These convoys endured much hardship, including extraordinarily harsh weather and sea conditions, and were frequently attacked by German naval and air forces based in German-occupied Norway. Since August 1941, the western Allies had run convoys from the UK and Iceland to the USSR’s northern ports to provide essential supplies for Soviet war effort on the Eastern Front. It was also the penultimate engagement between battleships, the last being the 'Battle of the Surigao Strait' in October 1944. The battle was the last between big-gun capital ships in the war between the UK and Germany, and the British victory confirmed the massive strategic advantage held by the British, at least in surface units. The German battle-cruiser Scharnhorst, supported by destroyers and involved in the 'Ostfront' operation to attack Arctic convoys delivering war matériel from the Western Allies to the USSR, was brought to battle and sunk by the Royal Navy’s battleship Duke of York, supported by cruisers and destroyers. The 'Battle of the North Cape' was a naval battle fought between British and German forces off the North Cape of Norway as part of the Arctic campaign (26 December 1943).
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