Book description
Following the evacuation of the British Expeditionary Force from
Dunkirk in 1940, Britain was at her most vulnerable. France had
capitulated and the Germans had control of ports from the Arctic to
the Mediterranean. Nazi U-boats were at Britain's doorstep, and in
that year alone they sunk 204 ships, a gross tonnage of 2,435,667.
Britain stood alone against Germany and a vital lifeline was the
supplies carried by the civilian Merchant Navy, defended only by the
thinly stretched Royal Navy. Winston Churchill conceded that his
greatest fear was the slaughter of merchant seaman, who worked in
harsh conditions, were often poorly fed, and were always at the mercy
of the Kriegsmarine. In Flying the Red Duster, Morris Beckman tells
the story of his experiences as a merchant seaman during the Battle of
the Atlantic, part of the civilian force which enabled Britain to
avoid capitulation to Nazi Germany. Based on his wartime diary - the
unique document now held at the Imperial War Museum - this work allows
the reader unique access to a time which is fast slipping from living memory.
