Convoy to Malta

[dunmunro]

1951 Documentary using WW2 footage:
http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=81593

[RF]

Interesting film, which I hadn't seen before.

Thanks for the post.

[hammy]

There are bits of film from at least two major Mediteranean Convoy battles in there .

Operation Pedestal , the " last ditch " effort to get a convoy through from the West , with an exceptionally heavy naval escort , including Nelson and Rodney , the carriers Victorious , Indomitable , Furious and Eagle , half a dozen cruisers and more than twenty destroyers . Most of these warships had to turn back to Gibraltar before passing cape Bon , before entering the "sicilian narrows" , where air attack would have been overwhelming .
Unfortunately the ensuing night in the narrows saw a strong attack by Italian Motor torpedo boats on the convoy , which heavily damaged the remaining close naval escort force and effectively broke up the convoy .
Following losses the following day , just four of the thirteen cargo carriers arrived in Malta , followed later by the disabled wreck of the tanker Ohio , dragged in by destroyers lashed alongside her . You can see her in the film , with a close up of one of the torpedo hits on her bows .

The Dido class cruisers you see shooting in heavy weather are taking part in the Battle of Sirte , another convoy action , but this time from the Alexandria end . The Italian surface ships , including Vittorio Veneto , had come out to attack the convoy , but were held at bay in worsening weather by the light cruisers and destroyers of the escort , under Admiral Vian .

"Malta Convoy" by Peter Shankland and Anthony Hunter is a "must read" , and has a foreword by Vian .

"The Ship" by C.S.Forester , well worth a read for showing you how all the different departments aboard a major warship work in action , gives a fictionalised and somewhat idealised account of the Battle of Sirte ( but he WAS writing a wartime work of propaganda just after these events occured , at a time when the war's outcome was still not assured , and he does his usual splendid job )

Both of these should , in my view , be made into films .