Blue Water War
The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East 1940 - 1945
by
Brian E. Walter
The thinking about the war in the Mediterranean is now often colored by hindsight and error really. The threat of the Italian Armed Forces is often thought of as laughable. This was not the case in reality, and most certainly not in 1940 when Italy declared war on Britain and France. Mussolini was afraid that if he did not declare war before France fell, he would not be invited to the peace talks to pick up some scraps from both countries' colonies in Africa. The book shows us just how seriously the British took the Italian threat. The British Admiralty had actually suggested to Churchill to remove all of their naval forces from the Mediterranean. Luckily for Britain, he squashed the idea immediately.
The author starts out the book by showing us a bit of the previous history of the Mediterranean and what country held what and where. He then goes on to give a complete rundown of all of the Armed Forces of Britain and Italy and Germany in the Mediterranean at the start of the fighting. On paper, the Italian forces look formidable, as do the British. However, both sides had distinct advantages and disadvantages to cope with. Italy's physical location in the middle of the Mediterranean was its greatest asset. British naval training and morale was theirs. The author shows something that I had never known before. The Italian Merchant fleet had almost one third of its tonnage outside of the Mediterranean when Italy declared war. This included most of its largest and newest ships. Most never made it back to Italy. This hogtied the Italian ability to supply their troops throughout North Africa during the war. Italy did not have the manufacturing ability to really fight a war, let alone replace those ships. Italy did have one great advantage in that she had the largest fleet of submarines in the world then (115), either ready or near completion. Unfortunately for them, the Italian Navy did not really use this asset to its best advantage.
The Mediterranean was after the Normandy Landings seen as a backwater; that thinking continues to this day. The author does a fine job in showing how in 1940 the British Armed Forces were dismayed to find themselves at war in the Mediterranean. He shows how it became a war of defeating the other side's convoys, along with the desperate battles over and around Malta. The book then continues inexorably to the capitulation of Italy and the battles for the Italian mainland. While it is a book about the naval war, the author does a very good job of letting the reader know about the land war operations.
This is an excellent volume that shines a searchlight on a part of World War II that is often overlooked. The book comes with maps and a large number of tables showing a multitude of pertinent information following the text. The first Appendix is a timeline of the entire events in during World War II. The second Appendix is of biographies of prominent Royal Navy Officers who served in the Mediterranean Theatre. Thank you, Casemate Publishers for not only printing this great book, but also for allowing me to review it.
Robert
Book: Blue Water War: The Maritime Struggle in the Mediterranean and Middle East 1940 - 1945
Author: Brian E. Walter
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
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