Hello. I am Barbara Brooks Tomblin, historian and author interested in WWII in the Med. I am working on an article about the second Battle of Sirte, any new thoughts?
I'm very interested in what you can come up with, my main sources on the Sirte battles are pretty dated (Iachino's book and Roskill). There seems to be a number of pretty good Italian naval military historians/researchers lately but nothing recent specific to second Sirte that I recall (last two I read were Duisburg convoy and the action off Pantelleria/Mezzo Giugno).
Hello and welcome to the forum. I had an uncle who was at the second Battle of Sirte, he was in the destroyer HMS Kingston and for his actions was awarded the DSM.
Hi Barbara and welcome, TiredOldSoldier is right - there are some nice books, in Italian language, concerning the first and second Sirte battles. For instance, the works of Giorgio Giorgerini. Unfortunately, I don't know if these books are available in English. Peter, if I correctly remember, HMS Kingston was hit from the Littorio and then attacked from Italian and German bombers.
Giorgio Giorgerini and Enrico Cernuschi are the ones I was thinking about, Iachino is interesting, after all he was commanding one side, but self apologetic. Older sources like Romeo Bernotti and Frederich Ruge (Kriegsmarine commander in Italy at the time) add a little of "the big picure". Do you read Italian ? most of my book collection is in that language.
Giorgio Giorgerini and Enrico Cernuschi are the ones I was thinking about, Iachino is interesting, after all he was commanding one side, but self apologetic. Older sources like Romeo Bernotti and Frederich Ruge (Kriegsmarine commander in Italy at the time) add a little of "the big picure". Do you read Italian ? most of my book collection is in that language. Hi, Being Italian, I may help you to understand paragraphs or sentences in my language, if you desire to. Yes, these ones were the historians I was thinking about...
Yes, I could use help with the Italian sources. I have most of the older sources and latest books including O Hara's Struggle for the Middle Sea, Greene and Massignani, and also found some eye witnesses on BBC People's war project. Plus an eyewitness piece in the NY Times in 1942. Recollections of Italian officers and men are hard to find however.There is one at Regia Marina Italiana site.
Barbara I sent you a PM. There is an interesting side episode in a book by Cpt. Walter Ghetti's about Littorio's float plane, for once there were no British fighters so it kept reporting until it had to head for land because of lack of fuel. The crew (pilot Cpt. Scarpetta and observer T.V. Micali) attempted a landing at 19.40 mear Misurata in a strong southern wind and could not be recovered, the two officers held on to the plane's wreck in heavy seas until finally raching land on the 24th 44 hours after ditching!.
TiredOldSoldier: Great story! we have so few from the Italian side. I will try to find Ghetti's book. New question for everyone: Capt. Poland destroyers raced to support Micklethwait' destroyers and all sixteen of Poland's ships fired "under centralized control." I would love more info / insight on what that actually entailed. Radar? Barbara
The book I was referring to is a four volume large format history of the Regia in WW2, there'se only a few paragraphs on second Sirte. The books are interesting as they holds lots of small interesting episodes like that one. I wonder about that "centralized control" doesn' look very effective as AFAIK no Italian ships were hit. Iachino forwards the suspicion that the British ships had specially reinforced smoke equipment, and that Vian conducted smoke training off Alexandria before the battle, is there any evidence of that? . In his pre-battle planning he calculated that intercept could not be before 15.00 (historically it was 14:25 for the cruisers and 16:30 for Littorio) so limiting the duration of the surface engagement and wanted to detach a cruiser squadron to Suda to anticipate that but nothing came of it. He also criticises the decision to send a battleship an 3 cruisers as intecept force instead of six cruisers as on Febbruary 14th when no ships made it to Malta. Of course lots of this may be hindsight, but a cruiser force would probably have produced something like the action off Pantelleria where the smokescreen was a lot less effective. BTW should we create a new thread and ask an admin to move this? it could develop in something quite nice and it would be a pity to leave it buried in the "user introductions". Another interesting sideline, apparently the first sighting of the British force on the 21st was not from recce planes but from an air convoy of six Ju 52s and a Me 110 from Suda to North Africa at 17:00.
Dear Barbara, As promised, here are some Italian books concerning this battle: Arrigo Petacco, "Le battaglie navali nel Mediterraneo nella Seconda guerra mondiale", Oscar Storia Mondadori, Milano 1992 (pp. 165-173, with a diagram of the second battle of the Sirte). Giorgio Giorgerini, "La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta, 1940-1943", Oscar Storia Mondadori, Milano 2001 (pp. 350-360). Giorgio Giorgerini, "Da Matapan al Golfo Persico. La Marina Militare Italiana dal Fascismo alla Repubblica", Oscar Storia Mondadori, Milano 2003. This book covers the history of our Navy in WWII in a wider way, obviously enlighting the behaviour and the choices of adm. Iachino. Gianni Rocca, "Fucilate gli ammiragli. La tragedia della Marina Militare Italiana nella Seconda Guerra Mondiale", Oscar Storia Mondadori, Milano 1987 (from p. 245, concerning adm. Iachino). I hope this will help.
The main ones I have are: Specific to the battle: Adm. Iachino Le due Sirti - Mondadori 1955 (I have four of his books all pubblished by Mondadori) General Regia Marina WW2 Capt. W. Ghetti, Storia della Maria italiana nella seconda guerra mondiale - Gionanni de Vecchi ed. 1974 Vittorio di Sambui, Match pari fra due grandi flotte - Musia 1976 (AFAIK he was a midshipman on Littorio and reports some personal experiences on the battle) I also have Petacco's and Rocca'sbook cited , the later has something on the controversy on Iachino's conduct of the battle. Naval histories WW2 in Italian (those in English like Roskill and Morrison you probably have easy access to) Adm. F, Bernotti La guerra sui mari - Belforte Livorno 1947 Adm. Friederich Ruge, La guerra sul mare 1939-45 (Der Seekrieg) - Garzanti 1971 A. Santoni, Il vero traditore - Mursia 1981 (Very good research on the role of ULTRA in the Med. there is a little on 2nd Sirte where he reports 11 messages) BTW: did you try contacting the Ufficio Storico? Marina Militare
