Proposed Invasion of Malta

[Kyt]

Comparison of the invasion of Crete and the proposed invasion of Malta

In 1941, after the conquest of Yugoslavia and Greece, senior German military leaders were considering two airborne operations, one for the invasion of Crete and the other for the invasion of Malta.

The invasion of Crete was executed from 20 May to 1 June 1941 with heavy German losses. The invasion of Malta never took place even though the senior military leaders in the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) recommended invading Malta over Crete because of its strategic importance, but were overridden by Adolf Hitler.

A year later, while the North Africa campaign was being conducted, another invasion was planned for Malta, but within a few weeks of executing the plan it too was postponed and eventually cancelled.

The primary focus of this research is to establish why in 1941 Crete was invaded, but Malta was not.

The secondary focus is to establish why one year later a second planned invasion of Malta was rejected and abandoned, and what were the strategic repercussions of not invading Malta. The Axis never captured Malta, and the offensive capability of Malta was never destroyed, thus leading to the defeat of all Axis forces in North Africa.

[Kyt]

Battle of Crete: Hitler's airborne gamble

As Adolf Hitler conquered most of the European continent in 1939-1941, the small island of Crete in the Mediterranean Sea became vital to future operations in the Mediterranean region for both the Axis and Allied powers.

If the Allies controlled Crete, their air and sea superiority would not allow the Germans a strategic military foothold in the region.

For the Germans, Crete would secure the Aegean Sea for Axis shipping, loosen Great Britain's grasp in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and provide air bases to launch offensives against British forces in Egypt.

Therefore, the central research question is: Did the results of the German campaign in Crete justify its execution? The operational results of the German campaign in Crete and the strategic advantages gained from its success did not justify the execution of the battle.

Although Germany's conquest of Crete achieved all of the strategic advantages, Hitler did not accomplish the strategic objectives set forth at the beginning of the campaign. Crete was not used as a staging base from which to engage the British in offensive operations against the Suez Canal or North Africa.

German losses to the highly trained air corps were staggering and Hitler never again employed parachutists on a large-scale airborne operation. Future war efforts were deprived of this elite, highly mobile striking force. Hitler did not capitalize on the hard fought victory in Crete by using the island as a stepping-stone, ultimately controlling the eastern Mediterranean region because he was hypnotized by the invasion of Russia.

[Desert Dog]

The occupation of Crete prevented the Royal Navy from completely harrasing (bombing) the coastal road behind the German lines in North Africa, like they did during Operation Compass.

As for Malta, I would imagine it would have been taken easier than Crete was. It could have been a different war if that happend. Although the outcome would not have changed.

[Christos]

Fellows....see my new thread on the Mditerranean War at Sea for a couple of naswers to your questions....enjoy!!

[GUMALANGI]

Originally Posted by Desert Dog

As for Malta, I would imagine it would have been taken easier than Crete was. It could have been a different war if that happend. Although the outcome would not have changed.

This i disagree, malta strategic important is clear, at the begining of rommel campaign in the dessert, he asked Hitler to invade malta, he also kept expressing it to Kesselring. He foreseen that he couldnot do much when Malta still free harassing his supply line.

[kfz]

Originally Posted by GUMALANGI

This i disagree, malta strategic important is clear, at the begining of rommel campaign in the dessert, he asked Hitler to invade malta, he also kept expressing it to Kesselring. He foreseen that he couldnot do much when Malta still free harassing his supply line.

I Dont think if Matla fell to the Axis the outcome of even the north africa would not have been different. It woudl have taken longer but eventually American supplies would have worn down Kesselring in Tunisa and Monty would still have got there. Just would have taken longer.

What really is plain crazy is the effort Hitler went to once the Yanks where there, he could have deployed that effort to take Malta and attempt to secure supply lines.

Lets face it the Axis supply lines where always a bit flakey to North Africa with or without Malta.


Kev

[von Poop]

Pz.Abt.zBV-66
Interesting German unit intended for an attack on Malta.
Some good shots of their Beutepanzer KV2 s on Alex's site:
Captured KV-2 tanks in German service
Seems these were intended as a means of getting strong-points onto the beach during an assault, intriguing use for these captured 'mobile pillboxes'.

Considering they had trouble traversing their turrets on anything other than level ground I wonder if they beefed up the traverse... or if Malta's beaches are particularly flat (?).

[kfz]

Originally Posted by Von Poop

Pz.Abt.zBV-66
Interesting German unit intended for an attack on Malta.
Some good shots of their Beutepanzer KV2 s on Alex's site:
Captured KV-2 tanks in German service
Seems these were intended as a means of getting strong-points onto the beach during an assault, intriguing use for these captured 'mobile pillboxes'.

Considering they had trouble traversing their turrets on anything other than level ground I wonder if they beefed up the traverse... or if Malta's beaches are particularly flat (?).

No, well sloped and stoney

[4th wilts]

and i would strongly suggest we examine the defence this assault would have met.remember,malta is much smaller than crete.yours,4th wilts.

[von Poop]

Lots of good stuff on the Maltese defences here:
Malta GC.

Including 'The Royal Malta Artillery':
RMA
New to me.