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Italy vs France England vs. Vichy: |
Hypothetical: Stopping Soviet Oil |
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Overlapping PDF maps of cover the Med basin centered on Malta. Extends from Spain and Morrocco to Egypt, Turkey and the Ukraine. Dot-scale hexes for two-dimensional op-scale movement.
France
vs. Italy (Jun-40) 
Seeing France quickly falling to Germany, Mussolini decided Italy must grab a part of the Glory - quickly before the game could end. Mussolini ordered the Italian military into action against French units in the Medit and across the rather mountainous frontier. The ground assaults were not very efffective. The air assaults less so.
After a few days, the air attacks ceased, and more due to the German pressure than anything else, France signed an Armistice with Italy at the same time as Germany.
England vs. Vichy After the partition of France in June, 1940, the Vichy French government and its (still sizable) colonial possessions cooled their relationship with Great Britain. (Note that the US continued to have relations with the Vichy government until its dissolution.) Great Britain made several actions to ensure that the French fleet and various French port facilities were not used by any of the Axis powers. However, these incidents soured the already fractious relations between England and Vichy France.
| Mers el Kabir July 1940 |
Dakar Nov 1940 |
Syria May-June 1941 |
Madagascar May-Nov 1942 |
This was the first action the British undertook to attempt to destroy units of the French Fleet to ensure that they did not end up under Axis control. The French Navy had promised that it would never allow its ships to be taken and used by Germany or Italy. While Royal Navy officers accepted this promise, the British government was not as accepting. Mers el Kabir was the 2nd largest (remaining) base of the French navy, near Oran, Algeria. There were four French battleships and several destroyers docked there.
The British called it Operation Catapult. The Royal Navy's Force H from Gibraltar under Admiral Somerville issued the French commander an ultimatum:
The "or else" was that he would sink the vessels. After a frantic day's wrangling and negotiating, the British Government ordered bombardment. One battleship was sunk and two more were damaged; the Strasbourg and a number of super destroyers avoided air attack and escaped to Toulon.
3 days after shelling the base, Admiral Somerville attacked the damaged Dunquerque with aircraft, changing its lightly damaged status to greatly damaged.
Titan Furball - 3-Jul-40 by Nowfel Leulliot
Dakar is a large port on the west coast of Africa. After the fall of France, England was concerned that Dakar would be used as a base by U-boats and German surface raiders to threaten the South Atlantic. General De Gaulle led a Free French expedition to Dakar in November, 1940.
Vichy France held Syria and Lebanon. In April, to support an anti-British uprising in Iraq, the Luftwaffe flew a few units to Mosul through Syria. In May, 1941, in order to close this potential "back door" to the Suez Canal, elements of the British 8th Army and Free French units attacked Lebanon and Syria.
Britain had some 60 aircraft available:
France had some 90 aircraft available:
In their annual summer "madness," after the Pacific/Asian War and the use of Indochina as a Japanese base, Britain feared use of Madagascar as a Japanese base at the western end of the Indian Ocean. The disruption to shipping to and from India was completely unacceptable. The solution was to take Madagascar from the Vichy French before that could occur. The operation was called Ironclad.
Operation Ironclad opened with an attack by carrier-borne aircraft against Diego Suarez, Madagascar's main port and only naval base. The Vichy navy was small - only a few armed sloops and a pair of submarines. 18 Swordfish from HMS Illustrious attacked the Diego Suarez naval base, sinking a sloop and a sub. 6 Albacores and 6 Sea Hurricanes attacked the air field, reportedly destroying "more than 20 french fighters." This is more than were based at Diego Suarez at the time.
| Ivato Tananarive | Escadrille 565 Escradrille 555 |
6/13 MS.406 4 Po.63-11 |
| Diego Suarez | Detach 565 Detach 555 |
5 MS.406 2 Po.63-11 |
| More information about French aircraft in Madagascar | ||
| HMS Illustrious | No. 881 Sqdn No. 882 Sqdn No. 810 Sqdn No. 829 Sqdn |
12 Martlet III 8 Martlet III, 1 Fulmar NF 9 Swordfish 9 Swordfish |
| HMS Indomitable | No. 800 Sqdn No. 806 Sqdn No. 880 Sqdn No. 827 Sqdn No. 831 Sqdn |
8 Fulmar II 4 Fulmar II 6 Sea Hurricanes 12 Albacores 12 Albacores |
Once Diego Suarez was secure and its air field open, South African Air Force units were brought in to finish the campaign. In August, 1942, No. 806 Sqdn was assigned Martlet IIs.
Western Desert (1940)
In June, 1940, Italy controlled two major areas of Africa: Libya, and Italian Somaliland and Ethiopia (conquered in 1936). Included with the sizable Italian army was the largest off-shore establishment of the Regia Aeronautica. The Regia Aeronautica was respected based on its effectiveness during the Spanish Civil War, where many Italian military pilots received exposure to combat.
| Type | Units |
|---|---|
| Bombers | 4 Stormo (~350+ a/c) |
| Fighters | 1 Stormo (~110 a/c, mostly CR.42s) |
| Recon | 2 Gruppi and 2 sqdn (~90 a/c) |
For the English, sweating out the threat of invasion and pouring every last fighter and pilot into the Battle of Britain, anywhere else was a back water. The RAF had few modern aircraft in the Western Desert
Italy believed that it could squeeze the English out of Egypt and Sudan.
East African Side Show An interesting side show of the war was the fighting in Ethiopia. Italy had conquered Ethiopia in 1936, using modern weaponry against a rather primitive army and nearly non-existent air force. In 1940, anxious to decrease the number of "backdoors" it had to watch, Britain gathered a rather motley collection of colonial infantry, half-trained air units armed with obsolete equipment (including South African Air Force Ju-86 bombers and Hawker Fury fighters!), and a few armored cars, and invaded the Italian holdings in East Africa (Eritrea, Ethiopia, and Italian Somaliland). The Italians, cut off from reinforcements by Egypt and Sudan, had a fair amount of air power in East Africa, but it was mostly obsolete (even for Italian equipment).
The result was a last hurrah for pre-World War II aerial technology.
The campaign effectively had two halves:
Italian Africa Orientale air units
Royal Navy vs. SupermarinaThe Royal Navy, in addition to its commitments elsewhere across the globe, was charged with keeping the vital Meditterranean sea lane open. To do so meant defeating the Italian Navy, the Supermarina which could operate in the central Med well-supported by bases in Italy, Sicily, Sardinia, and Libya (later also under German air support from Crete, Greece, and Tunisia). The Royal Navy was concerned, since they believed the Italian Navy to be a competent force based on what observers had seen during the Spanish Civil War.
To counter the Italian basing advantages, the Royal Navy had its bases around the periphery of the Med (Gibraltar and Alexandria), Malta in the middle, and its aircraft carriers.
Often considered the first air raid to show (on a more-than-one-ship scale) the effectiveness of air power over sea power. On the night of November 11-12, 1940, a comparative handful of Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers attacked the Italian Fleet at anchor in Taranto harbor with devastating effects. Taranto is said to have awakened the Japanese to the possibility of a crippling first blow against the United States by raiding Pearl Harbor. The British were alerted to the possibility of such an attack by their attack on Mers el Kebir a few months earlier, when they damaged the Dunquerque and sank the Strausbourg from the air.
In January, 1941, for a variety of reasons, but chiefly the Regia Aeronautica's inability to subdue Malta, the Luftwaffe moved Fleigerkorps X, a bomber force with anti-shipping training, to Sicily. One of their first attcks was to attack HMS Illustrious in the western Med. On January 7th, Fleigerkorps X opened its campaign with a devastating attack using 70 bombers and dive bombers, hitting Illustrious 7 times in 6 and a half minutes. Illustrious did not sink, but managed to escape to America, where she was repaired and returned to combat 18 months later.
The Supermarina concocted a plan to flush out some of the British Eastern Mediterranean fleet's medium weight assets by tempting them into a battle with Italian cruisers. Behind the cruisers was the Italian battleship Vitorio Veneto, which would them ambush the British cruisers. In particular, the British would have to react to the sortie as it was aimed at the British convoys from Alexandria to Crete and Greece.
There was a fly in the ointment. HMS Formidable had joined the fleet at Alexandria, and set out with the fleet to intercept the Italians. Her aircraft were used as extended eyes and as an advanced striking arm against the Italian fleet.
Information about HMS Illustrious in the Med (40/41)
Malta in the Crucible
Malta is a small speck of an island in the Med almost exactly between the toe of Italy and Tunis. Britain had held the island as a naval base since the Napoleonic era. In an age of aircraft and air interdiction of sea vessels, Malta was a dagger ready to thrust at any link from Italy to Africa. In the summer of 1940, Italy missed its best chance to take Malta; England in the rising teeth of the Battle of Britain had nothing to spare for Malta.
The Italians took interest in Malta in the summer of 1940, when they noticed that its potential against some of their supply convoys to North Africa. They began a moderately effective bombing campaign that did some damage to the port and held down RAF air power. They were joined by elements of the Luftwaffe's Fleigerkorps X in January, 1941 through the Spring (the German units were drawn drown in April, for the Balkan campaigns, and finally in late May for a pre-Barbarossa refit).
As the Germans left (and as the Blitz against London died out), the RAF managed to reinforce Malta, the defenses growing from 1 ad hoc fighter squadron to 3 trained ones with night fighter elements, plus an effective anti-shipping punch built of Blenheim IVs.
The Germans returned in January 1942, when Malta had become a major thorn against resupplying Rommel in Libya. There were even plans for invading Malta. Hitler never took them seriously, due tro a lack of trust that the Italian Fleet would not bolt if the Royal Navy appeared on the horizon coming to Malta's rescue, and a feeling that airborne losses were too expensive after Crete.
Instead, Malta was beseiged. To keep up her fight, Malta needed replacement aircraft, fuel, ammo, and food. While the Axis bombing was unable to destroy the airfields, convoy attacks threatened to end the defense due to lack of supply. Hunger was a serious issue for the military and civilian population fo the island; in the summer of 1942, fuel and ammunition supplies began to limit air operations. 1 convoy operation (Harpoon & Vigorous) in June was partially successful in getting through; a larger one (Pedestal, supported by 4 Royal Navy carriers) was more successful and ended most of the immediate danger.
During the spring and summer of 1942, the fighter component upgraded to cannon-armed Spitfire Vs flown in from carriers (including the borrowed USS Wasp), which vastly improved the air defense capabilities of the island. The fighter wing grew to five squadrons.
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Date |
Nation | Training Level |
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1940
|
Regia Aeronautica | Limited |
| RAF | Limited | |
|
1941
|
Regia Aeronautica | Limited |
| RAF | Average | |
| Luftwaffe | Bombers - Average Fighters - Excellent |
|
Date |
Side |
Missions |
|
Jun-Dec 1940 |
Italian |
|
| RAF |
| |
|
Jan-May 1941 |
Italian German |
|
| RAF |
|
Invasion of Greece
By mid-1940, Mussolini hungered for a victory of completely invading a country so that Italy should have some of the glory shining on Germany for conquering Poland, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Holland, and even France. Mussolini selected Greece, figuring that its small, antiquated army and air force would not prove a problem for his legions. Attacking from Albania (which Italy had occupied in 1939) at the end of October, Greece proved much tougher than he thought; they fought the Italians to a stand-still by November, and even went on the offensive into December, capturing Italy's southern air base in Albania.
The small Greek air force defended themselves ably, and they were reinforced by RAF squadrons armed with Gladiators and Blenheims as soon as the fighting started. The RAF fighters were upgraded to Hurricanes over the course of the winter, matching a change to G.50s and MC.200s. However, in April, 1941, Hitler decided to save his ally from further embarassment - and turned loose his Blitzkreig on Greece (see also Yugoslavia, which was concurrent).
Attacking through the Monastir Gap, past the flanks of Mt Olympus, down to Athens and on to the southern tip of mainland Greece, the German Army was well supported by strong Luftwaffe forces, particularly Stukas and Ju88s supported by Bf109s, far outnumbering the few RAF squadrons.
| Italian | Regia Aeronautica units used in Greece: Oct, 1940 |
|---|---|
| Allied | Royal Helenic Air Force (see also) |
| RAF: 4 Sqdns of Blenheim I + No. 33, 80, 112 Sqdns (all equipped with Gloster Galdiator II) moved to Greece in late fall, 1940 |
See also: The Balkans: Orders of Battle
Air Assault on Crete
The final phase in the Greek campaign was the invasion of Crete, where 30,000 British and 11,000 Greek troops had been evacuated from Greece. They had lost most of their heavy equipment and weapons during the evacuation. The 30,000 included skilled service troops - not easily replaced but of limited combat value. But Crete was considered an important base for hitting the Balkans and Italy, and to keep the Axis from using it as a base against Egypt. The key positions on Crete were the large (militarily signficant) airfields in Maleme and Heraklion (Iraklion), an airfield being built in Retimo, and the main port, Suda Bay.
In a number of ways, Crete was important to both sides for the same reasons that Guadalcanal was important:
Germany launched a bombing campaign in earnest on 14-May-41; after the losses in Greece, and with the combat in North Africa, Iraq and the impending campaign for Syria, England did not have enough aircraft for a full aerial imbrella over Crete. By 19-May-41, the last 5 operational fighters flew out to Egypt.
Germany attacked Crete in the largest aerial assault ever tried at the time, dropping 6,000 Fallschirmjaegers by parachute and glider in several waves. (Several waves were required; even the 520 Ju52s could not provide enough transport in one wave).
The German Plan involved regiment-sized air assaults against each of the three airfields and the port. Control of an airfield would be followed by transports flying in reinforcements and seaborne reinforcements with heavier equipment. Their assault was strongly supported by Stukas to replace artillery. Even so, it was 2 days before they could claim control over one (Maleme) of the three airfields. The (first) sea-borne reinforcement flotilla was caught by the Royal Navy and turned back after heavy losses. The next day, the Luftwaffe struck back hard at the Royal Navy, caught in daylight too far north of air cover from the African coast.
Even against minimal aerial resistance (mostly AAA and LMG fire), the cost was staggering. 190 of 520 Ju52s were destroyed, about a third of the Fallschirmjaegers became casualties, and after this, the Germans no longer considered parachute operations larger than a battalion.
The British did not simply abandon Crete and its garrison. They provided some air cover from Egypt, but they were short on planes and Hurricanes were at their range limit, and Blenheim IVFs were not a match for Bf109s. There was even an attempt to rebase a flight of Hurricanes in Heraklion on 25-May, but air attacks on the airfield made remaining impractical and they flew back the next day. After Maleme airifeld was clearly in Germans hands, a few bombing missions were sent to destroy aircraft on the ground - at heavy cost to themselves.
After it became obvious that the slow stream of German reinforcements was gaining on the British troops, all further air efforts went toward an umbrella over an evacuation fleet that lifted more than 11,000 troops off the southern coast of Crete.
| Axis | Luftwaffe |
| Regia Aeronautica |
Howell's Baptism (16-May-41) Sqd Ldr Howell learns to fly a Hurricane.
Afrika Korps
Starting in January, 1941, the Luftwaffe came to North Africa to support the Italians. Eventually, they moved in 4 Geschwaderen (1 each of Bf109s, Bf110s, Ju88s, Ju87s). Additional units based across the Med in Sicily, Crete, and Greece pitched in. They bolstered the flagging Regia Aeronautica in the face of the advancing British Army. They came with Rommel who re-vitalized the Axis efforts in North Africa. For a rather small investment in troops, Rommel was able to push the British about across most of Cyrenaica to the Egyotian border and beyond.
The British were still smarting under the night Blitz and suffered from a long supply line around Europe and North Africa. They did not have many spare aircraft. They sued many Kittyhawks (P-40s) supplied by the US through Lend-Lease.
Operation Torch (November 1942) On 8-Nov-42, a joint US and British force landed in (French) Northwest Africa, landing at Casablanca, Oran, and Algiers. They were opposed by the Vichy French forces for the first few days. A large part of the Vichy Air Force was stationed in Northwest Africa since the armistice - and much of it was destroyed on the ground in the initial attacks. Initial air supporrt could only come from carrier-based air power.
After the initial landings, the Allied Army in Algeria headed east toward Tunis as fast as possible, to cut off Rommel's Afrika Korps from behind. Rommel was already in retreat from the second battle of El Alamein. He moved to occupy Tunis, and then got in a few good swipes at the green American troops.
The Vichy French, not informed of the impending invasion, fought for the first three days until a cease fire was arranged. At each of the three landing zones, part of the initial attack included air raids (and even an air assault) on the major airfields in the area, damaging much of the Vichy Air Force. The initial clashes included:
Northwest Africa (Dec-42 - Apr-43) As soon as airfields were secured by ground forces during Operation Torch, elements of the US 12th Air Force were flown in from England and from carriers. The fighters immediately began to operate from as far forward a base as available. Their goal was to grab as many air fields that they could use to range against Tunis. They got a long way across Algeria before being stopped by winter rains. They continued to fly, but the weather made the airfields (and roads) muddy messes.
Once established, the initial air force was reinforced by almost every unit type in the US arsenal, if only to battle-test them.
| Fighters | 5 groups | 1st & 14th FG in P-38F 1 group P-40s 2 groups Spitfire Vs |
| Bombers | 2 heavy bomber groups 1 light bomber group (47th) |
6 sqdn B-17E 3 sqdn A-20A |
| Transports | 2 groups | 6 sqdn C-47 |
The British, with their own troops on the ground, supplied an Eastern Air Group to support them, including Spitfire and Beaufighter fighters, Mosquito and Blenheim light bombers.
If the the Afrika Korps and the Italians were taken by surprise by the Operation Torch landings, they did react quickly. They were already hard pressed by the British 8th Army advance after the 2nd Battle of El Alamein. For them, French Northwest Africa had been their safe rear wall, and it suddenly disappeared. German and Italian units ran into Tunisia as fast as possible, racing to hold up the Allies (who were racing to Tunis) long enough for the rains to come. This gave the Afrika Korps the ability to concentrate on a fighting retreat against the British 8th, and the time to reach Tunisia.
US missions:
UK missions:
Axis missions:
Bombers from
Benghazi As soon as an area was under control, USAAF set up bases for strategic bombers. Tunisia and Libya were no exception. The US 12th AF (and the later the US 15th) set up shop. (See also Ploesti). They hit military and industrial targets in Italy, Greece, Bulgaria, southern France, Yugoslavia.
Sicily (July 1943) Sicily was the last point at which the Italian Air Force effectively fought the Allies in World War II. In addition to the Luftwaffe, they sought to destroy the Allied invasion (Operation Husky). The Luftwaffe was fairly heavily invested in Sicily, the II Fliegerkorps having been sent there in 1941. While the Luftwaffe wanted to evacuate Sicily, Hitler forbade any such retreat. The Allies first bombarded Sicily and the Italian mainland and then struck in a combination of gliders, paratroops, and sea- landings. Unfortunately for the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, their bases were primary targets of bombing and invasion, so they were not as effective as they might have been.
Italy (43-45) After conquering/liberating Sicily, the Allies in the Med moved right across into Italy in September, 1943. Italy was considered the "soft underbelly" of occupied Europe, since most of the local forcs were Italian. When the Italian main land invaded, Italy suffered a political crisis and Mussolini was overthrown. Over night, the Germans went from being allies to occupiers. As with the sudden shift in Northwest Africa, German forces were suddenly exposed and still trying to recover from the loss of material and aircraft in Sicily.
As in Sicily, a lot of Africa-based air power was brought to bear (at least until there were sufficient air fields taken and developed in Italy). The US 12th, 15th, 9th and British Desert/ Mediterranean Air Forces were all used. The allies advancecd north rapidly at first, but then became bogged down by German defenses in Italy's rugged mountains. Allied fighter-bomber units learned close air support.
The US 15th was a strategic Air Force, like the 8th based in England, striking industrial and transportation targets in southern France and Germany, northern Italy, central Europe, the Balkans and Greece with heavy bombers. The US 15th was even involved with the shuttle bombing missions from Italy that struck targets in Hungary and landed in the Ukraine, and then flew back to Italy on a return raid.
Not all of the Italian armed forces surrendered. Northern occupied Italy was recast as the RSI and remained allied with Nazi Germany, its armed forces (including air units) still using Italian equipment slowly produced by Italy's remaining factories. Forces in the south were incorporateed into the Allied forces; as their Italian equipment wore out, it was replaced with US and British equipment.
Italy was the first place that the Luftwaffe deployed a technological wonder-weapon as a force modifier. The Fritz FX-1400 glide bomb was used to sink the Italian battleship Littorio and damage its sister the Roma.
Upon the Allied landing, the Italian government overthrew Mussolini and surrendered. Most of the Italian military surrendered. This did not end the fighting. Germany rushed additional troops and aircraft to Italy, and used the rough terrain to hold off the allies. Mussolini was rescued by German commandos and allowed to set up a rump state in Northern Italy, the RSI. The RSI had its own armed forced, including a small air force, the ANR. Some elements of the surrendered Regia Aeronautica was added to the Co-Belligerent Air Force and used elsewhere in the Mediterraneean area.
Northern Italy included much of Italy's industrial areas, and production of Italian equipment continued slowly.
War of
Israeli Independence (May 1948) 
Israel was created by a UN resolution in November, 1947. In May, 1948, Israel was declared independent, the British mandate force pulled out - and Israel was at war with its neighbors Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Lebannon, and Iraq. Israelis had prepared for its Independence Day, and started with a small air force.
The aircraft involved were all WW2 vintage - indeed, Spitfire once more fought Bf-109, in the guise of the Avia S-199, and the P-51 clashed again with the Fiat G.55. Spitfire also fought Mosquito!
In all cases the air forces were small. Missions ranged from classic bomber missions to battlefield CAP.
Hypothetical: Stopping Soviet Oil In late 1939, after the Soviet Union and Germany signed their Non-aggression Pact, Britain and France worried about the a pro-Axis Soviet Union supplying Germany with oil as payment for war material. The Soviet Union had bought a light cruiser and 5 Bf109Es as a start. They began to develop a contingency plan ...
In March and April, 1940, a civilized (demilitarized) Hudson bomber (basically, a Lockheed 14 Super Electra with civilian registration) was sent on photo recon missions 20,000 ft over Iraq to the Batum area. A second mission was aborted when one of the 5 Soviet-purchased Bf109Es, in the area for evaluation, was sent to unsuccessfully intercept the Lockheed.
The basic plan was to deploy bombers to northeastern Syria and Northern Iraq, and bomb the Soviet oil fields between Batum and Baku. Staff planning thought success was possible due to "sloppy Soviet safety" plans and training.
When the Germans over-ran France, they discovered these plans and showed them to the Soviets, much to the embarassment of the British.
| Units | Base | Target | |
|---|---|---|---|
| France | 5 sqdn Martin 167F | Dijezireh, Syria | Batum and Grozny |
| England | 4 sqdn Wellesleys | Mosul, Iraq | Baku |
120 aircraft in all, their maximum bomb load is about 48,000 lbs. The Martins and the Wellesleys were to fly only at night. However, this would make navigation and target recognition difficult. No electronic navigation aids were available.
In the area, the Soviets had 250 flak guns and n fighters, mostly I-15s and I-16s. They had no radar.
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