How the hell shall I know?

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Everly Brothers - What I Have To Do Is Dream
"Never wrestle with pigs, you both end up getting dirty and the pig likes it."

Erwin Johannes Eugen Rommel.

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'We march. The enemy is retreating in transport. We follow on foot.' Lt.Neil McCallum 5/7 Gordons 19th November 1942

Robert Duvall

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Coir a glaive

Nemo me impune lacessit

From today's Times of Malta News
When Luftwaffe intensified attacks on Malta


Photo above: Rescue workers, assisted by servicemen, search for survivors and recover bodies on the site of the Regent Cinema, in Valletta, hit on the evening of Sunday, February 15, 1942.


The Luftwaffe in Sicily intensified its attacks on Malta in the first two months of 1942, so that the island would no longer serve as a base for attacks on Axis convoys ferrying troops and supplies to North Africa.

In January, the Luftwaffe opened its offensive with strong fighter sweeps escorting small formations of bombers, with its top aces taking on the defending Hurricanes. At the time, an attempt was made by the Royal Navy to escort a convoy of three merchant ships to Malta from Alexandria but it ended in failure, with two of the ships sunk and the third sailing back to port.
At the same time, four empty ships sailed from Malta to Alexandria and arrived safely, including one, HMS Breconshire, carrying Maltese internees.
These episodes are also recorded in the latest two issues of Malta At War.
Also highlighted in the two issues are the heavy bombing raids which brought further destruction in various towns and villages such as Valletta, Floriana, Sliema, Paola and Ghajnsielem.

Malta At War is published by Wise Owl Publications and sells at Lm1.85 (€4.31).

Nice info. Thanks.

but that didn't change much things...

axis convoys keept on sinking, and rommel tanks bogged down into sand with no petrol.

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If Hitler invaded hell I would make at least a favorable reference to the devil in the House of Commons
- Winston Churchill

maybe because germany had their eyes mainly set on defeating russia ,due to its enormous geography ,that been also its big industry in oil metals , and so on .Germany i think had its pryoretys set on this giant ,same as on britain ,eventually,for the nazis things would get out of hand .Maybe yes ? they should have concentrated on key elements such malta,gibraltar in closing the straits ,and strungling supply lines etc; But good for us they did not win the war .

I think the losses taken by German paratroopers/gliderborne troops during invasion of Create were enough to deter Hitler from another airborne attack ( besides this time on a heavily fortified target. Malta was no Create. Its defenses was much more stronger ) Besides Hitler's priority was Eastern Front during that time. Most of the reinforcements , material and resources were going to Russia. In fact he was barely convinced by General Student for Operation Mercury , invasion of Create in 1941. After the heavy casaulties taken Hitler lost his faith for airborne operations and often remarked "Airborne troops are a thing of past"

In 1940-42 period a possible invasion of Malta , "Operation Hercules" required a massive Italian involvement. Unfortunetely Italian Navy was not in a shape to fight. ( but Mussolini insisted that invasion of Malta should be a complate Italian operation and Hitler who wished to keep his blundering ally happy complied it. Besides he didn't want to involve Mediterenian Front personally at all ) Their commanders are very hesistant after defeats they have suffered at Taranto and Matapan. Moreover they had very little fuel. So Italian battleships were not able to leave harbour. Italian merchant fleet and naval units which already suffered heavy losses during this period ( they couldn't replace the ships they lost ) , were barely conducting supply operations for German/Italian units in North Africa and that was it. They had no more resources for both supplying Rommel and invading Malta. ( or so Italian commanders assumed ) When General Student presented his plan "Operation Hercules" for an airborne and seaborne attack on Malta to Hitler in April 1942 , Hitler was under the influance of negative reports about state of Italian Navy sent to him by German commanders in Mediterenian theatre. So he postponed Hercules to an indefinite time.

But of course meanwhile he and German General Staff forgot to put a leash on Rommel. When Rommel won Battle of Gazala and captured Tobruk he didn't stop and entered Egypt meanwhile outrun his supply lines. Then Kesselrings Luftwaffe units based on Mediterrenian began both participating supply operations for North Afrika and covering Afrikakorps on the ground while it advanced beyond their range as well as surprassing Malta and trying to stay alive. Predictably they failed in all of them.

Only Malta incident shows how uncoordinated Axis operations are in strategic level even in a local theater like Mediterrenian.

there was no point malta was a fortress and the british in north africa could of holded out alright.

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"The Dark lord and his companions have returned!" (insane giggling)

Check my earlier post in this thread. Malta was not always a fortress. Before the DAK deployed, Malta was hardly defended. It was entirely possible for the Germans to take Malta first before landing in North Africa.