Battle of the Arctic

A Waterstones Best Military History Book of 2025

‘Excellent. …While the horrors of war at sea are well-known, the Allies’ ill-fated supply convoys from Iceland to Russia are an often-overlooked theater of the war. …Sebag-Montefiore …uses wartime diaries, interviews and newly available archives from Russia to focus on the officers, armed guards and the ordinary civilian seamen’

Wall Street Journal

‘Sebag-Montefiore’s brilliantly researched book uncovers unheard testimonies that tell a harrowing tale of incredible endurance and heroism’

Daily Mail

‘The stories of the sailors who were jammed into lifeboats, or clung to rafts, …meticulously drawn from a range of sources, …are among the most heart- rending in Sebag-Montefiore’s book’

Daily Telegraph

‘Hugh Sebag-Montefiore reveals the extraordinary bravery of the seamen who risked their lives on the convoys to feed Russia…An impressive accomplishment’

The Times

‘Sebag-Montefiore…has fixed his gimlet eye on…the Arctic Convoys that helped keep Russia supplied and onside…As thrillingly told as any movie’

Daily Express

Hugh Sebag-Montefiore was a barrister before becoming a journalist and historian. He has written for the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph, Observer, Independent on Sunday, and Mail on Sunday. He is the author of three bestselling history books, two about the 2nd World War (Enigma: The Battle for the Code and Dunkirk: Fight to the Last Man), and one about the 1st World War (Somme: Into the Breach). He also wrote Kings On The Catwalk: The Louis Vuitton Moet-Hennessy Affair.