Bab 235: Chapter 313 Emergency in Malta
Regarding the North African campaign, many military enthusiasts in later years criticized Rommel for "lacking strategic foresight." One crucial reason is that, after capturing Tobruk, Rommel did not wait for the German-Italian forces to take Malta but launched a large-scale eastward advance. This led to logistical supply issues, ultimately resulting in the loss of Alam Halfa. If Rommel had waited for the German-Italian forces to successfully capture Malta before taking action, wouldn't it have been possible to decisively defeat the British, making Montgomery surrender willingly?
However, those discussing this issue seem to have forgotten: is Malta really that easy to conquer?
The Maltese archipelago is located in the central Mediterranean, consisting of five islands. The main island has an area of 245 square kilometers, accounting for 78% of the total area (316 square kilometers). It has a coastline of 180 kilometers with numerous excellent harbors, and the population is approximately around 280,000.
Appearing as an obscure island, it is bordered by Italy to the north and its colony Libya to the south, serving as a transit point in the central Mediterranean. Its strategic importance, traditionally a contested area for military powers, is referred to as the "heart of the Mediterranean" and to some extent determines the fate of the North African battlefield.
Churchill mentioned in his autobiography, "Since the days of Nelson, Malta has been like a loyal British sentinel defending the narrow and crucial maritime corridor in the central Mediterranean. In this recent war, its strategic importance has been even greater than before." Following his recommendation, by the outbreak of World War II, the island already had three military airfields, later increased to six. This included three Royal Fighter Squadrons and three Bomber Squadrons, along with a garrison force of 14,000 capable of attacking enemy convoys or protecting friendly ones.
In the early stages of the North African campaign after the arrival of the German forces, the Luftwaffe, under Field Marshal Kesselring, stationed in Italy, agreed with the Italian naval and air forces to conduct intense bombing raids on Malta, almost reducing its military facilities to rubble.
Shortly afterward, German U-boats secretly entered the Mediterranean through the Strait of Gibraltar. By the end of 1941, they had successively sunk two large British warships - the battleship HMS Barham and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal. Despite occasional British reinforcements to Malta, the arriving warships and aircraft were immediately destroyed by the German-Italian naval and air forces. Consequently, throughout 1941, Malta was in a state of desolation. During the most challenging period of scarce supplies, Malta even had to implement strict food rationing.
The German-Italian forces even drafted Operation "Hercules," planning for a amphibious landing on Malta to completely occupy the island.
However, Little Moustache (a nickname for Hitler) never approved the implementation of this operation, and there were two main reasons for it. First, the development of the North African campaign in the first half of 1942 made him believe that there was no need to launch this high-risk operation. Rommel's Afrika Korps captured the Tobruk fortress in June, entered Egypt, and it seemed only a matter of time before they reached the Manirol River. Secondly, the painful memories of the Battle of Crete deeply influenced Little Moustache. He was very concerned that airborne operations in Malta would again result in heavy casualties for the paratroopers. Air Force Commander-in-Chief Goering also opposed Operation "Hercules" for the same reasons, ultimately leading to the postponement of the operation.
By July 1942, due to the outbreak of the Battle of Stalingrad on the Eastern Front, a urgent need for combat aircraft arose. As a result, the German Air Force units stationed in Italy were withdrawn and redirected to fight in the Soviet Union. This provided the British with an opportunity to breathe. Subsequently, Malta, revitalized by reinforcements, mobilized a large number of aircraft and naval forces. Together with the British fleet arriving from the Strait of Gibraltar, they launched the "Operation Pedestal."
Throughout the operation, although most of the British merchant ships were sunk by the German-Italian naval and air forces, the Royal Navy also lost a large aircraft carrier, HMS Eagle. However, a small number of merchant ships that reached North Africa provided Montgomery's British forces with a considerable amount of supplies. This laid a solid foundation for the subsequent turning point battle in North Africa, the Battle of Alam Halfa.
The astonishing recovery of combat capabilities by the British forces on Malta was evident, as they started counterattacks just two months later. They sank dozens of German-Italian transport ships, severely damaging the supply lines of the Afrika Korps.
On October 23, 1942, the Battle of Alam Halfa broke out. Only 600 tons of the requested 10,000 tons of fuel reached Rommel; the rest were all sunk in the Mediterranean. The German forces, lacking oil and ammunition, were no match for the well-supplied British forces. In just three months, they suffered a disastrous defeat.
Subsequently, the German forces retreated westward. To salvage the situation, the Luftwaffe launched multiple attacks to protect the transport fleet. Eventually, they successfully transported a batch of urgently needed supplies to the Afrika Korps. After regrouping, Rommel immediately commanded a partially revitalized German counterattack in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. However, this was already the last glimmer of hope for the Afrika Korps. At this point, their supply line was almost entirely severed by the Royal Air Force on Malta!
In just one day on March 23, 1943, 40,048 tons of ships were sunk by the Royal Air Force in the Mediterranean. On April 19, 1943, the Battle of Tunisia erupted. Following the principle of not allowing the German forces to receive a single bullet or drop of fuel, the Royal Air Force sank more than 20 German-Italian transport ships in about a month, completely cutting off the supply lines of the Afrika Korps. This was equivalent to pronouncing the death sentence on the Afrika Korps.
On May 13th, all 250,000 soldiers of the German-Italian Afrika Korps surrendered, marking the end of the North African campaign with a victory for the British forces!
Subsequently, the Allied forces, using Malta as a springboard, launched the Sicily Campaign after thorough preparations and landed on the Italian mainland, forcing Italy to be the first to withdraw from the Axis.
In summary, the importance of Malta in the North African theater is evident. However, at that time, the Axis powers failed to completely subdue Malta, leading to a resurgence of Allied strength. On the other hand, despite heavy losses in the early stages of the war, the British reinforcements to Malta continued until the arrival of victory.
Now, after easily capturing Gibraltar, the "European Allied Fleet" did not linger and sailed in a grand manner toward Malta.
This made Wilhelm quite proud, feeling that such a configuration was like using a laser knife to slaughter a chicken. He even had thoughts of conquering Malta first and then heading straight to Alexandria to completely annihilate the British Mediterranean fleet, although he eventually abandoned the idea.
Originally, there was a garrison of 14,000 soldiers on Malta. However, Churchill seemed to sense something and urgently sent 5,000 soldiers from Alexandria to reinforce Malta.
Early the next morning, just as the day was breaking, 40 Stuka bombers and 80 Mosquito bombers from the German Air Force, escorted by 50 Bf 109s, visited this Mediterranean island.
Due to the lack of radar warning and any significant depth, the pitiful British forces, with only 20 outdated aircraft, didn't even have time to take off before being neatly blown up on the ground.
Subsequently, the Stuka bombers began searching for anti-aircraft positions on the ground and systematically destroyed them one by one, while the Mosquito bombers conducted carpet bombing on important facilities. Before these Mosquito bombers could drop all their bombs, Italy sent another 100 bombers to conduct more detailed destruction on the already devastated island.
With these bombers conducting an overwhelming bombardment of Malta, urgent telegrams were sent to London one after another.
"Malta is in dire straits, the scale of the German bombing is escalating each time..."
"100 German bombers bombed Valletta, causing thousands of civilian casualties!"
These telegrams were like steel needles, pricking at the fragile hearts of the British. If Malta were to be lost, the German forces would effectively divide the Mediterranean in half.
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