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Osprey Air Campaign #4
Malta 1940–42: The Axis' air battle for Mediterranean supremacy
In 1940, the strategically vital island of Malta was Britain's last toehold in the central Mediterranean, wreaking havoc among Axis shipping. Launching an air campaign to knock Malta out of the war, first Italy and then Germany sought to force a surrender or reduce the defences enough to allow an invasion. Drawing on original documents, multilingual aviation analyst Ryan Noppen explains how technical and tactical problems caused the original Italian air campaign of 1940–41 to fail, and then how the German intervention came close to knocking Malta out of the war. Using stunning full colour artwork, this fascinating book explains why the attempt by the Axis powers to take the British colony of Malta ultimately failed.
197 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 22, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 3, 2025
While I have yet to encounter a bad "number" in the "Air Campaign" series, the particular attraction with this booklet is that Ryan Noppen has written an Italo-centric study, which will give the causal reader a good insight into the reasons that the "Regia Aeronautica" seemed to over promise and failed to deliver on those promises. These include doctrinal confusion, inter-service politics, Italy's weak economic and technological base, and Mussolini failing to demand efficiency from his military (out of fear of creating a political rival).
From there, it's on to the campaign itself, which illustrates another basic issue that if the British were motivated, and they were, they could make Malta a serious nut to crack. For all the pressure that the Italians and Germans could put on the island, they could never quite bring themselves to pay the price that finishing the job would take. The resources required were always needed someplace else, so economy of force became the order of the day. Noppen observes that, from the German perspective, there are echoes of the Battle of Britain here, in that was also an operation driven by aviators without a clear sense of strategic direction, apart from wanting to demonstrate the efficacy of independent air power.
Apart from that there is the usual wealth of order of battle information, maps, and graphics that these booklets are known for.
From there, it's on to the campaign itself, which illustrates another basic issue that if the British were motivated, and they were, they could make Malta a serious nut to crack. For all the pressure that the Italians and Germans could put on the island, they could never quite bring themselves to pay the price that finishing the job would take. The resources required were always needed someplace else, so economy of force became the order of the day. Noppen observes that, from the German perspective, there are echoes of the Battle of Britain here, in that was also an operation driven by aviators without a clear sense of strategic direction, apart from wanting to demonstrate the efficacy of independent air power.
Apart from that there is the usual wealth of order of battle information, maps, and graphics that these booklets are known for.
May 6, 2018
I was aware peripherally of the history of Malta in WWII, but this book deepened my awareness of its critical role. Good read.
October 20, 2022
Background data about the Italian aircraft industry was especially interesting.
January 9, 2025
I have been a reader of Osprey books for many years. What I've always found with these books are that they are an excellent high-level introduction to a subject that are perfect as a gateway to further drilling down if required. The books are very well presented, full colour, with lots of maps and pictures that really help the reader in their understanding of what is being written.
This book is no exception. I am currently in "War in the Mediterranean" mode and, having finished The Malta Convoys (Woodman), which concentrated on the naval aspect, this was a perfect "next step" in helping to understand the problems the Royal Navy/Royal Air Force encountered in trying to keep Malta a) functioning as a navy base, but b) and even more fundamentally, from surrendering.
As ever with this series, the book begins with the author doing a great job of setting the scene and providing the reader with a proper understanding about the goals of the combatants, together with an understanding of how they sought to achieve those goals - and what hindered them from doing so.
This is the first book I've read that provides some real numbers, in terms of axis aircraft, that were committed to Malta, and the problems each side faced - particularly for the Italians (economy) and British (logistical nightmare of reinforcing Malta) and the Germans (too much to do with resources available - particularly after Barbarossa).
Recommended.
This book is no exception. I am currently in "War in the Mediterranean" mode and, having finished The Malta Convoys (Woodman), which concentrated on the naval aspect, this was a perfect "next step" in helping to understand the problems the Royal Navy/Royal Air Force encountered in trying to keep Malta a) functioning as a navy base, but b) and even more fundamentally, from surrendering.
As ever with this series, the book begins with the author doing a great job of setting the scene and providing the reader with a proper understanding about the goals of the combatants, together with an understanding of how they sought to achieve those goals - and what hindered them from doing so.
This is the first book I've read that provides some real numbers, in terms of axis aircraft, that were committed to Malta, and the problems each side faced - particularly for the Italians (economy) and British (logistical nightmare of reinforcing Malta) and the Germans (too much to do with resources available - particularly after Barbarossa).
Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews