Operation Pedestal. The Fleet that Battled to Malta 1942

В августе 1942 года осажденная Мальта была в нескольких неделях от капитуляции перед странами Оси, потому что ее 300 000 человек больше нельзя было прокормить. Черчилль принял личное решение, что "островная крепость" должна быть спасена любой ценой. Это был не просто вопрос стратегии, но и национального престижа, когда благосостояние и моральный дух Британии упали до самого низкого уровня. Самый большой флот Королевского флота,задействованный в любой операции войны на западе,был собран для сопровождения четырнадцати быстроходных торговых судов через тысячу миль моря, защищаемых шестьюстами немецкими и итальянскими самолетами, а также группами подводных лодок и торпедоносцев. Сражения в Средиземном море,последовавшие между 11 и 15 августа,были самыми жестокими за всю британскую войну на море, в них участвовали четыре авианосца, два линкора, семь крейсеров,десятки эсминцев и судов меньшего размера. Потери были ужасающими: поражение, казалось, манило к себе. Книга на английском языке. In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs, the 'island fortress' must be saved. This was not merely a matter of strategy, but of national prestige, when Britain's fortunes and morale had fallen to their lowest ebb. The largest fleet the Royal Navy committed to any operation of the western war was assembled to escort fourteen fast merchantmen across a thousand of miles of sea defended by six hundred German and Italian aircraft, together with packs of U-boats and torpedo craft. The Mediterranean battles that ensued between 11 and 15 August were the most brutal of Britain's war at sea, embracing four aircraft-carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, scores of destroyers and smaller craft. The losses were appalling: defeat seemed to beckon. This is the saga Max Hastings unfolds in his first full length narrative of the Royal Navy, which he believes was the most successful of Britain's wartime services. As always, he blends the 'big picture' of statesmen and admirals with human stories of German U-boat men, Italian torpedo-plane crews, Hurricane pilots, destroyer and merchant-ship captains, ordinary but extraordinary seamen. Operation Pedestal describes catastrophic ship sinkings, including that of the aircraft-carrier Eagle, together with struggles to rescue survivors and salvage stricken ships. Most moving of all is the story of the tanker Ohio, indispensable to Malta's survival, victim of countless Axis attacks. In the last days of the battle, the ravaged hulk was kept under way only by two destroyers, lashed to her sides. Max Hastings describes this as one of the most extraordinary tales he has ever recounted. Until the very last hours, no participant on either side could tell what would be the outcome of an epic of wartime suspense and courage.