Convoy managed to bring fresh supplies to Malta

MALCOLM Goode takes a look back at what was happening in the Second World War 80 years ago this month...

OPERATION HALBERD

IN the Mediterranean, a large convoy of merchant ships left Gibraltar on September 24 for Malta, escorted by a powerful naval force under the command of Admiral Somerville.

The escort included three battleships – HMS Nelson, Rodney and the Prince of Wales – five cruisers and 18 destroyers and the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, an indication of how vital it was that the convoy reached Malta.

The Italian fleet set sail to intercept the convoy. However, once it discovered how powerful the convoy escort was it returned to base. Air attacks by Italian bombers and fighters damaged several of the ships. One of the merchant vessels was sunk when its crew was forced to scuttle the ship.

All other merchant ships made it to Malta. On September 27 an Italian S-84 aircraft hit the battleship Nelson with a torpedo. No serious damage was done to the ship.

On September 28 the convoy Operation Halberd sailed into Valletta Harbour almost intact. More than 50,000 tons of supplies were unloaded, giving the island provisions to hold out until May 1942.

OPERATION BARBAROSSA

THE German offensive into Russia was going as well as Hitler could have hoped, as Soviet forces began a fighting withdrawal from Kiev in the Ukraine.

The withdrawal had been delayed due to Stalin’s delay in abandoning the city. This enabled the Germans to cut off their escape routes. On September 19 the German army seized the city killing or capturing 665,000 men after 40 days of combat. On September 29, in a taste of things to come, approximately 34,000 Jews in Kiev were rounded up and executed.