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This revisionist history convincingly argues that the Regia Marina Italiana (the Royal Italian Navy) has been neglected and maligned in assessments of its contributions to the Axis effort in World War II. After all, Italy was the major Axis player in the Mediterranean, and it was the Italian navy and air force, with only sporadic help from their German ally, that stymied the British navy and air force for most of the thirty-nine months that Italy was a belligerent. It was the Royal Italian Navy that provided the many convoys that kept the Axis war effort in Africa alive by repeatedly braving attack by aircraft, submarine, and surface vessels. If doomed by its own technical weaknesses and Ultra (the top-secret British decoding device), the Italian navy still fought a tenacious and gallant war; and if it did not win that war, it avoided defeat for thirty-nine, long, frustrating months.
List of contents
Building a Navy
Opening Shots: Punta Stilo, Capo Spada, and Malta
British Harassment and Italian Perseverance
The War in Earnest
A Difficult Summer
Crisis and Resolution
Axis Dominance
Pyrrhic Victories
Winning the Battle, Losing the War
Assessing the Damage and Picking a Winner
Bibliography
Index
About the author
James J. Sadkovich
Summary
This revisionist history convincingly argues that the Regia Marina Italiana (the Royal Italian Navy) has been neglected and maligned in assessments of its contributions to the Axis effort in World War II.
