DOCSLIB.ORG

Supermarina I 5 Apr 21.Indd

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Supermarina I 5 Apr 21.Indd Supermarina I 1 Supermarina I The First Part of the Mediterranean War June 1940 - June 1941 by John D. Gresham and Mike Markowitz edited by Larry Bond published by The Admiralty Trilogy Group Copyright ©1995, 2014 by the Admiralty Trilogy Group, LLC and John D. Gresham and Mike Markowitz. All rights reserved. Printed in the USA. Made in the USA. No part of this game may be reproduced or used in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the pub- lisher. Command at Sea is a registered Trademark by Larry Bond, Christoper Carlson, and Edward Kettler for their WW II tactical naval wargame. The designers of Command at Sea and Supermarina are prepared to answer questions about play of the game system. They can be reached in care of the Admiralty Trilogy Group at [email protected]. Visit their website at www.admiraltytril- ogy.com. This version of Supermarina I has been updated to include all corrections from errata through 5 April 2021, and adjust- Samplements made to be compatible with the Command at Sea 4th edition rules and the Fleet series of filedata annexes. Cover: Two Italian Cavour class battleships as seen from the quarterdeck of an Italian Spica class torpedo boat. (Luce Photo Agency from the collection of Larry Bond, colorized by Irootoko_jr). 2 Supermarina I Foreword The Romans called it Mare Nostrum, “Our Sea.” When the Kingdom of Italy emerged as a unified nation in 1870, it inherited this attitude, along with a great naval tradition forged by seafaring city states like Genoa and Venice. Two genera- tions of brilliant, imaginative naval architects and engineers gave Italy some of the world’s fastest and most handsome war- ships. When the Second World War began, a highly professional officer corps led a force of brave and resourceful sailors into battle against the Allies. The tragedy of the Royal Italian Navy was not only that it entered the war fighting for Benito Mussolini and the evil cause of Fascism, but that it was crippled by an inadequate industrial base, a desperate shortage of fuel and a chronic inability to coordinate its action with land-based air power. The popular perception of the Italian Navy (Regia Marina) and its central command (Supermarina) as a collection of incompetent and cowardly buffoons was largely a product of British wartime propaganda and Anglo-Saxon ethnic preju- dice. On more than one occasion, a lone Italian 600-ton torpedo boat, escorting a convoy, encountered a force of British cruisers and destroyers, and without hesitation, closed to attack. For 40 months the Regia Marina pushed convoys through to North Africa despite the best efforts of the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force to stop them. An incredible 92% of the supplies and men got through. It should not be forgotten that after Italy left the Axis in September, 1943, most of the officers and men of the Regia Marina continued to fight on the Allied side, to liberate their own country from brutal German occu- pation. In the grand strategy of the war the Mediterranean was a side show, though for Winston Churchill and the British Em- pire it was an obsession. The lifeline of the Empire ran from Gibraltar through Suez and Churchill’s fixation on an indirect approach through the “soft underbelly” of Europe meant that the Royal Navy had to contest the control of the Mediterra- nean, even when the Battle of the Atlantic had stretched it to the breaking point. The naval war in these narrow waters was shaped by the overlap of crossed supply lines — the Axis line running north-south and the Allied line west-east. Fighting at close quarters, both sides were able to strike directly at enemy bases (Taranto, Malta, Alexandria). Geography also afforded great scope for mine warfare, torpedo boats and “special operations.” It was naval warfare of a grand sort, with every conceivable kind of action; classic fleet battles, antisubmarine warfare, air strikes against land and naval targets, shore bombardments, special operations by small craft and frogmen, and extensive minelaying (historically an important form of warfare in these constricted waters but one that we have not attempted to model at this tactical scale). The only exception is carrier versus carrier, since the Italian aircraft carriers Aquila and Spar- viero (rebuilt passenger liner hulls) were never completed. The naval war in the Mediterranean ultimately determined the outcome of the war in North Africa. When Francisco Franco refused to cooperate with Axis plans to seize Gibraltar and when Hitler refused to provide the resources needed for Operazione C.3 (the Italian airborne and amphibious assault on Malta) the fate of Rommel’s Panzer Armee was sealed. That meant that the Axis would never conquer the oil fields of the Middle East, and Germany would lose the war sooner, rather than later. If a few more Axis tankers and ammunition ships had reached North Africa and a few less Allied tankers and ammunition ships had reached Malta, the outcome of the first Battle of El Alamein (August, 1942) might have been different. Supermarina I covers the first year of the war in the Mediterranean. We have covered famous actions like Taranto, Matapan and the big convoy battles but we have also tried to include a representative selection of smaller fights that can be played to a conclusion in an hour or less. In Supermarina II, our planned sequel, we plan to continue the story through the dramatic Malta convoy battles of 1942. Except for a few merchant vessels and tankers, few American ships took part in this early phase of the war. As a re- sult, some of the most remarkable naval battles in history are almost unknown to historians and wargamers on this side of the Atlantic. If this volume of the Command at Sea game system honors the memory of brave sailors who served on both sides and helps to stimulate interest in a neglected period of naval history, our efforts will be well rewarded. JohnSample D. Gresham and Michael Markowitz file Supermarina I 3 Table of Contents Page Foreword 2 Table of Contents 3 Scenario Notes and Locator Map 4 Guide to Pronunciation 5 Map of the Eastern Mediterranean 6 Map of the Western Mediterranean 7 Opening Moves First Blood, Bagnolini vs. Calypso 12 Jun 40 Solo Italian SS vs. British cruiser and DD screen 9 Action off Calabria (Battle of Punta Stilo) 9 Jul 40 General fleet action 10 Cape Spada 19 Jul 40 Cruiser, destroyer surface action 14 Ajax and Convoy MB6 12 Oct 40 Cruiser, destroyer surface action 17 Rainbow's End 15 Oct 40 Solo British sub vs. solo Italian sub 18 Taranto and After The Taranto Raid 11 Nov 40 Air attack on the Italian fleet in harbor 19 Otranto Straits 11-12 Nov 40 British CLs and DDs vs. escorted Italian convoy 25 The Fight off Cape Teulada (Battle of Cape Spartivento) 27 Nov 40 General daylight fleet action 28 The Inshore Squadron 17 Dec 40 Raid on a small harbor 31 Operation Excess 6-14 Jan 41 Campaign-level convoy actions 32 The Vega Incident 10 Jan 41 Cruiser, destroyer surface action 34 Attack on Illustrious 10 Jan 41 Land-based air strike on carrier task force 35 The Raid on Genova 9 Feb 41 Attack by British on Italian forces in port 37 Convoy to Tripoli 24-26 Feb 41 Solo British SS vs. strongly escorted convoy 42 Battle of Cape Matapan 25-29 Mar 41 General fleet action (mini-campaign) 43 Italian Special Operations - The 10th Light Flotilla in Action Diaster in the Gulf of Bomba 21 Aug 40 British Swordfish attack a MAS and an Italian SS 47 Suda Bay 26 May 41 Italian special forces attack on harbor (solitaire) 49 The Convoy War The Sinking of Bonaventure 31 Mar 41 Italian SS attacks British CL and DD 51 Kerkennah Bank (The Battle of the Buoys) 16 Apr 41 Convoy battle 53 The Conte Rosso Convoy 24 May 41 Convoy battle 55 The Crete Campaign Black Thursday: The Battle for Crete 19 May 41 Luftwaffe airstrikes on British warships 57 Night Action in the Kasos Straits 21 May 41 Night surface attack by Italian MAS boats 60 The Lupo Convoy 21 May 41 British DDs vs. transports and a lone Italian TB 62 The Sagittario Convoy 22 May 41 British squadron vs. a convoy and a lone Italian TB 63 Sidebars What Was Supermarina? 8 The Admiralty 8 Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham 13 Admiral of the Fleet, Lord Louis Mountbatten 13 The British Edge: Aircraft Carriers, Radar, and ULTRA 27 Admiral of the Fleet Sir James Fownes Somerville 29 The Italian Admirals 63 SampleBibliography file65 4 Supermarina I Scenario Notes This supplement provides scenarios for the first part of the Mediterranean War, from the start of the fighting in June 1940 through the summer of 1941. This includes the initial sparring between the battle fleets, convoy battles, special oper- ations, airstrikes, and submarine operations. We have tried to cover not only surface engagements but air and submarine actions as well. Space prevents us from including every encounter, but all the major ones during the period are covered. The scenarios are grouped into campaigns each representing a distinct phase of the war. This can be vital in understand- ing why a particular battle occurred. The individual engagements are all historical. For those who wish to explore alterna- tive setups, variations are provided. Although there is a wealth of sources for WW II naval gaming, there is still a lot of information that we haven’t found.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Framing 'Turks': Representations of Ottomans and Moors in Continental European Literature 1453-1683
    16 2019 FRAMING ‘TURKS’: Representations of Ottomans and Moors in Continental European Literature 1453-1683 ed. Peter Madsen Framing ‘Turks’: Representations of Ottomans and Moors in Continental European Litera- ture 1453-1683, ed. Peter Madsen Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies 16 • 2019 General Editor of NJRS: Camilla Horster (NJRS was formerly known as Renæssanceforum: Journal of Renaissance Studies) ISSN 2597-0143. URL: www.njrs.dk/njrs_16_2019.htm FRAMING ‘TURKS’ NJRS 16 • 2019 • www.njrs.dk Preface The focus of this issue of Nordic Journal of Renaissance Studies is on Conti- nental Europe, i.e., areas bordering or situated near the Ottoman Empire or otherwise involved in close encounters. It has thus been important to include often neglected, yet most important nations like The Polish-Lithuanian Com- monwealth and Hungary (following the lead of the excellent volume edited by Bodo Guthmüller and Wilhelm Kühlmann: Europa und die Türken in der Renaissance, Tübingen 2000). It has also been important to consider literature beyond well-known classics, thus including works that attracted more atten- tion in their own times than they do today. Finally, it should be underscored how the literary (and intellectual) field beyond the vernaculars included pub- lications in Latin. The introduction is an attempt to situate the subject matter of the individual contributions within a broader historical, intellectual and literary field, thus including further documentation and additional literary examples. ‘Turks’ was the current denomination of contemporary Muslims, whether North African or Spanish ‘Moors’, or inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire or its spheres of various sorts of influence. It should be stressed, though, that although the Ottomans in terms of power and political establishment were Turkish, the inhabitants of the Empire were multi-ethnic and multi-religious.
    [Show full text]
  • Durham E-Theses
    Durham E-Theses Battleships and Dividends: The Rise of Private Armaments Firms in Great Britain and Italy, c. 1860-1914 MARCHISIO, GIULIO How to cite: MARCHISIO, GIULIO (2012) Battleships and Dividends: The Rise of Private Armaments Firms in Great Britain and Italy, c. 1860-1914, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/7323/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 Battleships and Dividends: The Rise of Private Armaments Firms in Great Britain and Italy, c. 1860-1914 Giulio Marchisio This thesis analyses the rise of private armaments firms in Great Britain and in Italy from mid-19th century to the outbreak of the First World War, with a focus on naval armaments and military shipbuilding. During this period, the armaments industry underwent a radical transformation, moving from being based on public-owned arsenals and yards to being based on private firms – the system of military procurement prevalent today.
    [Show full text]
  • Supermarina Errata
    5 April 2021 SUPERMARINA ERRATA Supermarna I Scenario Booklet Rainbow's End: The variations are missing from the scenario: “Variation: Assume that Toti’s crew has been able to repair the mecanical problems that prevented the boat from submerging. Note that it still may not Crash Dive (Rule 3.2.2).” Otranto Straits: The Axis Victory Conditions are reversed. They should be: Decisive Victory: No more than 1 merchant ship is crippled (50% or greater damage) Tactical Victory: No more than 2 merchant ships are crippled. Delete the sentence about the moral victory. Operation Excess: The Submarine class listings provided are incorrect. Aradam and Axum are part of the Adua class, Banderia and Santorre Santarosa are part of the Banderia class, and Ruggerio Settimo is part of the Settembrini class. The Scott class DL Stuart is listed in Annex A as the “Admiralty Scott Class.” Battle of Cape Spartivento: HMS Sheffield and Newcastle are Town class first group, not second group. Raid on Genova: Giulio Cesare is a Cone di Cavour-class battleship, not a Doria class as listed. Supermarina II Scenario Booklet Beta Convoy: Page 26, paragraph starting Axis Forces: Mastrale is Maestrale ( a wind name) Captaino di Viscello is Capitano di Vascello Capitino di Corvetta is Capitano di Corvetta All Captaino are Capitano DD Fulmine is Folgore class In the second half of 1940 Folgore class vessels were assigned to convoy escort. DD Maestrale, Grecale, Libeccio are all Maestrale or Venti class DD Oriani is Oriani class DD Granatiere, Fuciliere, Bersagliere and Alpino are Soldati class In second half of 1940 Folgore-class vessels were assigned to convoy escort.
    [Show full text]
  • Saber and Scroll Journal Volume V Issue IV Fall 2016 Saber and Scroll Historical Society
    Saber and Scroll Journal Volume V Issue IV Fall 2016 Saber and Scroll Historical Society 1 © Saber and Scroll Historical Society, 2018 Logo Design: Julian Maxwell Cover Design: Cincinnatus Leaves the Plow for the Roman Dictatorship, by Juan Antonio Ribera, c. 1806. Members of the Saber and Scroll Historical Society, the volunteer staff at the Saber and Scroll Journal publishes quarterly. saberandscroll.weebly.com 2 Editor-In-Chief Michael Majerczyk Content Editors Mike Gottert, Joe Cook, Kathleen Guler, Kyle Lockwood, Michael Majerczyk, Anne Midgley, Jack Morato, Chris Schloemer and Christopher Sheline Copy Editors Michael Majerczyk, Anne Midgley Proofreaders Aida Dias, Frank Hoeflinger, Anne Midgley, Michael Majerczyk, Jack Morato, John Persinger, Chris Schloemer, Susanne Watts Webmaster Jona Lunde Academic Advisors Emily Herff, Dr. Robert Smith, Jennifer Thompson 3 Contents Letter from the Editor 5 Fleet-in-Being: Tirpitz and the Battle for the Arctic Convoys 7 Tormod B. Engvig Outside the Sandbox: Camels in Antebellum America 25 Ryan Lancaster Aethelred and Cnut: Saxon England and the Vikings 37 Matthew Hudson Praecipitia in Ruinam: The Decline of the Small Roman Farmer and the Fall of the Roman Republic 53 Jack Morato The Washington Treaty and the Third Republic: French Naval 77 Development and Rivalry with Italy, 1922-1940 Tormod B. Engvig Book Reviews 93 4 Letter from the Editor The 2016 Fall issue came together quickly. The Journal Team put out a call for papers and indeed, Saber and Scroll members responded, evidencing solid membership engagement and dedication to historical research. This issue contains two articles from Tormod Engvig. In the first article, Tormod discusses the German Battleship Tirpitz and its effect on allied convoys during WWII.
    [Show full text]
  • World War II at Sea This Page Intentionally Left Blank World War II at Sea
    World War II at Sea This page intentionally left blank World War II at Sea AN ENCYCLOPEDIA Volume I: A–K Dr. Spencer C. Tucker Editor Dr. Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr. Associate Editor Dr. Eric W. Osborne Assistant Editor Vincent P. O’Hara Assistant Editor Copyright 2012 by ABC-CLIO, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data World War II at sea : an encyclopedia / Spencer C. Tucker. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-59884-457-3 (hardcopy : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-59884-458-0 (ebook) 1. World War, 1939–1945—Naval operations— Encyclopedias. I. Tucker, Spencer, 1937– II. Title: World War Two at sea. D770.W66 2011 940.54'503—dc23 2011042142 ISBN: 978-1-59884-457-3 EISBN: 978-1-59884-458-0 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 This book is also available on the World Wide Web as an eBook. Visit www.abc-clio.com for details. ABC-CLIO, LLC 130 Cremona Drive, P.O. Box 1911 Santa Barbara, California 93116-1911 This book is printed on acid-free paper Manufactured in the United States of America To Malcolm “Kip” Muir Jr., scholar, gifted teacher, and friend. This page intentionally left blank Contents About the Editor ix Editorial Advisory Board xi List of Entries xiii Preface xxiii Overview xxv Entries A–Z 1 Chronology of Principal Events of World War II at Sea 823 Glossary of World War II Naval Terms 831 Bibliography 839 List of Editors and Contributors 865 Categorical Index 877 Index 889 vii This page intentionally left blank About the Editor Spencer C.
    [Show full text]
  • Naval Policy and Strategy in the Mediterranean
    NAVAL POLICY AND STRATEGY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Copyright of collection © 2000 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd Copyright of articles © 2000 contributors CASS SERIES: NAVAL POLICY AND HISTORY ISSN 1366–9478 Series Editor: Holger Herwig The series will publish, first and foremost, fresh quality manuscripts by research scholars in the general area of naval policy and history, without national or chronological limitations. Furthermore, it will from time to time issue collections of important articles as well as reprints of classic works. 1. Austro-Hungarian Naval Policy, 1904–1914 Milan N.Vego 2. Far Flung Lines: Studies in Imperial Defence in Honour of Donald Mackenzie Schurman Edited by Keith Neilson and Greg Kennedy 3. Maritime Strategy and Continental Wars Rear Admiral Raja Menon 4. The Royal Navy and German Naval Disarmament 1942–1947 Chris Madsen 5. Naval Strategy and Operations in Narrow Seas Milan N.Vego 6. The Pen and Ink Sailor: Charles Middleton and the King’s Navy, 1778–1813 John E.Talbott 7. The Italian Navy and Fascist Expansionism, 1935–1940 Robert Mallett 8. The Role of the Merchant Marine in Maritime Foreign Defence Policy Formation Edited by Greg Kennedy 9. Naval Strategy in Northeast Asia: Geo-strategic Goals, Policies and Prospects Duk-Ki Kim 10. Naval Policy and Strategy in the Mediterranean: Past, Present and Future Edited by John B.Hattendorf Copyright of collection © 2000 Frank Cass & Co. Ltd Copyright of articles © 2000 contributors NAVAL POLICY AND STRATEGY IN THE MEDITERRANEAN Past, Present and Future Edited by John B.Hattendorf US Naval War College FRANK CASS LONDON • PORTLAND, OR Copyright of collection © 2000 Frank Cass & Co.
    [Show full text]
  • Amphibious Operations
    Joint Publication 3-02 OF TH NT E E A W E' L L D R I S E F E N M H D T M T Y R • A P E A C D I U • R N E I T M E A D F S O TAT E S Amphibious Operations 4 January 2019 PREFACE 1. Scope This publication provides fundamental principles and guidance for planning, conducting, and assessing amphibious operations. 2. Purpose This publication has been prepared under the direction of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS). It sets forth joint doctrine to govern the activities and performance of the Armed Forces of the United States in joint operations, and it provides considerations for military interaction with governmental and nongovernmental agencies, multinational forces, and other interorganizational partners. It provides military guidance for the exercise of authority by combatant commanders and other joint force commanders (JFCs), and prescribes joint doctrine for operations and training. It provides military guidance for use by the Armed Forces in preparing and executing their plans and orders. It is not the intent of this publication to restrict the authority of the JFC from organizing the force and executing the mission in a manner the JFC deems most appropriate to ensure unity of effort in the accomplishment of objectives. 3. Application a. Joint doctrine established in this publication applies to the Joint Staff, commanders of combatant commands, subordinate unified commands, joint task forces, subordinate components of these commands, the Services, and combat support agencies. b. This doctrine constitutes official advice concerning the enclosed subject matter; however, the judgment of the commander is paramount in all situations.
    [Show full text]
  • SUPPLEMENT -TO the of TUESDAY, the Loth of AUGUST, 1948
    ffhimb, 38377 4469 SUPPLEMENT -TO The Of TUESDAY, the loth of AUGUST, 1948 Registered as a newspaper WEDNESDAY, n AUGUST, 1948 MEDITERRANEAN CONVOY OPERATIONS. OPERATION " EXCESS " 4. With regard to the dawn action reported in Enclosures Nos. 6 and 9,* it is thought that The following Despatch was submitted to the this must have been a chance encounter, as Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty on so small an Italian force would hardly have the igth March, 1941 by Admiral Sir Andrew been sent unsupported to attack a heavily B. Cunningham, G.C.B., D.S.O., Comman- defended convoy. The heavy expenditure of der-in-Chi'ef, Mediterranean Station. ammunition by BON A VENTURE, largely in- Mediterranean, curred in an effort to sink a crippled ship, serves to emphasise the importance of using iqth March, 1941. the torpedo at close range on such occasions. 5. I fully concur with the remarks of the OPERATIONS M.C.4 AND M.C.6 Vice-Admiral, Light Forcesf concerning the towing of GALLANT by MOHAWK (Enclo- Be pleased to lay before Their Lordships the sure No. i if), and consider that this was a enclosed reports on Operation M.C 4 (which in- most ably conducted operation. cluded Operation " Excess ") and Operation It cannot be satisfactorily determined M.C.6,* carried out between 6th and i8th whether GALLANT was mined or torpedoed, January, 1941. but the absence of tracks and failure by the 2. These operations marked the advent of enemy to claim her sinking lend probability the German Air Force in strength in the Medi- to the supposition that it was a mine.
    [Show full text]
  • War Diary : German Naval Staff Operations Division
    RETURN TC ^P-32-CU INTELLIGENCE .ja&JULX MAVY DEPARTMENT WAR D IARY ( German Naval Staff Operations Division * ^ DBCUSSFlED-MfT. 0445, OPNAVIKST 5510.10 » 9/C DATT --7-67 i PART A VOLUME 28 December 1941 9862 DECUSMJED WAR DIARY OP THE GERMAN NAVAL STAFF (Operations Division) PART A December 1941 Chief, Naval Staff: Grand Admiral Raeder, Dr. h.c. Chief of Staff, Naval Staff: Vice Admiral Fricke Chief, Operations Division, Naval Staff: Captain Wagner Volume 28 begun; 1 Dee. 19^1 closed: 31 Dec. 19*1 9862 , CaWIDcETL-kL OFFICE OF NAVAL INTELLIGENCE Washington, D. C. Foreword 1. The Office of Naval Intelligence has undertaken to translate important parts of the War Diary of the German Naval Staff. The present volume, entitled War Diary of the German Naval Staff, Op- erations Division , Part A, Volume 2tf, is the first one of the series to appear. Other volumes will follow shortly. 2. The War Diaries, Part A, are important because they contain a day by day summary of the information available to the German Naval Staff and the decisions reached on the basis thereof. To- gether with the Fuehrer Conferences on Matters Dealing with the German Navy, 1939- 19^5 # which are in the process of being pub- lished by this office, the War Diaries should provide valuable material for the study of naval problems arising from total war. The War Diary, Part A, is also a useful index to the German Naval Archives of World War II; references may be found in the micro- film library of Naval Records and Library.
    [Show full text]
  • Mutilated Victory
    Dossier for Critical Preservation and Re-use of Casa del Mutilato II.Interventions.04 Decolonizing Architecture Advanced Course Palermo, June 2018 04. Mutilated Victory Fernanda Ruiz and Rado Ištok Names of Cities in the Atrium, 1939 Source:Giuseppe Spatrisano Archive at Fondazione per l’Arte e la Cultura Lauro Chiazzese Names of Cities in the Atrium, 2017 II.Interventions.04 Zara, Fiume and Pola, three inscriptions placed above architraves of the Sacrarium, are Italian names (exonyms) of three cities which are today part of Croatia: Zadar, Rijeka and Pula. Comparing these inscriptions with the archival photographs, we can see that the order of the cities (as well as the size of the inscriptions, material and the font) has changed since the inauguration of the building in 1939, as Trieste and Fiume were placed above the architraves of the Sacrarium and other cities were inscribed on the side walls of the atrium: Zara and Tenda on the right and Pola and Briga on the left side, commemorating not only cities on the Adriatic coast but also the Alpine communes of Briga and Tenda, today La Brigue and Tende in France. As Italy was only forced to cede Briga and Tendato to France in 1947 in the aftermath of Italy’s defeat in the WWII, this puts the dating of the archival images as from the interwar period in question. The common denominator of these cities is the history of Italian expansionism and irredentism. Italian irredentism was a national movement during the late 19th and early 20th centuries which promoted the incorporation of territories inhabited by Italian speaking communities.
    [Show full text]
  • Archived Content Information Archivée Dans Le
    Archived Content Information identified as archived on the Web is for reference, research or record-keeping purposes. It has not been altered or updated after the date of archiving. Web pages that are archived on the Web are not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards. As per the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada, you can request alternate formats on the "Contact Us" page. Information archivée dans le Web Information archivée dans le Web à des fins de consultation, de recherche ou de tenue de documents. Cette dernière n’a aucunement été modifiée ni mise à jour depuis sa date de mise en archive. Les pages archivées dans le Web ne sont pas assujetties aux normes qui s’appliquent aux sites Web du gouvernement du Canada. Conformément à la Politique de communication du gouvernement du Canada, vous pouvez demander de recevoir cette information dans tout autre format de rechange à la page « Contactez-nous ». CANADIAN FORCES COLLEGE / COLLÈGE DES FORCES CANADIENNES CSC 31 / CCEM 31 MASTER OF DEFENCE STUDIES COORDINATION AND COMMAND RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN AXIS POWERS IN THE NAVAL WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN 1940-1943 By /par KKpt/LCdr/Capc Andreas Krug This paper was written by a student attending La présente étude a été rédigée par un stagiaire the Canadian Forces College in fulfilment of one du Collège des Forces canadiennes pour of the requirements of the Course of Studies. satisfaire à l'une des exigences du cours. The paper is a scholastic document, and thus L'étude est un document qui se rapporte au contains facts and opinions which the author cours et contient donc des faits et des opinions alone considered appropriate and correct for que seul l'auteur considère appropriés et the subject.
    [Show full text]
  • 1 Harpoon-Vigorous Background. by 1942, the Pattern of the Struggle In
    Harpoon-Vigorous Background. By 1942, the pattern of the struggle in the Mediterranean Sea had been set. On the Allied side, operations revolved around the island of Malta. Malta was a hand on the throat of the Axis supply routes to North Africa – if it could be supplied. With supplies in hand, Malta could serve as an airfield, submarine base and port for surfaces forces to interdict Axis supplies to Tripolitania and Libya. Without supplies, Malta would wither in the vine in the shadow of powerful Axis bases. The Allied challenge was to draw enough resources from their worldwide commitments to keep Malta going, and then a bit more to keep it going as an as an offensive base. By the summer of 1942, these resources were exceedingly hard to find. The Axis appreciated Malta’s potential full well. But they had resource issues of their own. The Regia Marina was a potentially powerful force, but it was a wasting asset with little chance of making up any significant losses. Even more significantly, it was hobbled by fuel shortages. The Italians had no oil of their own, and the Germans had too little for all of their needs. The result was a limited oil supply for Italy’s ships. The Axis knew that air power was an acceptable substitute for sea power, but there they had problems as well. The Regia Aeronautica had not proved itself particularly adept at ship attack missions, and lacked the power to knock out Malta’s facilities on its own. The Luftwaffe – and particularly its specialist ship attack units – proved to be efficient ship killers, but its resources were stretched between the Mediterranean and Russia.
    [Show full text]