The Battle of the Atlantic cover art

The Battle of the Atlantic

How the Allies Won the War

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The Battle of the Atlantic

By: Jonathan Dimbleby
Narrated by: Jonathan Dimbleby
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About this listen

Penguin presents the unabridged, downloadable audiobook edition of The Battle of the Atlantic, written and read by Jonathan Dimbleby.

The Battle of the Atlantic was - though often overlooked - crucial to victory in the Second World War. If the German U-boats had prevailed, the maritime artery across the Atlantic would have been severed. Mass hunger would have consumed Britain, and the Allied armies would have been prevented from joining in the invasion of Europe. There would have been no D-Day.

Through fascinating contemporary diaries and letters from the leaders and from the sailors on all sides, Jonathan Dimbleby creates a thrilling narrative that uniquely places the campaign in the context of the entire Second World War.

Challenging conventional wisdom on the use of intelligence and on Churchill's bombing campaign, The Battle of the Atlantic tells the epic story of the decisions that led to victory and the horror and humanity of life on those perilous seas.

©2015 Jonathan Dimbleby (P)2015 Penguin Audio Military War Winston Churchill Submarine Imperialism Thought-Provoking U-Boat Prisoners of War Royalty Franklin D Roosevelt Interwar Period Air Force

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Insightful and completely change my understanding of The Battle of the Atlantic. Very matter of fact and a seemingly unbiased view of the campaign. worth listening too.

Fantastic

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Minor recording errors which could be easily edited. Otherwise a really well thought argument and balanced view, an author able to link tactical actions, operational level design and the strategic context - few able to this. Impressive.

A very enjoyable listen

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Great job Mr Dimbleby. I enjoyed this book very much, well written and read. Many events I had no knowledge of.

Excellent

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Really well written and read. Was concerned Dimbleby would be to bias to the UK narrative but they get the fair grubbing for the utter failures as well as successes.
Sad to think if the personalities and stupidity had been stopped in 40/41 and air over was in place for 42/43 how many millions would have been saved.

Excellent record of the history and well narrated

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I already knew much about the battle for the Atlantic and other aspects of WWII. But this audio book - so well read by Jonathan Dimbleby - is, from start to end - a wonderful and fascinating account. I recommend it fully. I could quibble about some early mispronunciations and the like, but that would truly be mere quibbling. And I would have loved the final U-boat surrender to have included Montserrat's stirring account from The Cruel Sea - one of the most masterly passages of prose I've read anywhere. But...100% recommend. Thanks to Audible and to Jonathan Dimbleby.

A comprehensive and fascinating account

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The odd glitch in editing does not detract from what is an outstanding book
Excellent

Rule Britannia

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Exemplary treatment of a huge subject . Wonderfully written and read by the author .

Wonderful.

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Jonathan Dimbleby has pulled all the stops out with this sweeping narrative of WW2.

He weaves this story masterfully into the tapestry of all the other major encounters of the War, frequently quoting other esteemed authors.

This is a long book, but worth every minute of the time it will take to listen to the story.

The only area I felt Dimbleby slipped up on was his assertion that the mutual reading of each others signal traffic by Bletchley and B-Dienst “cancelled each other out”. It didn’t.
What it did do was to act as a positive feedback loop that catalysed each sides next move.

Other than that (excepting a few unusual pronunciations by JD) the book is an exceptional read.

A superb retelling of an epic battle.

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A great audio book , it had me hooked from start to finish. Narrated by a great broadcaster in Jonathan dimbleby.

The battle of the Atlantic

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An excellent analysis and telling of the Battle of the Atlantic, alternating between insightful commentary on the high level strategy and the experiences of those on both sides in the battle. Brilliantly and deftly done.

However, the narration was shoddy bordering on maddening. Dimbleby does not have a knack for this - the forced passion in his voice really grated after a while and every time he quotes Churchill he does a cliched and quite terrible impersonation of him that drove me mad. Also, every American character has one of two accents - sing song or gravelly, both of which made me wince every time. Highly irritating and would have been best if he'd just stuck to plain speech. He also corrects himself several times, which is unimpressive and should have been edited out in a book costing this much. Unimpressed by this, and it undermined the quality of the book's arguments and narrative in my view.

Well written and researched, infuriating narration

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