Malta convoys
| Malta Convoys | |
|---|---|
| Part of The Battle of the Mediterranean | |
 Relief map of the Mediterranean Sea |
|
| Operational scope | Supply operations |
| Location |
Malta Coordinates: 35°53′42″N 14°31′14″E / 35.89500°N 14.52056°E |
| Planned by |
Mediterranean Fleet RAF Middle East (RAF Middle East Command from 29 December 1941) Merchant Navy Allies |
| Commanded by | Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, 1 June 1939 – March 1942 Admiral Sir Henry Harwood, 22 April 1942 – February 1943 |
| Objective | Defeat Axis siege of Malta |
| Date | 27 June 1940 – 31 December 1943 |
| Outcome | British victory |
| Casualties | 1,600 civilians on Malta 5,700 service personnel on land, sea and in the air Aircraft: 707 Merchant ships: 31 sunk Navy: 1 battleship, 2 aircraft carriers 4 cruisers, 1 minelayer 20 destroyers/minesweepers 40 submarines unknown number of smaller vessels |
The Malta Convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War. The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta required supplies for the civilian population and military reinforcements, food and fuel for the air and naval forces based on the island. The convoys were escorted by ships of the Mediterranean Fleet, Fleet Air Arm and Royal Air Force and attacked by the Italian Regia Aeronautica (Royal Air Force) and Regia Marina (Royal Navy) and from 1941 by the German Luftwaffe (Air Force) and Kriegsmarine (Navy) during the Battle of the Mediterranean.
Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack the ships carrying supplies from Italy to Italian Libya for Italian civilian colonists and the Axis armies in North Africa, which fought in the Western Desert Campaign (1940–1943) against the British Eighth Army for control of the south shore of the Mediterranean. The desert war was fought in Libya, Egypt, the Suez Canal and British controlled oilfields in the Middle East. The strategic value of Malta was so great that the British risked many merchant vessels and warships to maintain the island and the Axis made determined efforts to starve out the population. The destruction of the Italian 10th Army in Egypt and Libya during Operation Compass (9 December 1940 – 9 February 1941) and defeat in the Italo-Greek War (28 October 1940 – 23 April 1941) led to German intervention in the Mediterranean. German bombers and submarines joined the blockade to neutralise and then invade Malta.
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