William Geroux, author of “The Mathews Men,” will discuss his latest work, “The Ghost Ships of Archangel: The Arctic Voyage that Defied the Nazis,” at next week’s meeting of the Middle Peninsula-Northern Neck chapter of the Virginia Aeronautical Historical Society.

The luncheon program will begin at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 19, at the Pilot House Restaurant in Topping.

Geroux will recount an action during WWII. On July 4, 1942, a convoy of Allied ships was carrying $1 billion worth of war supplies to the Soviet port of Archangel, the only help Roosevelt and Churchill had extended to Stalin to maintain their fragile alliance against Germany.

Traversing the frigid Arctic waters in 24-hour daylight, the convoy was unexpectedly ordered to scatter, leaving the independent vessels easy prey for the Nazis and their spotter aircraft, bombers, U-boats and fearsome giant German battleship, Tirpitz. Geroux will discuss what happens next, including one of the ...