Malta, key to the Mediterranean???

First of all this is my first post to World War II Forum, so hello everyone!! Anyway, what are some thoughts on a successful German occupation of Malta prior to a major commitment of German troops to North Africa. Could this have opened sea lanes enough from Italy to have significantly altered Germany’s plans for invasion of Egypt, given the theoretical greater availability of war material for the Afrika Korps. Or would GB and the Allies have found another way and/or location from which to disrupt the supply chain?

Thanks!
-Chris Scruggs

 

Opening ports in North Africa and building infrastructure for moving supplies forward in something other than trucks would have done the Germans far more good than taking Malta. The German's were their own worst enemy when it came to logistics.
For example it was taking between 2 and 3 gallons of gasoline to deliver one gallon to the Afrika Korps in the Alamein position. Would taking Malta make that much difference?

Another unrelated question Chris:

You use the coat of arms for the 113th Mechanized Cavalry Group. Have you read their published history The Man on The Red Horse by William Eagen?

 

Strategically, I think Malta was the key.
Without Malta, even a stronger commitment by Hitler to support the Afrika Korps would have been a waste of materiel for without a guaranteed supply of fuel, the armoured forces were impotent.
Moreover, given a greater commitment by Hitler to the desert war, any advance by the British would be hampered by not having secure fuel supplies.

Malta was the final bastion of power in the Med. Without her, British endeavours in the desert would be seriously compromised.

 

Yes, I recently purchased a copy online from a used bookstore in Seattle. I was quite suprised and thrilled to get my hands on one since it has been out of print for quite a while. My grandfather fought with the 113th in Europe and he was equally excited in getting to read it and to "re-live" many of the memories of people, places, and engagements he had forgotten about over the years. The unit is certinally one of my major interests at this point as well, so any useful resources you know of would be apperciated.

-Chris Scruggs

 

Hi Chris - and a very warm welcome to the Forums !

I haven't yet read enough about the early days of the Mediterranean theatre to give you an informed reply. Certainly, Malta was vital for Britain to interfere with Axis supply routes but must be considered together with Crete which had some good landing grounds and also the superb anchorage at Suvla Bay.

It's a 'what if' but I have seen the point raised by historians as to whether the German efforts against Crete may not have been better expended against Malta ?

 

the book "Hitler: the victory that nearly was" by Bruce Quarrie is a good book to check out if your interested in a "what if" invasion of Malta. The first chapter in his book, "bloodbath on Malta", is set in the fall of '41. This is after the fall of crete. The story line follows Major Walter Koch. In real life he led the assult on Eben Emael. Anyways, it gives a very detailed and interesting account of a hypothetical invasion of Malta.

 

The German operation to take Malta, Herkules, was supposed to take place in March(?) 42. It was to be a three division air assault and intentsive training was carried out in prepration for it. The operation was cancelled at the last moment much to the disagreement of senior airborne officers. We recently had a topic on this subject so I wont go into much detail, but the opportunity to take Malta was certainly there. Quarries idea of taking it in the fall of 41 is ludicrous considering the loses from Crete. As for heavy losses these are a certain factor given the nature of German airborne operations and something the the Germans always realised before an operation, certainly before Crete, Students expected heavy losses in the region of 50%.

 

As Major Destruction said,maybe if Hitler had given more attention to his Afrika Korps.... Unless I've missed reading something the Allies used trucks "burning 2-3 gallons of gas for every 1 gallon they hauled" just like the Germans.

 

An intersting point has been raised about transporting fuel. I have read that fake rail systems were built to get Brit bombers to waste bombs on them, what about rail systems that were built & actually used? anyone have any data?

 

I definately agree that the resources used by the Germans to take Crete would have defenitely been better used to take Malta. Hitler lost many troops (especially airborne) in the battle for Crete. It was not worth the toll because of its relative unimportance strategically. And seeing as there were not many troops on Malta, it may have been much easier to take than Crete. Plus, Malta would have assured German bombing of Allied positions in North Africa, and a secure supply route.

 

silentmidgetassasin said:
"seeing as there were not many troops on Malta, it may have been much easier to take than Crete."

This depends on the time you are talking about for the invasion. Had it been very early in the war (Jun/Sep 40) there were only a few thousand men stationed on Malta for defense and almost no air cover. After Crete, Hitler's paras were drastically understrength and underestimated, for Hitler never approved another airborne assault. His mind would need to be changed and the new Airborne recruits needed training.

 

Right....

"Crete was not worth the toll..."

Well it did deprive the Allies of an air base within range of the Polesti oilfields. Well worth the casualties in those terms. The result of the casualties was due in no small part to British ULTRA intercepts tha gave the date of the operation. The majrity of casualties were incurred during the first drops onto prepared positions, although the flaws in the German airborne arm certainly contributed.

As for Malta being easier to take their is some dispute over this, as its defenes were numerous but known to the Germans, many of the positions on Crete were unknown due to lack of recon and intel.

After Crete the 7th Flieger division was in bad shape but it soon came up to full strength but never regained the level of 'airborne' experience it once possessed. As the Fallschirmjager grew the airborne role decreased, but it is wrong to state that no other airborne assaults occured, for examples...

Leros 1943
Sicily 1943
Gran Sasso 1943
Drvar 1944
Bordeaux 1944
Operation Strosser 1944

There are also numerous incidents of troops and equipment being supplied by gliders and parachute as late as Breslau in 45. After Crete the FAllschirmjager grew and were never underestimated. Crete merely stopped strategic airborne operations from being carried out as germany suffered far too many losses in the transport fleet in 40-41 to risk anything but tactical ops, and also the overal strategic situation demanded less and less opportunity for airborne strategic ops, that by 42, the Germans were incapable of conducting. But paradoxiacally after Crete the Fallschirmjager become the most trusted of soldiers, Hitler even placing them over the Waffen-SS and their actions at places like Ortona and Monte Cassino show they were never underestimated and rarely outfought.

 

I have only today seen the 'chromeboomerang' query about rail systems in North Africa. I point you to the '1st Military Railway Service' at
http://www.milhist.net/history/milrwysvc.html

 

I was thinking invade Malta in September of 1940, and forget Crete altogether.

 

And where are you gaoona get the troops and aircraft from in September 1940 after the losses to 7th Flieger during ops in Holland, Belgium and Norway, not too mention the time needed to move, train and prepare the troops for the action.

If you forget Crete then you leave the Allies with a base that can be supplied via Egypt from which heavy bombers can flatten the Polesti oil fields and cripple the German war effort.

 

Yes, don't forget that in September 1940 the German armed forces were in the process of suffering their first major setback of WWII with their fighter arm rather heavily engaged....

 

I believe that taking Malta in spring of '42 could have opened up many possibilities. If Hitler hadn't invaded Russia in June '41 (one of the big mistakes for now, of course) then the bulk of the German army would be free to be transferred to N. Africa after taking Malta. Rommel wouldn't have had as many difficulties with more equipment, tanks, gas, etc. Taking the Suez, Cairo and Alexandria turns into a possibility. Had this happened, the gateway to the oilfields in Iraq and Saudi Arabia would be open. Besides having access to near unlimited oil, Hitler would have a direct shot up at the Caucasus Mts./Caspian Sea oilfields in Russia. After regrouping and refitting, a two-prong attack on Russia, one from Iran/Iraq and another from Occupied Poland, might have succeeded. So, yes Malta is key!

 

I think that Malta was a big problem as the torpedo planes that sank axis supply ships usually came from here, I think.

However I am not so sure that they should have invaded Malta first if it was possible to take Gibraltar. By stopping the supply to Malta it would have been just a matter of time that the island would have been forced to surrender. The convoys from Alexandria would have been simply impossible for the great losses caused by Luftwaffe.

 

I agree Kai, sod Malta... Take Gibralter and seal off the Med!

There was an airborne op planned to take Gibralter, cant remember the codename, but it relied on bringing the Spanish into the war against Britain. If Spai had joined, even just in respect to allow German troops to be based their for an operaton it would have been very interesting. An island assault from very close by! Would have given a nice little place for U-boats and planes to harass shipping! Then starve out Malta and hop onto that and the Med is yours!

But taking MAlta does not automatically mean the DAK will be any better off, as Hitler regarded it as a secondary theatre to his all important goal - Russia. Change Hitlers whole view on the war and maybe it will be worthwhile... But what will the Russians be upto in the meantime...

 

As you may know I am moving so cant get to my stuff but here is some bits from Eagle19...

Operation Hercules
The original plans for the invasion of Malta were hatched in 1941 and was part of Hitler's grand Mediterranean strategy which included operation Mercury and Felix (discussed below).
The invasion was planned to take place in 1942, with a combined air and sea borne assault. The primary objectives being the airfields that the RAF were using as a base for bombers and attack aircraft to intercept German supply ships destined for North Africa and the resupply of the Afrika Korps.
The airborne assault was to be made by men of the 1st Parachute Division with reinforcements from the 4th & 5th Parachute Regiments under the command of Major von der Heydte. This force was also to include men of the Italian Folgore and Superba airborne division's.
The whole seaborne element of the operation was dependant on ships of the Italian Navy, which had suffered already during the war at the hands of the Royal Navy, at places like Cape Matapan and Cape Spartivento. Hitler believed that they would be reluctant to go into action against them again.
General Kurt Student and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring persuaded Hitler that Malta had to be seized due to the disruption to badly needed supplies destined for North Africa.
Then fate took a hand and Rommels Afrika Korps took Tobruk in June 1942, Hitler then decided to postpone Hercules, not wanting to lose any hard to replace forces.
Hitler was right to call off the operation as coded messages sent by enigma were being intercepted at Bletchley Park, which revealed the plans of operation Hercules and the garrison on Malta was reinforced on June 16th 1942.
Maybe Malta would have become another Crete. Who knows?.....


Operation Felix
Operation Felix was reliant on General Franco entering the war on the side on the Axis powers. Plans were drawn up in the event of Franco's co-operation with the Germans. This included the capture of Gibraltar, the Canary islands and the Portuguese Cape Verde islands.
Gibraltar was the doorway to the Mediterranean and home to a large Royal Navy fleet, capture Gibraltar and in effect you could shut off the Mediterranean.
The plan called for an attack by Spanish forces from the mainland and a combined german air and sea assault.
As it happened, Franco was very adamant about being drawn into the war, especially after their own civil war in the late thirties.
This plan like many before it was put on the shelf.