Mattesini, Francesco La battaglia aeronavale di mezzo agosto

Il contrasto delle forze italo-tedsche all'operazione britannica "Pedastal"

By early summer 1942, conditions on the British island of Malta, besieged by the Italian Navy and attacked by German and Italian air forces stationed in Sicily, had reached a truly worrying level of resistance. And Malta, despite its highly efficient air force, including approximately 150 Spitfire V and Beaufighter fighters defending it, was on the brink of surrender, as food supplies for a population of 220,000 men and a garrison of 32,000 would last until early September, while even the fuel to power the planes was running low. Under these conditions, the British Admiralty was forced to organize a resupply operation, called Pedestal, by sending a large convoy of 13 steamers and an oil tanker from Clyde (Scotland) on 3 August. The convoy was escorted by 60 ships, including 2 battleships, 4 aircraft carriers, 7 cruisers and 32 destroyers, which were drawn from the most varied fronts where the Royal Navy was engaged against the Axis powers, including the Arctic and the Indian Ocean. The book on the Naval Air Battle of Mid-August deals with the tormented navigation of this convoy, which, heavily attacked by Italian-German naval air forces, lost 1 aircraft carrier, 2 cruisers, 1 destroyer and 10 of its 14 merchant ships, including the oil tanker Ohio which, badly damaged during the voyage, sank on 15 August, immediately after arriving in Malta, and having unloaded its very important cargo of 11,000 tons of aviation gasoline. Despite the losses suffered, in addition to the damage to other ships, including one aircraft carrier and two cruisers, and the 32,000 tons of supplies that arrived in Malta with the five surviving ships of the convoy, the fortress island, the linchpin of British strategy in the Mediterranean, was able to overcome the difficult moment and continue to effectively attack the naval convoys transferring from Italy to Libya, at a time when the great Battle of El Alamein was being fought on the Egyptian land front. For this reason, and also due to the failure to intervene by Italian surface naval forces who, against the wishes of Benito Mussolini, which were not shared by the Supreme Command of the Italian Armed Forces and the operational body of the General Staff of the Royal Navy (Supermarina), were ordered to reverse course when they were heading for Pantelleria, the Battle of Mid-August, which should be considered a tactical victory for the submarines, the light naval forces, and the Italian-German air force, ultimately represented a strategic victory for the British.