Historical Context
Overview
Summer 1942
The island of Malta has played a part in the history of the Mediterranean basin for more than 2,500 years. Carthaginians succeeded Phoenicians, followed by Romans, Arabs, Normans, Sicilians, French, Spaniards, the Knights of St John, Bonapartist French, and finally the British. Britain took possession of the island in 1800 and almost immediately turned it into a naval base. With the opening of the Suez Canal and the introduction of steam into the navy, Malta’s importance increased, and by World War I it figured heavily into British naval strategy.
World War II was to be no different. When Italy entered the war on June 10, 1940 Malta came under air attack from Sicily. There were 34 heavy AA guns and 8 light AA guns on the island. The air defense consisted of 3 Gloster Gladiators. Over the next two years efforts had been made to reinforce Malta. The early convoys were successful, but eventually the losses in men, ships and planes soared.
Air strength which defended the Island from Axis attacks was the lynchpin. 1941 could be called the "Hurricane Year" of Malta, but 1942 was definately the "Spitfire Year". The squadrons of the RAF deployed on the island lived and fought with Spitfires brought into the island. The main source of these aircraft was from aircraft carriers which penetrated the Mediterranean to a point west of Sicily and launched these land based planes from the decks before turning and running back west to Gibraltar. To aid in these takeoffs small chocks of wood were put into the flaps of the spitfires to allow partial flaps for takeoff. The flaps were then cycled down and the wood dropped away. In early July increased German air activity was wearing away the number of Spiftires available on the island. An attempt made in April to reinforce the squadrons on the island ended in disaster. The incoming planes were caught on the ground a large number were lost. It was decided that yet another run by a carrier needed to be made. On May 9, 1942 the USS Wasp made here second reinforcement run to Malta, launching 40 Spitfires in company with HMS Eagle to the island.
The history of convoys to Malta was long and bloody. The first convoy since September 1941 was ‘M.W. 10’ in March 1942 and only 3 ships made it to Malta and they were all sunk in the harbor. By the third summer of the war Malta was in trouble. Due to lack of fuel, ordinance, spare parts and planes it had ceased to be an offensive threat against the Afrika Korps supply lines from Italy. In June 1942 a dual attempt was made with one convoy Gibraltar and one from Alexandria. Only 2 ships of the 17 made it to Valetta. Malta was in dire straights. 26,000 tons of supplies were needed every month for the 270,000 inhabitants, and the June convoy brought only 15,000 tons into harbor. While Spitfires could be flown in from the western Mediterranean via aircraft carriers such as the USS Wasp and HMS Eagle, and aviation fuel could be brought in via submarine and HMS Welshman (a fast converted minelayer), food and fuel oil were needed in large quantities.
While the reinforcements of Spitfires aided the Royal Air Force's ability to hold the island, Malta was starving. The Admiralty in London looked at their resources and marshaled those available in a final all out effort to get the vitally needed supplies to the island. The operation was codenamed “Pedestal” and was to consist of 14 large fast ships including the American owned tanker Ohio, with 12,000 tons of fuel and oil aboard. The efforts of the Admiralty bore fruit. The assembled escort was formidable, the most powerful yet to accompany a Malta bound convoy. There were no less than 3 carriers, two modern fleet carriers Victorious and Indomitable and the veteran Eagle. Two battleships Rodney and Nelson were to lead the line of battle with 6 cruisers, an anti-aircraft cruiser, and 32 destroyers rounding out the escort. Spoiling raids upon Axis airfields on Sicily were laid on with strike aircraft from Malta and Liberators from the Middle East.
Malta, a 95 square mile island south of Sicily in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Fought over for centuries, the outbreak of the desert campaign in North Africa in 1940 found the island astride the Axis supply lines from mainland Europe to Africa. Malta was the center of some of the fiercest air battles of World War II. Savage sea battles were fought on the approaches to the island as desperate attempts to resupply the island were launched. The summer of 1942 was the peak of the battle for Malta. The whole Mediterranean theater hinged on the outcome. Join us for savage air battles and desperate sea battles. Fly for the Allies in the Spitfire V, Seafire, Martlet (F4F) Hurricane IIC, and B-24J. Or fly for the Axis as they strike Malta with their Bf-109Fs, C.202s, Ju-88A4s, Ju-87s and Me-110Cs. A powerful vortex is forming drawing in men and machines from all over the Mediterranean towards a small rocky island which is destined to go down in history. Join us for Mediterranean Maelstrom!
Anyone interested in being a CO for a side please submitt your name to Fencer51 on the forum via a PM. Date of the event is looking to be Marchish..
