At the beginning of the year, the Battle of Guadalcanal was still raging on, but the Americans had secured their first complete victory in the Pacific by the end of February, although the war in this theatre was far from over, with several further engagements taking place throughout the year.

‘Black May’, the point in the Battle of the Atlantic at which the German U-boat losses outnumbered how many ships they had sunk, forced Doenitz to order a withdrawal. From July to August, the Allies were engaged in the invasion of Sicily, known as Operation Husky. The operation was successful, and allowed for the invasion of Italy. The year ended positively for the Allies, with the sinking of the Scharnhorst at the end of December.

In this book, Phil Carradice uses many rare images to tell the story of the Second World War at sea in 1943.