"Western Approaches Tactical Unit, 1942: ‘The Game’" Topic

"January's edition of the British journal The Literary Review contains an interesting review of a new book by Simon Parkin, "A Game of Birds and Wolves: The Secret Game That Won the War" (Sceptre, 309pp at £20.00 GBP). The "birds" are, of course, Wrens, women officers of the Royal Navy, and the "wolves" Donitz' U-Boat packs. I've never, I regret to say, visited the Western Approaches Tactical Unit museum in Liverpool, but it is without doubt one of the crucial sites recording victory at sea in World War II. The Battle of the Atlantic remains the longest campaign of the war. It began on 4 September 1939, with the sinking of the liner Athenia by U-30, and ended on the 8 May 1945 with the last U-Boats surfacing and surrendering.

The article is a brief review note, but valuable. After all, along with Fletcher Pratt, this unit surely must be considered an important part of the base for 20th century naval wargames development. The reviewer, Neil Armstrong, outlines the creation of WATU, under Gilbert Roberts, leading a team of clearly very talented Wrens. He, and they, developed the strategies to defeat the "wolfpacks" by gaming recent convoy actions on a huge linoleum floor; at this time, the beginning of 1942, the Battle of the Atlantic was at its hardest phase…"
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Amicalement
Armand

This was recreated by Dstl at UK Connections and elsewhere a few years ago – played it – it's very immersive.

Good call, Armand!

I had this book on pre-order and I would recommend it very highly – it may be a history book, but it reads more like a novel with some real 'edge of the seat' moments. This enhances, not diminishes, the author's ability to translate his excellent research into an accessible history of the Battle of the Atlantic.

One minor point; the 'birds' are not the Wrens, as I also assumed at first. The u-boat wolf packs were divided into tactical groups with each having a code name. The code names were all birds: woodpecker, starling, finch, etc.

The two chapters devoted to the battle of convoy ONS-5 are tense, exciting, and worthy of C.S. Forester.

I fully recommend this book.

Nick

Thanks!

Amicalement
Armand