OPERATION PEDESTAL: THE FLEET THAT BATTLED TO MALTA 1942

Hastings, Max

ISBN 10: 000836494X / ISBN 13: 9780008364946

Published by William Collins, 2021

About this Item

1st 2021. Fine condition in a nearly fine dustwrapper. Operation Pedestal - one of the bloodiest sea battles of Britain's war, ordered by Churchill to save Malta. Limited Signed Edition. Navy boards, silver title to spine. B/w photos. SIGNED by the author (no dedication) to half-title page. Pictorial dustwrapper is lightly scuffed to rear panel and has a 'signed by the author' sticker to front panel. Packaged with care and promptly dispatched! Seller Inventory # 1824165

Bibliographic Details

Title: OPERATION PEDESTAL: THE FLEET THAT BATTLED ...

Publisher: William Collins

Publication Date: 2021

Binding: Hardback

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: SIGNED - please see description for details.

Edition: First edition.

About this title

Synopsis:

The Sunday Times bestseller

‘One of the most dramatic forgotten chapters of the war, as told in a new book by the incomparable Max Hastings’ DAILY MAIL

In August 1942, beleaguered Malta was within weeks of surrender to the Axis, because its 300,000 people could no longer be fed. Churchill made a personal decision that at all costs, the ‘island fortress’ must be saved. This was not merely a matter of strategy, but of national prestige, when Britain’s fortunes and morale had fallen to their lowest ebb.

The largest fleet the Royal Navy committed to any operation of the western war was assembled to escort fourteen fast merchantmen across a thousand of miles of sea defended by six hundred German and Italian aircraft, together with packs of U-boats and torpedo craft. The Mediterranean battles that ensued between 11 and 15 August were the most brutal of Britain’s war at sea, embracing four aircraft-carriers, two battleships, seven cruisers, scores of destroyers and smaller craft. The losses were appalling: defeat seemed to beckon.

This is the saga Max Hastings unfolds in his first full length narrative of the Royal Navy, which he believes was the most successful of Britain’s wartime services. As always, he blends the ‘big picture’ of statesmen and admirals with human stories of German U-boat men, Italian torpedo-plane crews, Hurricane pilots, destroyer and merchant-ship captains, ordinary but extraordinary seamen.

Operation Pedestal describes catastrophic ship sinkings, including that of the aircraft-carrier Eagle, together with struggles to rescue survivors and salvage stricken ships. Most moving of all is the story of the tanker Ohio, indispensable to Malta’s survival, victim of countless Axis attacks. In the last days of the battle, the ravaged hulk was kept under way only by two destroyers, lashed to her sides. Max Hastings describes this as one of the most extraordinary tales he has ever recounted. Until the very last hours, no participant on either side could tell what would be the outcome of an epic of wartime suspense and courage.