Theater of war Mediterranean

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Relief of the Mediterranean

Theater of war Mediterranean or Mediterranean Theater of Operations (MTO) describes various operations of tactical and z. Partly of strategic importance for the Second World War in the Mediterranean .

It should be noted that the fascist government of Italy under Mussolini established Italian Libya from 1934 , and also from 1935 Italian East Africa . When Italy entered the war against France towards the end of the German campaign in the west in June 1940, fronts to French North Africa and British Egypt emerged on the Suez Canal . Mussolini also attacked Albania and Greece . The Wehrmacht had to intervene in both locations in 1941 , so that further fronts opened up with the Balkan campaign and the African campaign . In the Balkans and from September 1943 after the Italian armistice with the Allies in Italy , German troops were tied up in the Mediterranean area until the end of the war in 1945.

The Western Allies had temporarily set up command and supply structures separate from Northern Europe for these theaters of war. In English it was originally called the North African Theater of Operations (NATO) and was initially the American military term for the conflict between the Allies and the Axis powers in North Africa . Today, however, we are dealing with the entire period between Italy's entry into the war and Victory Day in Europe (June 10, 1940 to May 8, 1945).

Command structures and military units

The Axis Powers

At first it was an Italian theater of war. In May 1940 there were a total of 285,000 soldiers on Ethiopian soil, including 85,000 Italians (91,000 a little later) and colonial troops. Under Mussolini's orders, these troops had to fight on their own. Its commander was Marshal Rodolfo Graziani .

When Germany entered the war in North Africa , the command structure finally changed. The Afrikakorps represented the first German ground troops in Africa that were formally still under the command of the Italians. In addition to motorized ground troops, Hitler also sent fighter machines, a few bombers, dive bombers and transport machines (parts of Luftflotte 2 under Albert Kesselring ). Initially in 1941 the 5th Light Division (later the 21st Panzer Division ), the 90th Light Africa Division and the 15th Panzer Division under Lieutenant General Erwin Rommel were in action.

The Allies

Allied command structure

The MTO's operational command was a combined US / British operational command called Allied Forces Headquarters (AFHQ) that planned and coordinated land, sea and air operations and command activities of the MTO. It was formed on September 12, 1942 to launch a combined British / American operation against the north and northwest coast of Africa ( Operation Torch ). The AFHQ was stationed in London from September to November 1942 . In November 1942 it was relocated to Algiers , Algeria , where it remained until June 1944. Then it moved to Caserta , Italy , where it stayed until July 1944. Between April 1944 and April 1947 it was then housed in Livorno , also in Italy.

In the spring of 1943, the following functional commands were subordinate to the AFHQ:

In February 1943 the authority of the AFHQ was expanded to include the British 8th Army under General Bernard Montgomery . Montgomery has held this position since August 1942.

The first Supreme Commander Allied (Expeditionary) Force was General Dwight D. Eisenhower . Shortly after the headquarters was established, expeditionary was removed from the title due to operational security. Then Eisenhower returned to the UK to take command of the units designated for Operation Overlord . He was replaced by Field Marshal Sir Henry Maitland Wilson . Wilson received the title of Supreme Commander, Mediterranean Theater of Operations . However, Wilson had been in command for less than a year since he was sent to Washington, DC in December 1944 to replace Field Marshal Sir John Dill of the British Joint Staff Mission , who had surprisingly died. Field Marshal Sir Harold Alexander , who was Supreme Commander and in command of the AFHQ until the end of the war , replaced Wilson.

From February 14, 1943, the Americans were responsible for the headquarters of the North African Theater of Operations, United States Army ( NATOUSA ) for administrative purposes . NATOUSA was renamed Mediterranean Theater of Operations, United States Army ( MTOUSA ) on November 1, 1944 . The British were in charge of General Headquarters Central Mediterranean Forces ( CMF ) from October 1, 1945 .

The Headquarters MTOUSA and the General Headquarters CMF were formally separated from the AFHQ on October 1, 1945. The AFHQ was finally abolished on September 17, 1947.

Allied troop units

The British Western Desert Force was a Commonwealth force in Egypt from 1940. It initially consisted of the 7th Armored Division commanded by Major-General Richard O'Connor and the Indian 4th Infantry Division . In 1940 there were around 30,000 men and 65 tanks. On January 1, 1941 she was in XIII. Corps renamed. After adding the XXX. Corps , the British 8th Army was formed. She received air support from the Desert Air Force under Arthur Coningham . From mid-1942, American air force units were also deployed in the region ( US Army Middle East Air Forces , later Ninth Air Force )

The British 1st Army was formed in north-west Africa after Operation Torch in late 1942 . Free French associations were also subject to it. The 2nd US Corps was directly subordinate to the 18th Army Group . The allied Northwest African Air Forces were mainly divided into the Northwest African Tactical Air Forces and the Northwest African Air Strategic Forces . The Mediterranean Air Command was also subordinate to the Malta Air Command and the British Middle East Air Command .

Campaigns and Operations

Allied operations in the MTO from 1942
South coast of the German Empire (1944)

Navy operations

It was about securing the supply routes for the land forces in the (occupied) countries around the sea. These include, in particular, the siege of Malta in 1940 , the destruction of the French fleet in Mers-el-Kébir (July 3) and the Battle of Taranto (November 11, 1940).

Southeast Europe

middle East

North africa

Southern Europe

losses

Dead and missing (here initially only North Africa)

  • German: 18,600 / 3,400
  • Italians: 13,700
  • British: 35,500
  • Americans: 16,500

Commemoration

Siege Bell Memorial in Valletta , Malta

See also

literature

  • David Jordan , Andrew Wiest : Atlas of the Second World War. From the Polish campaign to the battle for Berlin. German by Caroline Klima. Tosa, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-85492-972-2 .
  • Reinhard Stumpf : The war in the Mediterranean region 1942/43 - The operations in North Africa and in the central Mediterranean . In: The German Reich and the Second World War . Volume 6. Ed. Military History Research Office , Deutsche Verlagsanstalt, Stuttgart 1990, ISBN 3-421-06233-1 , pp. 569-757.
  • Ian Stanley Ord Playfair : The Mediterranian and the Middle East. Volume I, The Early Successes Against Italy, to May 1941 , London 1954, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, ISBN 1-84574-065-3 .
  • Ian Stanley Ord Playfair: The Mediterranian and the Middle East. Volume II, The Germans Come to the Help of Their Ally, 1941 , London 1956, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, ISBN 1-84574-066-1 .
  • Ian Stanley Ord Playfair: The Mediterranian and the Middle East. Volume III, September 1941 - September 1942, British Fortune reaches their Lowest Ebb. , London 1960, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, ISBN 1-84574-067-X .
  • Ian Stanley Ord Playfair: The Mediterranian and the Middle East. Volume IV, The Destruction of the Axis Forces in Africa , London 1966, Her Majesty's Stationary Office, ISBN 1-84574-068-8 .

Web links

Commons : World War II - Mediterranean, Middle East and Africa  - Collection of images, videos and audio files