This weekend British and Russian veterans are commemorating the first of the arctic convoys which took place during World War II.

Between 1941 and 1945 a total of 40 convoys of merchant ships with navy escorts made the hazardous journey to the Russian ports of Murmansk and Archangel.

	:	WWII ARCTIC CONVOYS

In BBC News Online's photofile WWII veteran Tug Wilson, who was then a petty officer in the Royal Navy, remembers the dangerous 2,000 mile journey to Murmansk.

The convoys carried cargoes of arms and ammunition which were vital to the Russian war effort.

But the Germans were determined to cut this lifeline and the arctic convoys were subject to terrible attacks by enemy ships, aircraft and u-boats. Eighteen warships and 87 merchant ships were lost - at a cost of nearly 3,000 lives.