North Africa, and some of the minor raiding operations involving the Royal Navy. These important documents have never been published in a more accessible form and any naval history buff would want them on their shelves. They are written in a way which was designed to be accessible to the public at the time so they will also appeal to the general reader.

G.H. Bennett (Author)

Harry Bennett (Author)