HMS Illustrious

Malta 1940-1943

Il Duce Benito Mussolini wanted the Mediterranean to be an Italian Lake. When he declared war against a defiant Britain and a defeated France on June 10, 1940, he told his military commanders the war would last four months.

Bismarck’s Atlantic Sortie May 20-27, 1941

In the Spring of 1941, air attacks on England had failed to break the will of her population to carry on the war. Heavy combat in the Atlantic focused on Kriegsmarine U-boats attacking merchant ships bound for England and attempting to starve the British into submission. Except for a few exceptions, German capital ships had not entered the Atlantic to raid convoys.

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