Churchill and Malta's War 1939-1943


Book Description

The meticulously researched account of the defence of Malta and its role, importance and contribution to the Allied effort during WW2.




Churchill and Malta


Book Description

This is the compelling story of the special relationship between Winston Churchill and the people of Malta. During six visits over a period of forty years he came to understand and support the aspirations of the Maltese people and in the Second World War the bonds linking them were tempered in fire and destruction. In those dark days Churchill's determination to defend the island and his faith in the courage of the Maltese people never wavered.




na


Book Description

Pre-eminent military historian Max Hastings presents Winston Churchill as he has never been seen before. In this vivid biography, #1 bestselling historian Max Hastings tells the story of how Churchill led a nation through its darkest hour. A moving, dramatic narrative of crisis and fortitude, Hastings offers one of the finest biographies of one of Britain's finest men. When Churchill took power as Prime Minister in 1940, it was with the unprecedented support of the nation. People rallied behind their new commander in extraordinary fashion, but thereafter, as Hastings argues, there came a deep divide. Churchill was a hero, a dogged worker dedicated to steering the country through the war. He expected more from the British people than they were perhaps able to deliver. Taking us on an intimate, stirring journey through the war years, Hastings tells a story of triumphs and tragedies. In Churchill, who was to become a paragon of leadership in tough times, he finds both folly and nobility. In the British nation as it faced its greatest challenge, he takes us through moments of both weakness and tremendous strength. 'One of the best books ever written about Churchill ... He has drawn on copious original sources and consulted experts familiar with them, enabling him to cast fresh light on familiar episodes ... A magnificent performance' Sunday Times 'The book's portrait of Churchill is scrupulously fair and often deeply moving ... In fact Hastings excels with all his character portraits, especially with Roosevelt and Stalin. Hastings is truly a master of strategy and high command' Antony Beevor, Mail on Sunday




Operation C3


Book Description

"Burtt offers an account of how an invasion might have unfolded and its consequences, by drawing on parallel events at other times and places...Definitely worth a read." — The NYMAS Review When writing his memoirs after World War II, German Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring stated, “Italy’s missing her chance to occupy the island [of Malta] at the start of hostilities will go down in history as a fundamental blunder.” It’s easy to see why this tiny 95 square mile island held such a prominent place in the war’s Mediterranean Theater. Located almost halfway between the British bases of Gibraltar and Alexandria, Egypt, and just 60 miles south of Sicily, her airfields and naval base stood directly in the path of Italy’s (and her German partner’s) line of communication from Europe to North Africa. Operation C3 is a detailed study of the Axis 1942 plan to invade and take the island of Malta. The book examines the future combatants up to the Axis capture of Tobruk, in June 1942. The book then provides a realistic assessment of what would have had to happen if the Axis had decided to launch the invasion. Operation C3 then provides a day-by-day battle narrative of the invasion as if it had occurred on Saturday, August 15, 1942. The battle narrative is based on the combatant’s actual plans from the Italian and Maltese archives. and the realistic appraisal of what could have happened when those plans collide. A Reality & Analysis section is added after the battle narrative to discuss what really happened after Tobruk fell and why Operation C3 was never attempted.




Destroyer at War


Book Description

It was headline news on 8 April 1942: One of the Navys most famous destroyers, a ship which survived bombs, torpedoes and full scale battles, has been wrecked. That destroyer was HMS Havock, described in another newspaper as Britains No 2 Destroyer of this war second only in fame and glory to the Cossack.Havock had earned her reputation guarding the convoys across the Atlantic in 1939 and at Narvik in the abortive bid to stave off the German occupation of Norway in 1940. Havock was then transferred to the Mediterranean, fighting at the Battle of Cape Spada in 1940 and in 1941 at the Battle of Matapan and in the evacuations of Greece and Crete.Havocks duties in the Med continued, escorting the convoys to the besieged island of Malta and the equally beleaguered garrison at Tobruk. Then in the Battle of Sirte in 1942 Havock was badly damaged and she limped into Malta for repairs. There she was heavy bombed and when Havock made a bid to reach Gibraltar, she was wrecked off Cape Bon. Her crew was captured and imprisoned in the infamous Laghouat internment camp.The authors have tracked down fifty of the surviving crew and from interviews have been able to compile one of the most detailed, and certainly one of the most dramatic, histories of a destroyer during the Second World War. Destroyer at War tells the story of the battles and operations of a famous ship, and its sad destruction, through newspaper reports, official documents, and the words of the men who sailed and fought in HMS Havock as she earned an astonishing eleven battle honors in her brief but glorious career.







Malta and British Strategic Policy, 1925-43


Book Description

This book uses official records to show that Malta, far from being written off, was developed in the inter-war years as a British offensive base, and that the island's air and naval forces made a major contribution to Allied victory in North Africa.




A Life of Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Cunningham


Book Description

This book presents an account of the life of naval commander Andrew Cunningham, the best-known and most celebrated British admiral of the Second World War. It supplements Cunningham's papers by Cabinet and Admiralty records, papers of his service contemporaries and of Churchill.




The Second World War and the 'Other British Isles'


Book Description

What is often held to be Britain's 'finest hour' – the Second World War – was not experienced so uniformly across the British Isles. On the margins, the war was endured in profoundly different ways. While D-Day or Dunkirk is embedded in British collective memory, how many Britons can recall that Finns were interned on the Isle of Man, that enemy soldiers developed British infrastructure in Orkney, or that British subjects were sent to concentration camps from Guernsey? Such experiences, tangential to the dominant British war narrative, are commemorated elsewhere in the 'other British Isles'. In this remarkable contribution to British Island Studies, Daniel Travers pursues these histories and their commemoration across numerous local sites of memory: museums, heritage sites and public spaces. He examines the way these island identities assert their own distinctiveness over the British wartime story, and ultimately the way they fit into the ongoing discourse about how the memory of the Second World War has been constructed since 1945.




The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943


Book Description

This superbly researched book gives a complete account of the war in the Mediterranean on, above and beneath the sea up until Italy's armistice in September 1943. Written with full access to Italian sources, it not only provides a detailed and fascinating narrative of the entire naval war, but also sets the individual actions fully in their strategic context for both the Axis and the Allies. Topics include: • The complex and distrustful relationship between the Italians and their German allies which culminated in open conflict after the Italian armistice in 1943. • The battle for Malta, and that island's vital strategic role threatening Axis supply lines to North Africa. • The exploits of the Italian human torpedoes of the X MAS flotilla, which threatened to change the balance of power in the Mediterranean. This book is essential reading for all those interested in one of the major naval theaters of the Second World War.