Author(s): William Geroux

Military History/Biography

On the fourth of July, 1942, four Allied ships traversing the Arctic split from their decimated convoy to head further north into the ice field of the North Pole. They were seeking safety from Nazi bombers and U-boats in the perilous white maze of ice floes, growlers, and giant bergs. The twenty-four-hour Arctic daylight gave them no respite from bombers or submarines. The remnants of convoy PQ-17 tried to slip through in one of the most dramatic escapes of World War II. At Archangel they found a traumatized, starving city, and a disturbing preview of the Cold War ahead.