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  • Battle of the Atlantic

  • Gauntlet to Victory
  • Written by: Ted Barris
  • Narrated by: Michael Anthony
  • Length: 14 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.8 out of 5 stars (9 ratings)

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Battle of the Atlantic

Written by: Ted Barris
Narrated by: Michael Anthony
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Publisher's Summary

The Battle of the Atlantic, Canada’s longest continuous military engagement of the Second World War, lasted 2,074 days, claiming the lives of more than 4,000 men and women in the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force and the Canadian merchant navy

The years 2019 to 2025 mark the eightieth anniversary of the longest battle of the Second World War, the Battle of the Atlantic. It also proved to be the war’s most critical and dramatic battle of attrition. For five and a half years, German surface warships and submarines attempted to destroy Allied trans-Atlantic convoys, most of which were escorted by Royal Canadian destroyers and corvettes, as well as aircraft of the Royal Canadian Air Force. Throwing deadly U-boat “wolf packs” in the paths of the convoys, the German Kriegsmarine almost succeeded in cutting off this vital lifeline to a beleaguered Great Britain.

In 1939, the Royal Canadian Navy went to war with exactly thirteen warships and about 3,500 regular servicemen and reservists. During the desperate days and nights of the Battle of the Atlantic, the RCN grew to 400 fighting ships and over 100,000 men and women in uniform. By V-E Day in 1945, it had become the fourth largest navy in the world.

The story of Canada’s naval awakening from the dark, bloody winters of 1939–1942, to be “ready, aye, ready” to challenge the U-boats and drive them to defeat, is a Canadian wartime saga for the ages. While Canadians think of the Great War battle of Vimy Ridge as the country’s coming of age, it was the Battle of the Atlantic that proved Canada’s gauntlet to victory and a nation-building milestone.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2022 Ted Barris (P)2022 HarperCollins Publishers
  • Unabridged Audiobook
  • Categories: History

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Psst...Michael. Not everyone is Irish.

Excellent book. The mixture of chronological history with individual stories on both sides of the war was very well done. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy this book, but I thoroughly did.

One drawback though, is that the narrator, while fantastic, does the worst voices, ever. He cannot keep the voices consistent. Hitler will sound like a Canadian one minute, a German in the very next sentence and by the end of the paragraph, every single person he "impersonates" sounds Irish. All of them. The narrator clearly thinks everyone who isn't him must be Irish.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing Canadians

My dad was in the navel 1939-45 and served on a Corvette - he never so woke of the war and I wanted to know more about his time in WWII. After listening to this amazing book I now know why. The trauma that he must have experienced is something that no one would ever want to revisit. As I listened I thought of him as an 18 year old kid from Saskatchewan serving on a ship in the middle of the Atlantic. He too was an amazing Canadian. This book should be reading for every Canadian so we understand what true sacrifice really was and is to this day. Kudos to Mr. Barrie for a fantastic take of the brave Canadians of the greatest generation.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Canadian story

The battle of the Atlantic story told from the Canadian perspective. Generally excellent but fails to present and explore the racist practices of the RCN in excluding black, Jewish, indigenous Canadians.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Important WW2 History!

the role of merchant marine and Canadian corvette escorts in the battle of Atlantic is one of the lesser known yet more pivotal and terrible theaters of WW2. Knowing about this stuff should be required in Canadian high school history courses.

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    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ron
  • 2023-01-17

Excellent history of a nearly forgotten WW2 battle

loved it,
the story telling was excellent
the accounts so personal
moving, riveting and deeply emotional

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars

Well researched, human stories, but the narrator..

Barris knows his stuff. His research is strong, and he always remembers the people in the story. This is appropriately detailed and bracing material. Regrettably, Michael Anthony delivers lines in a style somewhere between Troy Maclure, a TikTok robot, and a guy on a local 11 PM news broadcast. Tail numbers on RCAF aircraft aren't spelled out as "six thousand eight hundred ninety two" but rather "sixty eight ninety two". His attempt at Churchill is cringey, and his single run at Hitler was reminiscent of Spike Jones' more excessive tendencies.

Hell of a book on an important topic, crippled by inept narration.

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