Convoy PQ 18 comprised forty merchant ships and four naval auxiliaries, plus contingents to and from Iceland in relays (48 in all) and was defended by a close escort, a "Fighting Destroyer Escort", local escort forces and two distant escort forces (74 warships in total). These were supported by aircraft of the RAF based in the Soviet Union.
The German forces comprised the U-boatWolfpackEispalast (Ice Palace), of twelve U-boats and eight warships, though in the event these were not engaged. The naval forces were assisted by the aircraft of Luftflotte 5.
Blair, Clay (2000) [1998]. Hitler's U-Boat War: The Hunted 1942–1945. Vol. II (UK pbk. ed.). Cassell. ISBN0-304-35261-6.
Ruegg, R.; Hague, A. (1993) [1992]. Convoys to Russia: Allied Convoys and Naval Surface Operations in Arctic Waters 1941–1945 (2nd rev. enl. ed.). Kendal: World Ship Society. ISBN0-905617-66-5.
Smith, Peter (1975). Convoy PQ18: Arctic Victory. London: William Kimber. ISBN978-0-7183-0074-6.
Further reading
Boog, H.; Rahn, W.; Stumpf, R.; Wegner, B. (2001) [1990]. Der globale Krieg: Die Ausweitung zum Weltkrieg und der Wechsel zur Initiative 1941 bis 1943 [The Global War: The Expansion into World WQar and the Loss of the Initiative 1941 to 1943]. Das Deutsche Reich und der Zweite Weltkrieg (Germany and the Second World War). Vol. VI. Translated by Osers, Ewald; Brownjohn, John; Crampton, Patricia; Willmot, Louise (eng. trans. Cambridge University Press, London ed.). Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt for the Militärgeschichtlichen Forschungsamt. ISBN0-19-822888-0.
Claasen, A. R. A. (2001). Hitler's Northern War: The Luftwaffe's Ill-fated Campaign, 1940–1945. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas. ISBN0-7006-1050-2.
Llewellyn-Jones, Malcolm, ed. (2014) [2007]. The Royal Navy and the Arctic Convoys: A Navay Staff History. Naval Staff Histories. London: Routledge. ISBN978-0-415-86177-9.
Rohwer, Jürgen; Hümmelchen, Gerhard (2005) [1972]. Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (3rd rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN1-86176-257-7.