Force H
The Force H was a British Task Force during the Second World War . It was formed in 1940 to replace the French fleet in the western Mediterranean, which was lost after the armistice between France and the German Empire .
She occupied an unusual place in the organization of the Royal Navy . Usually there were various naval bases and fleets whose commanders were subordinate to the First Sea Lord . Force H was directly subordinate to the First Sea Lord, although a commander to whom she would normally have been subordinate was already present on her base in Gibraltar .
history
Operation Catapult
One of the Force H's first missions, Operation Catapult , had to do with the reason for its deployment. There were still units of the French Navy in the Mediterranean and the British government saw this as a threat to British interests. It was feared that the government of the Vichy regime under Pétain would hand over these ships to the German Reich despite assurances to the contrary.
Operation Catapult aimed to eliminate this threat. As a result of Operation Catapult, the battleship Bretagne was sunk, the battleships Provence and Dunkerque were badly damaged, and the battleship Strasbourg was able to escape to Toulon .
Use as escort for convoys
After this order one turned to operations in the western Mediterranean. This also included escort duties for the Malta convoys . The early convoys came through with relatively minor losses, but that changed in 1941 when the Xth Air Corps of the Air Force was stationed in Sicily .
Sinking of the Bismarck
The Force H was most famous for the sinking of the Bismarck . The Bismarck had sailed together with the Prinz Eugen for the "Operation Rhine Exercise". The Force H ran from Gibraltar to the Bismarck to intercept her. After the Bismarck was incapacitated by a torpedo hit, it was sunk by units of the Force H.
Operation pedestal
November 1941 the Ark Royal was sunk by the German submarine U 81 . The year 1942 began with deployments in convoy trains destined for Malta. The island had been the target of heavy attacks for months and the supply convoys required strong escorts. The supply of Malta threatened to collapse. The most heavily guarded convoy in the entire war was supposed to prevent this. The Operation Pedestal in August supplied the island with enough supplies to be able to carry on the fight.
Landings and the end of Force H
In May 1942, the Force H had to park ships for the attack on Diego Suarez , Madagascar . The operation Ironclad was successful, but is still controversial because the British forces were fragmented at a critical time of the war.
The re-completed Force H covered Operation Torch , in which British and American troops landed in Algeria.
Towards the end of the war in North Africa , Axis forces in Tunisia were cut off from supplies with the support of Force H, and 250,000 men had to surrender to the 18th Army.
In addition, two other landing companies were covered by the Force H. The Operation Husky in July 1943 served the invasion and conquest of Sicily, the Operation Avalanche served landing in Italy even in Salerno . When Italy surrendered as a result of the landings, the Regia Marina was escorted to Malta by Force H. After the departure of the Italian fleet, it was no longer necessary to station heavy units in the Mediterranean. As a result, the Force H was disbanded, the battleships and aircraft carriers were assigned to the Home Fleet and the East Asia Fleet.
Battles and missions of the Force H
- Operation Catapult July 3, 1940
- Naval battle at Punta Stilo July 9, 1940
- Attack on Taranto November 12, 1940
- Sea battle at Cape Teulada November 27, 1940
- Escorted convoys including Operations Vigorous and Harpoon and Pedestal . November 1940 to August 1942.
- Operation Husky July 1943
- Operation Avalanche September 1943
List of heavy units of Force H
- HMS Ark Royal - aircraft carrier
- HMS Eagle - aircraft carrier
- HMS Illustrious aircraft carrier
- HMS Hood - battle cruiser
- HMS Renown - battle cruiser
- HMS Nelson - battleship
- HMS Resolution - battleship
- HMS Valiant - battleship