Customer Reviews

The Second World War (4): The Mediterranean 1940-1945 (Essential Histories)

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This 2003 Osprey Publication is one of a series of essential histories of the major theaters of operations in the Second World War. "The Mediterranean 1940-1945" offers a strategic overview, a very brief summary of events in North and East Africa, the Middle East, the famed "Desert War", and the follow-on campaigns in Tunisia, Sicily, and Italy. Concluding sections include a biography of a New Zealand double-Victoria Cross winner and a summary of the impact of the war on European colonies and protectorates. The 90 pages of text include some excellent if oddly placed map graphics and a nice selection of black and white photographs.

The highly readable text introduces the often improvised nature of the fighting, as the British, Italians, Germans and, eventually, the Americans fought at the limit of heavily contested supply lines. The mobile armored warfare across Libya and Egypt, culminating in the battles at El Alamein, stand out even today as examples of military art and science. The author manages to work in such topics as the siege of Malta, the convoy battles, and the utility of Ultra intelligence, while relating the whole to the larger European conflict.

The Mediterranean Theater of War has occupied hundreds of pages in more scholarly works, as have the individual campaigns in North Africa and Italy and the still controversial Allied and Axis overall strategies. This brief history does little more than allude to those controversies. It does provide an adequate and very readable survey level introduction to the Mediterranean Theater of War for the general reader or student in a hurry, who can be satisfied with a summary. To that audience, "The Mediterranean 1940-1945" is recommended.

This book covers, as the title suggests, WW 2 in the Mediterean theater. This is done in about 90 pages, a very short length considering the bredth of of both time (1940-1945) and geographic area covered (Balkans including Crete campaigns, North Africa, Naval battles throughout Mediteranean, Sicily and campaign on mainland Italy). Any book would be very hard pressed to cover these topics in only about 90 pages. However, the author digresses from the fighting and spends about 30 pages of the 90 on topics such as a boy's experience in Malta, a war hero's experiences, the political infighting between the allied high commands and the post-war and liberation periods. Not that these are not interesting but considering the time and geographic span involved, the book could have better used these 30 pages on the fighting instead. On the positive side the book does present the main weaknesses of the allies and axis in terms of armed forces, equipment, men, officers and command structures as well as resources. Hence the book is a good starting point but, unfortunately, little more.