Operation Vigorous

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Operation Vigorous was a World War II Allied operation to deliver a supply convoy (MW-11) that sailed from Haifa and Port Said on 12 June 1942 to Malta. The convoy encountered heavy Axis air and sea opposition and returned to Alexandria on 16 June. Until the French surrender and Italy's declaration of war, the Mediterranean had been an Allied "lake". The French Fleet and the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet dominated the only potential and credible adversary, Italy's Regia Marina. The French surrender and its consequences changed that. The French Fleet became a potentially potent threat in Axis hands and so was, in part, destroyed, adding to French antipathy towards the British. French bases in North Africa ceased to offer protection to Allied, ie, British, shipping. The Regia Marina possessed potent modern warships, particularly battleships and heavy cruisers, and Italian and Libyan territory provided centrally located bases that could cut British supply routes. The fall of Greece and Crete in 1941 extended the reach of Axis aircraft and submarines, which were consequently able to intercept Allied shipping from Alexandria and Suez.

Pagina's: 204, Paperback, Betascript Publishers