Download or read book In Passage Perilous written by Vincent P. O'Hara and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2012-11-05 with total page 404 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An invaluable account of one of the most overlooked sea battles of World War II. By mid-1942 the Allies were losing the Mediterranean war: Malta was isolated and its civilian population faced starvation. In June 1942 the British Royal Navy made a stupendous effort to break the Axis stranglehold. The British dispatched armed convoys from Gibraltar and Egypt toward Malta. In a complex battle lasting more than a week, Italian and German forces defeated Operation Vigorous, the larger eastern effort, and ravaged the western convoy, Operation Harpoon, in a series of air, submarine, and surface attacks culminating in the Battle of Pantelleria. Just two of seventeen merchant ships that set out for Malta reached their destination. In Passage Perilous presents a detailed description of the operations and assesses the actual impact Malta had on the fight to deny supplies to Rommel’s army in North Africa. The book’s discussion of the battle’s operational aspects highlights the complex relationships between air and naval power and the influence of geography on littoral operations. “An important and highly recommended addition to the literature on World War II in the Mediterranean.” —IPP Naval Maritime History

Download or read book Pedestal written by Peter Charles Smith and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Malta Convoys 1940 42 written by David A. Thomas and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1999-12-31 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Malta Convoys David Thomas, the distinguished naval historian, gives a fascinating account of the vital battles fought by sea and air to ensure that essential supplies got through. He vividly describes the appalling cost in men and ships. Here is an important contribution to naval history in the Second World War and, at the same time, a rattling good read.

Download or read book Pedestal the Malta Convoy of August 1942 written by Peter C. Smith and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Malta Convoys 1940 1943 written by Richard Woodman and published by John Murray Pubs Limited. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 560 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the day Mussolini's Italy declared war on Britain in June 1940, the island of Malta was under siege. Its strategic importance was obvious to both sides, blocking as it did the supply route across the Mediterranean from Italy to the Axis armies in North Africa. It had to be bombed out of existence by the Axis powers and preserved at all costs by the British. That Malta survived was due to the courage and fortitude of her people and to the dauntless determination of the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy. Here Richard Woodman tells the full, terrifying story of how - at fearsome cost - the impossible was achieved.

Download or read book Malta Convoy written by Peter Shankland and published by London : Collins. This book was released on 1961 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Story of "Operation Pedestal", the convoy that relieved Malta in 1942 when surrender to the Axis seemed imminent, and the role of the Tanker "Ohio" in this action.

Download or read book Malta Convoys 1942 written by Admiralty. Naval Staff. Tactical, Torpedo and Staff Duties Division (Historical Section) and published by . This book was released on 1945 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Pedestal written by Peter Charles Smith and published by . This book was released on 1998-03-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Malta Convoys 1942 written by Great Britain. Naval Staff. Historical Section and published by . This book was released on 1945 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Six Victories written by Vincent O'Hara and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2019-10-15 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six Victories examines one of the most interesting and instructive naval campaigns of World War II: the war on traffic in the Mediterranean during the fall and winter of 1941-42. It is a cautionary tale of how sea power was practiced, and how it shifted 180 degrees overnight. Based on British and Italian archival sources, the book emphasizes strategic context, the role of intelligence, and the campaign's logistics. In October 1941 the British Admiralty based a surface strike force in Malta to attack Axis sea lanes between Italy and Africa. Aided by Ultra intelligence, submarines, and bombers based in Malta, this force dominated the Central Mediterranean. From the end of October through the middle of December 1941, less than a third of the supplies shipped from Italian ports arrived in Libya. Shortages of ammunition and fuel finally compelled the Afrika Korps to retreat four hundred miles. Then, in the space of thirty hours, this all changed. First, Italian naval forces broke the blockade by fighting through a major convoy that arrived in time to blunt the British advance; next, the strike force plowed into a minefield laid by Italian cruisers; and finally, in a daring attack, Italian commandos crippled the Mediterranean Fleet's battleships in port. The swing in fortune was immediate and dramatic. Six Victories breaks new ground in the historiography of World War II. A compelling story, it relates lessons that are relevant today and should be required reading for all who practice the art of power at sea and for those who want to understand the intricate and interrelated factors that are the foundations of military success.

Download or read book Battle Summary written by and published by . This book was released on 1945 with total page 60 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Malta s Savior written by John Henshaw and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2024-02-16 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Holding the small island of Malta, the British Empire's strategic centerpiece in the Mediterranean Sea, was critical to the Allied cause in World War II--and taking it was essential for Axis victory. German forces laid siege to the island beginning in June 1940, and it soon became the most bombed place on Earth. By August 1942, with supplies running out, Malta was in dire need of relief. In what was then the largest Royal Navy force yet assembled in the war, two battleships, three aircraft carriers, seven light cruisers, 32 destroyers and a fleet of transports were mustered from far-flung theaters. This day-by-day account of Operation Pedestal chronicles the planning, execution and climactic battle that saw only five of 14 merchant ships make it to Valletta, all but one heavily damaged.

Download or read book Malta Convoys written by Source Wikipedia and published by University-Press.org. This book was released on 2013-09 with total page 28 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 27. Chapters: Operation Pedestal, Battle of Calabria, Operation Harpoon, Operation Vigorous, Battle of Cape Spartivento, Club Run, Operation Stone Age, Operation White, Operation Bowery, Operation MB8, Operation Calendar, Operation Excess, Operation Halberd, Operation Collar, Operation Substance, Operation Portcullis. Excerpt: Operation Pedestal was a British operation to get desperately needed supplies to the island of Malta in August 1942, during the Second World War. Malta was the base from which surface ships, submarines and aircraft attacked Axis convoys carrying essential supplies to the Italian and German armies in North Africa. In 1941-42, Malta was effectively under siege, blockaded by Axis air and naval forces. To sustain Malta, the United Kingdom had to get convoys through at all costs. Despite serious losses, just enough supplies were delivered for Malta to survive, although it ceased to be an effective offensive base for much of 1942. The most crucial supply was fuel delivered by the SS Ohio, an American-built tanker with a British crew. The operation started on 9 August 1942, when the convoy sailed through the Strait of Gibraltar. The convoy is also known as the "Battle of Mid-August" in Italy and as the Konvoj ta' Santa Marija in Malta. The arrival of the last ships of the convoy on August 15, 1942, coincided with the Feast of the Assumption (Santa Marija) and the name Santa Marija Convoy or Sta Marija Convoy is still used. That day's public holiday and celebrations, in part, celebrate the arrival of the convoy. The attempt to run some fifty ships past bombers, E-boats, minefields, and submarines has gone down in military history as one of the most important British strategic victories of the Second World War. However, it was at a cost of more than 400 lives, with only five of the original 14 merchant ships...

Download or read book Pedestal written by Peter C. Smith and published by . This book was released on 1970 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Operation Pedestal written by Max Hastings and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2021-06-01 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Renowned historian Max Hastings recreates one of the most thrilling events of World War II: Operation Pedestal, the British action to save its troops from starvation on Malta—an action-packed tale of courage, fortitude, loss, and triumph against all odds. In 1940, Hitler had two choices when it came to the Mediterranean region: stay out, or commit sufficient forces to expel the British from the Middle East. Against his generals’ advice, the Fuhrer committed a major strategic blunder. He ordered the Wehrmacht to seize Crete, allowing the longtime British bastion of Malta to remain in Allied hands. Over the fall of 1941, the Royal Navy and RAF, aided by British intelligence, used the island to launch a punishing campaign against the Germans, sinking more than 75 percent of their supply ships destined for North Africa. But by spring 1942, the British lost their advantage. In April and May, the Luftwaffe dropped more bombs on Malta than London received in the blitz. A succession of British attempts to supply and reinforce the island by convoy during the spring and summer of 1942 failed. British submarines and surface warships were withdrawn, and the remaining forces were on the brink of starvation. Operation Pedestal chronicles the ensuing British mission to save those troops. Over twelve days in August, German and Italian forces faced off against British air and naval fleets in one of the fiercest battles of the war, while ships packed with supplies were painstakingly divided and dispersed. In the end only a handful of the Allied ships made it, most important among them the SS Ohio, carrying the much-needed fuel to the men on Malta. As Hastings makes clear, while the Germans claimed victory, it was the British who ultimately prevailed, for Malta remained a crucial asset that helped lead to the Nazis’ eventual defeat. While the Royal Navy never again attempted an operation on such scale, Hasting argues that without that August convoy the British on Malta would not have survived. In the cruel accountancy of war, the price was worth paying.

Download or read book Pedestal written by Peter Charles Smith and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1942 one of the main issues in the balance was the fate of Malta. The island was still a bastion of the Royal Navy in the Mediterranean and a constant threat to the supply route for the enemy land forces in North Africa. It bravely resisted every onslaught of the Axis powers, but food supplies were desperately short and fuel oil running low. In August of that year Operation Pedestal was launched - a last attempt to relieve Malta. Fourteen merchant ships were allocated to it and the Royal Navy provided the most powerful force ever to escort a convoy including four aircraft carriers. Operating from Sardinia and Sicily, the Germans and Italians let fly with their shore-based aircraft on an unprecedented scale. The losses on the British side were appalling, but the objective was achieved and the blockade of Malta was finally lifted.

Download or read book At All Costs written by Sam Moses and published by Random House. This book was released on 2006-11-07 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this gripping, page-turning account, Sam Moses has told a story in the tradition of Sebastian Junger’s A Perfect Storm, Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers, and Hampton Sides’s Ghost Soldiers. It’s a story about the heroism of two men in battle at sea during World War II, and one woman fleeing Nazi Norway with her child. It’s about how courage can change the course of history. AT ALL COSTS: How a Crippled Ship and Two American Merchant Marines Turned the Tide of World War II is the astonishing untold account, with original historical reporting, of how two men faced unfathomable danger to help save the island of Malta, Churchill’s crux of the war. In 1942, the tiny island of Malta was the most heavily bombed place on earth. Hitler needed Malta as a stepping-stone to get to the oil in Iraq and Iran (Persia at the time). Blockaded by sea, Malta was running on empty, in food, fuel and ammunition. Axis U-boats and dive-bombers made supply convoys to Malta more like suicide missions. In this last-hope convoy, 50 warships escorted 13 freighters carrying aviation fuel, and a single critical tanker, the SS Ohio, with 107,000 barrels of oil from Texas. Winston Churchill had traveled to Washington and asked FDR for the tanker–his prime ministership was at stake over this mission to Malta. Relentlessly dive-bombed and repeatedly torpedoed, the Ohio suffered huge hits and was abandoned. Two young American merchant mariners– pulled from the sea after their own ship went down in flames–boarded the ravaged tanker, repaired her guns and fought off German and Italian dive-bombers, as the sinking Ohio was towed at 4 knots toward Malta with a tiny crew of volunteers. Sam Moses’ AT ALL COSTS is a triumphant story of human bravery: fearless, selfless acts by men determined to save a ship and win a war; profound communal courage from an island under brutal siege; and leaders who understood the cause of freedom.