PQ17 Arctic Convoy Disaster

[Corkhead]

Is on BBC iPlayer.

Not a great fan of Clarkson but he does do a fabulous job of presenting this programme.

Well worth a watch for those who appreciate the terrible sacrifices made by a previous generation. - view external link (http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03n3297/PQ_17_An_Arctic_Convoy_Disaster/)

[EnfieldBlue]

I'm not much of a fan of his either, and he was probably the wrong person to present it, but it was a good programme and an eyeopener. What a sh1t job to have to do! Awful conditions.

[Prinz_Eugen]

He did a good documentary a while back on a VC winner at the "bridge too far". At the end he revealed it was his father-in-law.

[pompeygun]

He also did an excellent one on St Nazaire-The Greatest Raid.
Jezza can be downright stupid @ times but as he himself says its fluff it means nothing. But when he gets his serious head on he does a great job @ this sort of thing.
Admiral Dudley Pound, wtf was he doing being trusted with those decisions whilst having a brain tumor?? Shocking & the repercussions for his actions were fatal for a lot of brave blokes.

[Corkhead]

I couldnt understand why the Tirpitz wasnt being watched by the Norweigan resistance or reconnaisance aircraft to establish whether it had left port or not. A 47,000 ton battleship in a fjord is a bit hard to miss.

[penton]

One thing I can say. A complete cock at times Clarkson might be, but you really have to admit, he is deadly serious when it comes to our armed forces, always giving them plenty of credit and sincere admiration.
I thought he did a superb job of a truly disastrous and at the same times incredibly heroic story.
If only they had listened to the brilliant Whitchurch Hampshire Man Norman Denning not once but twice, all that could of been averted.
My Uncle was unfortunate enough to of been a veteran of many Arctic runs and said to his dying day it was the only time in the whole war in theatres all around the world that he truly thought he was going to die!
One ironic piece to come from that programme was of the brilliantly eccentric and heroic captain of the armed trawler. A trained barrister went on after the war to represent at the Profumo scandal in 1963...the Judge of that trial was none other than Norman Dennings brother The Rt Hon Lord Tom Denning!!
A quite superb piece of TV, worthy of

[Corkhead]

Well put Penton. The Naval Reservist on the armed trawler was Boys Own stuff. If you had made it up nobody would have believed it. The Arctic Star was well and truly earnt but awarded far too late for most.

[kernow]

Well researched, written and presented by Jeremy Clarkson, it has to be said.

Was unaware of the circumstances of this particular convoy, very informative.

[midhurstblue]

I think Clarkson is just about 1 of the snobbiest blokes on T.V. normally, but he did a brilliant job this time.

[nonsuchmike]

Corky, have you seen how big Tromso and Alta Fjords are? They are massive.

[penton]

Well put Penton. The Naval Reservist on the armed trawler was Boys Own stuff. If you had made it up nobody would have believed it. The Arctic Star was well and truly earnt but awarded far too late for most.

Sadly too late for my Uncle Sam, truly a boys own hero to me :star:

[cunninglinguist]

I couldnt understand why the Tirpitz wasnt being watched by the Norweigan resistance or reconnaisance aircraft to establish whether it had left port or not. A 47,000 ton battleship in a fjord is a bit hard to miss.

You would have thought that an entire invasion fleet, in Britain's southern ports, would have been easy to spot too!

[Corkhead]

Good point. However, as we all know, they knew exactly where the Tirpitz was when at least 10 attacks by either sea or air were launched against it between 43 and 44:

The German Battleship Tirpitz, launched in 1941, was thought to be unsinkable it was dubbed The Beast after ten attempts made by the British and Russian forces against it failed. It was one of the Nazis mightiest sea vessels and it posed an immense threat to convoys of ships that traveled from Scotland to Russia carrying weapons and supplies. September 22, 1943 is marked as the start of the fall of this great German floating fortress, along with two other warships.

On this said day, six Royal Navy midget subs called X-craft were hauled to the Norwegian Coast from Loch Cairnbawn to launch an attack against Tirpitz. And they succeed! Starting an explosive offense, the mini subs victoriously crippled the battleship leaving it susceptible to more attacks.

Finally, on November 12, 1944, the Royal Air Force finished the dee

[pompeygun]

You would have thought that an entire invasion fleet, in Britain's southern ports, would have been easy to spot too!

The Germans did spot an invasion fleet, the fake one based in Kent. With Inflatable aircraft & tanks. That plus the signals coming to them from double agent Garbo convinced them that the invasion point was almost certainly going to be Calais area.
The work of disinformation @ its best.

[Corkhead]

Yep, Operation Fortitude, our cunning plan of cardboard tanks and planes worked a treat.