Operation C3: Hitler’s Plan to Invade Malta 1942

"Burtt offers an account of how an invasion might have unfolded and its consequences, by drawing on parallel events at other times and places...Definitely worth a read." ― The NYMAS Review

When writing his memoirs after World War II, German Generalfeldmarschall Albert Kesselring stated, “Italy’s missing her chance to occupy the island [of Malta] at the start of hostilities will go down in history as a fundamental blunder.”

It’s easy to see why this tiny 95 square mile island held such a prominent place in the war’s Mediterranean Theater. Located almost halfway between the British bases of Gibraltar and Alexandria, Egypt, and just 60 miles south of Sicily, her airfields and naval base stood directly in the path of Italy’s (and her German partner’s) line of communication from Europe to North Africa.

Operation C3 is a detailed study of the Axis 1942 plan to invade and take the island of Malta. The book examines the future combatants up to the Axis capture of Tobruk, in June 1942. The book then provides a realistic assessment of what would have had to happen if the Axis had decided to launch the invasion.

Operation C3 then provides a day-by-day battle narrative of the invasion as if it had occurred on Saturday, August 15, 1942. The battle narrative is based on the combatant’s actual plans from the Italian and Maltese archives. and the realistic appraisal of what could have happened when those plans collide.

A Reality & Analysis section is added after the battle narrative to discuss what really happened after Tobruk fell and why Operation C3 was never attempted.

John D. Burtt holds a Masters in both Nuclear Engineering and Military History. Recently retired from his job working with U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion, he has written and continues to write extensively on military subjects for Strategy & Tactics, World at War and Modern War Magazines for the past four decades. He edited the wargame review journal Paper Wars for 20+ years. He is a former sergeant in the United States Marine Corps and a Vietnam Veteran.