A leading independent film studio for 20 years, Magnolia Pictures is the theatrical and home entertainment distribution arm of the Wagner/Cuban Companies.
Promising in the trailer, but really a story that doesnt really get anywhere. Felt episodical in theaters, stitched together. A lot of it is actually "captain against captain" like that sub movie with Denzel Washington.
Another movie about the Nazis in WW2. No wonder people don't realise the russians started the war with the Nazis and that the russians continued to occupy eastern Europa for almost 50 years after the war. Movies are the worst place to learn history.
My grandfather served as chief stoker and later 3rd engineer, on an ammunition ship, in an Artic convoy, during WW2. His ship had an exclusion zone around it, in the middle of the convoy, because if it exploded, it would crack the hulls of any neighbouring ships within a certain distance. A near miss, by a German float plane bomb, caused the fire bricks to dislodge in the firebox. The fire had to be quenched, leaving his ship dead in the water. A destroyer stayed with them whilst my grandfather and other stokers, with hoses played on them, replaced and rebuilt the firebox. They then relit the fire, made steam and caught up with the rest of the convoy later. He also had tales of all the crew, including the captain, armed with axes frantically smashing ice off of the rigging, etc. because the ship was in danger of capsizing during a storm. They had experiential anti-torpedo nets fitted on booms welded to the hull, at Scapa Flow. The idea was that these nets would snag and render harmless any torpedoes aimed at the ship/ These fell off when they ran into rough seas. a few days after sailing, so proved to be totally useless. When the 1st engineer was given the position of chief engineer, on another ship owned by the company, the 2nd engineer was promoted to 3rd engineer and my grandfather was promoted from chief stoker to 3rd engineer. He was invalided out, of the Merchant Navy, after developing a Duodentic stomach ulcer. This saved his life, as his ship was lost with all hands, after the hull suddenly broke in half amidships, during a storm in the North Sea. The ship was laid down in 1939 but had had the hull design extended, partway through construction, to add an extra hold. This, coupled with a near miss by a German bomb, had weakened the hull structure. His ammunition ship would sail from Poole, with ammunition and explosives from Holton Heath, to Scapa Flow, to join the convoy. My grandfather only talked about his wartime experiences, in his final years, as he'd witnessed many tragic things at sea.
Here's a fun fact, when British merchant ships were sunk the survivors pay was automatically stopped, there were times when they were adrift in rafts for days or weeks but their pay was stopped the moment their ship went down.
Один из моих двоюродных дедов, Николай Голышев, был матросом и участвовал в проведении конвоев PQ. В России помнят подвиг союзников и находятся в ужасе от происходящего сейчас. Надеюсь, при моей жизни, мы сможем примириться с миром. Вечная память героям второй мировой! Наши деды, возможно, виделись и, может быть, даже разделяли хлеб.
The Atlantic and Mediterranean convoys must have been hell on earth for the merchant ships and their escorts. But imagine sailing to Archangel and Murmansk dealing with an extremely hostile environment. temperatures well below freezing and ever-present threats of german U-boats and aircraft. The chances of survival after going into the sea would have been zero after an attack.
Just always remember about modern russian propaganda who says that soviets would have won the Nazi anyway and the contribution of the west in WWII was minimal.
My great-uncle sailed as a naval gunner on those convoys. They didn't stop to pick up survivors, because there weren't any - people died in minutes in those seas.
