Being there . . . on 3 September 1939 when Britain and her colonies declared war on Germanyafter ultimatums were ignored to cease all occupation activities in Danzig, and, to the south,the invasion of Poland. In Britain, the evacuation of women and children from the major citieswas well under way as a War Cabinet was quickly formed and announced in London. That sameearly afternoon, Winston Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, and a bit later theBritish passenger ship Athenia was sunk by a German U-boat with the loss of 112 lives,including 28 Americans. Britain was really at war! Two days later, 5 September, we, instead ofinstantly jumping in to support the best and greatest friend we ever had, proclaimed“neutrality”. Our president, Franklin D. Roosevelt knew, of course, we would inevitably bejoining Britain to cut Hitler’s jugular vein, even though by that late a date the Fuhrer may havegrabbed half the world. The American people wanted no part of a horrific world war cost:American boys and, still hard to come by American Depression cash.Meanwhile, in Italy, Benito Mussolini was hell-bent on making himself Emperor, or a modernCaesar, with the Fuhrer’s approval and admiration, of a New Fascist Empire. After all, in hiswords, “The Mediterranean is our Italian Lake. Because our dear Italia juts deep into it, all theseas and beaches surrounding our lands belong to us, the Italian people, especially since ourancestors sailed the waters and ruled all over its lands long before even the Phoenicians,Arabians, Hebrews, and North Africans. NO, the seas and their routes belong to us”. Suchboasting was ordinary by the dictator from the safety of his second floor Rome balcony. OnJune 10 th , 1941, the idiot declared war on Britain and France. Roosevelt responded, “We willextend to the opponents of force the material resources of our American nation.” Not until 11December 1941, would our nation begin war with Italy – – and Germany, on the same day! Andthis was only because both Axis nations declared war on us, and vice-versa! The world was onfire in what was becoming the worst calamity known to man.OSPREY PUBLISHING OFFERS SUPERB SYNOPSES OF THE TWO MAIN NAVAL FLEETS THAT RULEDMUSSOLINI’S “ITALIAN LAKE” – – THE ROYAL NAVY’S MEDITERRANEAN FLEET BASED ATALEXANDRIA, EGYPT, AND THE ITALIAN BATTLE FLEET, “LA SQUADRA”, THE PRIDE OF THE REGIAMARINA, AT LA SPEZIA, THE MAIN ANCHORAGE FOR ITALY’S BATTLESHIPS. IF READ TOGETHER,OR ONE AFTER THE OTHER FOR SERIOUS CONTRASTING, READERS WILL LEARN IN DETAIL EACHOF THE FLEET’S MAIN PURPOSE, FIGHTING POWER, METHODS OF DEPLOYMENT, COMBATSTRATEGIES, AND EXPERT ANALYSES. ALSO INCLUDED AT EACH TITLE’S COMCLUSION IS APRICELESS BIBLIOGRAPHY FOR FURTHER READING. SERIOUS NAVAL, WORLD WAR II, ANDGENERAL WAR DEVOTEE-ENTHUSIASTS UNDERSTAND AND APPRECIATE THE INESTIMABLEVALUE OSPREY PRESENTS OF THESE PARTICLAR CONTRASTING, HITHERTO UNATTEMPTEDBIBLIOGRAPHIC READS. . .Both reviewed and highly recommended by Don DeNevi“Royal Navy Home Fleet 1939 – 41 – – The last line of defense at Scapa Flow”, by AngusKonstam, Illustrated by Jim Laurier. Osprey Publishing/Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: 2024, 80
pages, Fleet 5 Series, 7 ¼” x 9 ¾”, $23. Visit, www.ospreypublishing.com.
“Italian Battle Fleet 1940 – 43 – – ‘La Squadra’, the pride of the Regia Marina”, by EnricoCernuschi, Illustrated by Edouard A. Groult. Osprey Publishing/Bloomsbury Publishing Plc: 2024,80 pages, Fleet 6 Series, 7 ¼” x 9 ¾”, $23. Visit, www.ospreypublishing.com.Naval Historian Angus Konstam, a full-time historian and Fellow of the Royal HistoricalSociety who lives in Orkney overlooking Scapa Flow, provides readers with full details of theHome Fleet’s fighting power, organization, roles, and battles in the crucial first years of WorldWar II when it was Britain’s most powerful fighting force. He explains the complexresponsibilities of the fleet, charged simultaneously with preventing the powerful German Navyfrom breaking out into the Atlantic, preparing to challenge any cross-Channel invasion force,and combating German naval operations in the North Sea. Home Fleet actions included the lossof HMS Hood, the sinking of the Bismarck, and countering the invasion of Norway, the biggestamphibious operation by the Germans in the war. As usual, Osprey, for its better books, assignsfrom its great collection of illustrators one of the very best to illustrate it. Here, they assign JimLaurier. Along with his brilliant artwork are 3D diagrams and maps.After Benito Mussolini gained power in the 1920s, he was intent upon reshaping the balanceof power in the Mediterranean, and perhaps even the Atlantic Ocean itself. The British andFrench fleets, even if combined, didn’t scare him. His plan was to trap and destroy their fleets in“our Lake” near Sicily. The core of his plan meant deploying his entire powerful battleship fleetknown in Italy as Regia Marina, the battleship fleet specifically as “La Squadra”. The wholeItalian Navy was given the supreme task of making the Mediterranean an Italian Sea once more.If Angus Konstam was Britain’s naval history star, Enrico Cernuschi was Italy’s. Now living inPavia, Italy, he has written dozens of books and over 500 articles, all in Italian, on “La Squadra”.Here, he presents a comprehensive overview of Mussolini’s proud fleet, drawing on both Italianand Allied primary sources to present his authentic picture of Italian battle actions and decisionmaking. His latest, here, covers a multitude of facts and details hitherto unpublished, i.e., LaSquadra’s codebreaking methods, the fleet’s logistics and the qualities and limitations of theItalian naval industry. Cernuschi not only provides a concise account and analysis of LaSquadra’s activities through the war, from famous battles to lesser-known actions, but also
offers interesting and valuable new insight into Italy’s great fleet of World War II.
