Description: This is a major reassessment of the causes of Allied victory in the Second World War in the Mediterranean region. Drawing on a unique range of multinational source material, Richard Hammond demonstrates how the Allies' ability to gain control of the key routes across the sea and sink large quantities of enemy shipping denied the Axis forces in North Africa crucial supplies and proved vital to securing ultimate victory there. Furthermore, the sheer scale of attrition to Axis shipping outstripped their industrial capacity to compensate, leading to the collapse of the Axis position across key territories maintained by seaborne supply, such as Sardinia, Corsica and the Aegean islands. As such, Hammond demonstrates how the anti-shipping campaign in the Mediterranean was the fulcrum about which strategy in the theatre pivoted, and the vital enabling factor ultimately leading to Allied victory in the region.
Brief description: Richard Hammond is a Lecturer at Brunel University and is Vice-President of the Second World War Research Group. He is the recipient of the Society for Military History's Moncado Prize and the Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History (Proxime Accessit).
Review Quotes: 'This is an essential book for military historians, students as well as scholars who are interested in the Second World War. Readers, especially those focusing on the Mediterranean region or on naval warfare, will find Hammond's book highly interesting as it sheds light on many unknown aspects of the British antishipping warfare effort.' Marios Siammas, Journal of Military History and Historiography