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The Mediterranean U-boat Campaign lasted approximately from 21 September 1941 to 19 September 1944 during World War II. The Italians had failed to neutralize Malta as a British base, Axis supply convoys to North Africa suffered severe losses as a result. This in turn threatened the Axis armies' ability to fight. The Allies were able to successfully keep their armies supplied including Malta. The Kriegsmarine aimed at isolating Malta so as to disrupt British supply convoys to the island. As the Allies gained the upper hand, U-boat operations became targeted at the various landings in southern Europe. Some 60 German U-boats made the hazardous passage into the Mediterranean Sea in World War II. Only one completed the journey both ways.〔Paterson, Lawrence - ''U-Boats in the Mediterranean 1941-1944'', 2007, Chatham Publishing, ISBN 9781861762900, pp. 19 and 182.〕〔http://uboat.net/boats/u26htm〕 Karl Dönitz, the Commander-in-Chief, U-boats, ''Befehlshaber der Unterseeboote'' (BdU) was always reluctant to send his boats into the ''Mittelmeer'', but he recognized that natural 'choke points' such as the Straits of Gibraltar were more likely to result in shipping being found and attacked than relying on their location in the vast Atlantic wastes at that stage in the early years of the war. The U-boats were sent to assist the Italians, although many were attacked in the Strait of Gibraltar (of which nine were sunk while attempting passage and 10 more were damaged). Had these U-boats been deployed in the Atlantic, or directly along the coasts of Britain, Germany would have had an advantage. The Mediterranean is a clear and calm body of water which made escape more difficult for the U-boats.〔Paterson, 11th photo caption, between pages 74 and 75〕 The Axis failed in their objective. ==Previous experience== The Kriegsmarine had acquired some knowledge of the area; Dönitz was an officer aboard ''UB-68'' which had been sunk in the region in World War I.〔Paterson, p. 6〕 U-boats had also served in the Spanish Civil War. The Republicans, with twelve submarines, opposed the Nationalists, who had none; so the presence of German U-boats was most welcome. The first two vessels, ''U-33'' and ''U-34'', under the codename ''Training Exercise Ursula'', left Wilhelmshaven on 20 November 1936. Both submarines sailed down the English Channel and slipped into the Mediterranean on the night of 27 November. They were soon in action, ''U-34'' fired a single torpedo at a Republican destroyer in the evening of 1 December. The projectile missed, impacting on rocks. The boat, under ''Leutnant zur See'' Harald Grosse, tried again on 5 and 8 December, with an equal lack of success. ''U-33'' fared no better; her commander was frustrated by the absence of target identification or defensive movement of his intended victims. Only one vessel was sunk by the U-boats, the Republican submarine ''C-3'', which was attacked by ''U-34'' on 12 December. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Mediterranean U-boat Campaign (World War II)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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