Page 254 - Il Mediterraneo quale elemento del Potere Marittimo - Atti 16-18 settembre 1996

240 ]. DAVJD BROWN

Warships were pressed into service to carry fuel and ammunition, but on the last
day of che month three destroyers were sunk by air attack, one of them, che Lampo,
was a veteran of 12 convoy escort missions.
No escorced merchant ship got through to Tunisia between 17 Aprii and 4
May, when the Belluno, one of the ships transferred from the French merchant ma-
rine arrived in Tunis. She was stili there two days later when the army authorities
destroyed the port facilities. No mass evacuation of croops was attempted- che Axis
armies had been ordered to resist to che last man and they fought on unti! 13 May.
Tunisia, which it had been hoped in November 1942 would be in Allied hands
within 42 days, had taken 181 days to conquer. The credit for the proÌongation
of che defence must go to che Axis armies, who fought with dogged skill against
overwhelming odds, o n the ground and in che air. But i t is equally undeniable that
without che achievement and sacrifice of che Italian Navy and Merchant Marine
this defence would bave been impossible.
In spite of grievous losses in earlier campaigns, the Italian Navy's major escort
vessels made 290 sorties co escort 138 outbound and 104 return convoys, losing
12 of their number in che process; the destroyer Lampo, lost o n ber thirteenth mis-
sion, has been mentioned above, but tribute should also be paid to the torpedo-
boats Clio and Groppo, which survived 14 and. 16 round trips, respectively-few ships
in any Second World War Navy saw such intensive employment in such dange-
rous waters.
The Allied shipping losses at sea were higher than those of the Axis, 400 000
tons being sunk, compared with 273 000 cons, and these were a serious sacrifice,
for they coincided with the most criticai six months of che Battle of the Atlantic.
Compensation was quick in coming, for even before the invasion of Sicily in July
1943 the first direct Gibraltar-Suez convoy for three years passed Malta, cutting
some 7000nm off che previous voyage co che Middle East. The saving in passage
cime was the equivalent of more than the merchant ship tonnage which had been
lost supporting the North African campaign.
In che last reckoning, however, the Alli ed losses in winning contro! of a conci-
nent were affordable whereas those of the Axis were not, for their merchanc ships
and warships were by 1943 irreplaceable and Italy had, by supporting her Ally
without stint, lost a Navy.