Supremacy in the Mediterranean

Southland Times, Issue 24576, 27 October 1941, Page 4

Supremacy in the Mediterranean

QINKINGS OF AXIS shipping in the Mediterranean have become such an everyday occurrence in recent weeks that it has been easy to overlook the importance of the part they are playing in Middle East strategy. In a statement printed this morning Admiral Sir Andrew Cunningham, Commander-in-Chief in the Mediterranean, has put the Italian and German losses in their proper perspective. One out of every three Axis ships which leave Italian ports for North Africa is now being sunk, while a second is being damaged. Thus it is fair to assume that about half the Axis cargoes fail to reach their destination. These figures represent a really remarkable achievement by the Mediterranean Fleet and the Royal Air Force. Although Italy is in a most favourable position to send her transports and supply ships across the narrow gap which separates Sicily from Northern Africa, she is unable to do this without suffering losses of 50 per cent. The Petain Government has granted her the shelter of Tunisian coastal waters, which reduces the journey across the open sea to fewer than 100 miles; but even that advantage has failed to give her shipping protection from, the ceaseless attacks of British destroyers, torpedocarrying planes of the Fleet Air Arm and land-based R.A.F. bombers. From almost every convoy they exact a heavy toll. Moreover, British warships continue to shell Axis bases from time to time with complete impunity. The latest exploit of this kind was the bombardment of enemy gun positions outside Tobruk. While Italian sea-power is incapable of escorting supply ships across fewer than 100 miles of open water, British convoys are still able to traverse the whole width of the Mediterranean, a distance of 2000 miles, and to defy the concentration of Axis sea and air forces in the narrow straits between Sicily and Pantellaria. These convoys have crossed the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Alexandria not once or twice, but again and again when supplies have been needed urgently at Middle East headquarters. During the last reported crossing, a few weeks ago, only one British merchantman was lost to the divebombers which operate in the Sicilian channel. The usual British sea route to the Middle East, round

the Cape of Good Hope, is immeasurably longer and slower than the Axis route from Naples and Sicily to Tripoli. But while the British route remains open and the Axis route is 50 per cent, closed, it is unlikely that General Rommel will ever obtain a sufficient arms superiority to mount an offensive in the Western Desert. Even if the Germans can send unlimited numbers of tanks for shipment from Naples, only one out of every two is reaching its destination in Libya, and all the time the available merchant tonnage is growing smaller and smaller. A. fairly large volume of supplies, including small armoured vehicles, is reported to be ferried to Libya by air, but there are limits to the capabilities of this means of transport. The Mediterranean Fleet and the Royal Air Force are fighting a constant battle to protect the land forces of the Middle East. It is not a spectacular battle, but it is one of the most effective of the whole war and its results may be far-reaching.