Malta Convoy by Peter Shankland & Anthony Hunter

Description

MALTA CONVOY

Here is the full account of the blazing courage and dogged resolution of the men who, in 1942, manned the bravest and most fateful of all the convoys that were ever sailed to relieve Malta.” An armada of two battleships, four aircraft
carriers, twelve cruisers and forty destroyers was deployed to escort and protect fourteen merchant ships. Ranged against them were twenty-one sub-
marines, twenty-three E-boats and five hundred and forty aircraft. One of the five merchantmen who survived to reach Malta was the tanker Ohio, whose name has
passed into history. The central theme of this book is the fantastic story of the men who sailed and fought in her, refusing to consider defeat; and of the ship herself
who, broken-backed and sinking, carried the oil which was Malta’s sole hope of survival.

In mid-1942, the war was going badly for the Allies. During the first six months U-Boats sank 3,250,000 tons of shipping in the Atlantic (an average freighter was 7,000 tons). Rommel rolled through Northern Africa, threatening the Suez Canal, but stopped 35 miles short of Alexandria, Egypt, because of a shortage of supplies. The Nazi war machine reached Stalingrad, with plans to head through the Caucasus for the Middle East oil fields. The Allies had Gibraltar, Malta, and Egypt. The Axis controlled France, Italy, Yugoslavia, Greece, and most of northern Africa. A few countries were neutral (Turkey), or pro-Axis (Spain). Malta’s strategic airfield was key to holding the Mediterranean, but food and oil had to get through past German and Italian bombers. The 250,000 Maltese and 20,000 British defenders were dependent on imported food and oil.

In good preloved condition with the exception of wear and minor chipping to front cover, some color change and wear to back cover, colour change to interior pages and occasional spotting (limited to inside front and back cover) consistent with age. B&W photos included inside book. No loose pages. This book sells for up to US $16 at Abe Books.