Download World War II in the Mediterranean theater

World War II in the Mediterranean theater
Date: 1940–1944
From: An Encyclopedia of Naval History.
Italy's entry into World War II, 1939–45, on June 10, 1940 marked the beginning
of the naval war in the Mediterranean, which was to continue for some three
years until the Axis powers had been defeated. With the fall of France ten days
later, initially the battle for control in this theater was fought between the Italians
and the British, although the Germans and the Americans were to intervene later.
The Italian fleet was larger and more modern than the Royal Navy's
Mediterranean Fleet but had few other advantages. The first task facing Admiral
Andrew Cunningham, the British commander in chief, was to prevent French
naval units from falling into German hands. Action at Alexandria, Mers-El-Kebir
and elsewhere quickly achieved this objective. Early successes were also
secured against the Italian surface fleet, which British naval forces first met at the
Battle of Calabria, July 9, 1940. The notable night raid on Taranto, November 11,
resulted in heavy damage to the Italian surface fleet, including three battle
cruisers and two cruisers. The Italians suffered further losses at the Battle of
Cape Matapan, March 1941.
With Italy's naval forces on the defensive, the British had relatively little difficulty
in resupplying the strategically positioned island of Malta. They were assisted by
the fact that Italian ground forces also were performing badly in North Africa and
Greece. However, these more favorable circumstances did not long survive the
arrival of the Germans in the Mediterranean early in 1941. Land-based Luftwaffe
squadrons operating from bases on Sicily and elsewhere soon placed the Royal
Navy under considerable pressure. Several British warships were lost during the
Battle of Crete, May–June 1941, and in other air attacks across the
Mediterranean. As the Luftwaffe increasingly dominated the skies, Malta, which
came under sustained air attack, could be supplied only by heavily protected
convoys, which were to suffer considerable losses. British military and naval
resources came under further pressure with German successes in Greece and
North Africa. During 1941 the submarine was of growing importance, although it
too was vulnerable to air attack and the shallow waters of the Mediterranean
made operations more difficult than they were elsewhere. Despite these dangers,
the U-boat caused serious damage to several Malta convoys, while Italian human
torpedoes sank two British battleships at Alexandria. With supplies disrupted,
Malta was close to collapse in the first few months of 1942 and its own flotilla of
submarines had to be withdrawn from the island.
The changing fortunes of the North African war eventually came to Malta's
rescue, as Luftwaffe units were diverted in support of General Rommel's
offensive, which had been brought to a halt at El Alamein in July 1942. With
American support, Malta was resupplied with increasing regularity, and now Axis
convoys were subject to frequent attack. Their positions was further weakened
by the British victory at El Alamein, October 23–November 4, 1942, and the
Torch landings, November 7–10, 1942, which disrupted Luftwaffe operations
from bases on the North African coast. By the time the Axis forces in North Africa
had been defeated in May 1943, the balance of air and naval power had moved
clearly in favor of the Allies, who also had access to better intelligence, although
German submarines and aircraft remained as a reduced threat for some time.
The Italian navy surrendered at Malta in September 1943, although this action
had little direct effect on the balance of power in the area. By this time the
Mediterranean had been the scene of major amphibious landings in Italy, with
Allied surface units providing support in the form of shore bombardments. The
invasion of the south of France followed in August 1944. From late 1943 the
Mediterranean had returned to a semblance of normality with Allied shipping
traveling east once more using the route through the Suez Canal in preference to
the much longer, but previously safer, journey around the Cape of Good Hope.