on to July-August 1940
 

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Strategic Situation

The three main theatres were the Mediterranean itself, the oil production regions of the Near East, and the Red Sea area

Mediterranean - In the western half, Britain and France between them controlled Gibraltar at the narrow entrance from the Atlantic, southern France, Corsica, Algeria and Tunisia. Malta at the centre was a British colony. In the eastern half, Britain maintained a hold on Egypt and the Suez Canal, Palestine and Cyprus. In the Levant, Lebanon and Syria were French. Italy stood astride the central basin, with Italy itself, Sardinia and Sicily to the north and Libya with its provinces of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica to the south. Albania on the Adriatic Sea and the Dodecanese Islands in the southern Aegean off Turkey were Italian. The Neutral countries in the western Mediterranean were Spain, and in the east, Greece and Crete, Yugoslavia and Turkey.

Near East - Iraq, Persia (Iran) and the Persian Gulf area were within the British sphere of influence and surrounded by Allied or neutral countries.

Red Sea Area – To the east Saudi Arabia had close ties with Britain, and at the southern end of the Red Sea, Aden was a British colony. On the west shore were Egypt and the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, and further south French and British Somaliland. In between the Sudan and Somaliland were the linked Italian colonies of Eritrea, Ethiopia (Abyssinia) and Italian Somaliland. Bordering them to the south was British Kenya.

 

Military and Maritime Circumstances

Even allied to France, Britain's position in the Mediterranean was not guaranteed. Gibraltar might be secure, assuming Spain's continued neutrality, but Malta was considered indefensible in the face of the Italian Air Force based in Sicily. As it happened only the later arrival of the German Luftwaffe turned this threat into a near reality. However, Malta's well-equipped base had to be abandoned by the Mediterranean Fleet for the poorer facilities at Alexandria in Egypt. A large Italian army in Libya (Tripolitania and Cyrenaica) threatened Alexandria and the Suez Canal, against which only a relatively small British and Dominion force could be fielded. Fortunately this had been reinforced earlier in the year by Australian and New Zealand troops.

From bases in Italian East Africa the Italian Air Force and Navy were capable of cutting Allied supply routes to Suez through the Red Sea. The Italian army was also powerful enough to conquer British and French Somaliland and pose a threat to the Sudan and Kenya. The Italians' one major problem was the impossibility of supplying these forces other than by air from Libya. These threats to Malta, Suez and the Red Sea depended on Italy taking and holding the initiative. She did not.

Malta became a thorn in the side of Axis supply routes to Libya. And Libya and Italian East Africa in fact become endangered from the very Allied territories they threatened. Over the next three years, Malta above all became the pivot about which the whole Mediterranean campaign revolved - both the problems of its supply and its effectiveness as an offensive base. Later Axis plans to invade the island, so invaluable to the Allied cause, came to nothing. ("The Supply of Malta 1940-1942" by Arnold Hague, including the Malta Convoys)

 

Major Naval Strengths

The Royal Navy maintained a small force of destroyers at Gibraltar, largely for Atlantic convoy work, but the Western Mediterranean was primarily the responsibility of the French Navy - although British reinforcements could soon be dispatched from the Home Fleet as shortly happened. The Eastern Mediterranean was in the hands of the Mediterranean Fleet and a small French squadron based at Alexandria. It was up to strength in major units but still weak in cruisers, destroyers and submarines when compared with the Italian Navy. This was partly offset by the presence of carrier Eagle to accompany battleships Malaya, Ramillies, Royal Sovereign and Warspite. What the Mediterranean Fleet lacked in numbers was more than made up by the aggressive fighting spirit of its Commander-in-Chief, Adm Sir Andrew B. Cunningham, his officers and men, and their training.

The Italian Navy maintained a small but useful force in the Red Sea. Against these could be deployed ships of the East lndies Command based at Trincomalee in Ceylon. But the Italian’s overwhelming strength was in the Mediterranean.

Major Warship types	Western Med FRENCH NAVY	Mediterranean ITALIAN NAVY	Eastern Med ROYAL NAVY	Eastern Med FRENCH NAVY	Mediterranean ALLIED TOTAL
Battleships	4	6 (b)	4	1	9
Carriers	-	-	1	-	1
Cruisers	10	21	9	4	23
Destroyers	37(a)	52(c)	25	3	65
Submarines	36	106	10	-	46
TOTALS	87	185(d)	49	8	144

Notes:

(a) Plus 10 British destroyers at Gibraltar.

(b) Included 2 new battleships completing.

(c) Plus over 60 large torpedo boats.

(d) Based at Massawa in the Red Sea were another 7 destroyers, 8 submarines and 2 torpedo boats.