Hello and welcome to another episode of the World War II podcast I'm Angus Wallace.

Back in episode 7 I talked to Alexander Fitzgerald Black about his MA thesis which focused on the Allied air

campaign in support of Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, which, if you are interested, has now been released as a book, Eagles over Husky.

There's a link on the website. Alex and I have kept in touch and have always said we should do another episode together

discussing the Mediterranean campaign.

I was struggling to pin down a topic when Alex suggested I pick up a copy of

Douglas Portche's book, The Path to Victory, which focuses on the Mediterranean theatre as a whole.

It was a bit of a light bulb moment for me, so we've decided to look at the Mediterranean strategy.

I appreciate that sounds a little unspecific. It was a vast theatre but we'll see where it gets us. But before we start, I'd like to take a moment

to thank all those people who have become patrons of the podcast. They help me find the time to work on the show. I hope you guys

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that I try to put out that a history related.

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Well, Alex, welcome back and congratulations on the book.

Let's start by me posing this.

It struck me that in 1940, Britain didn't so much have a strategy

as a defence plan for the Mediterranean. The Germans had no plans, so it was up to the Italians, who had goals but seemed

unsure of strategy. What do you think? Would that be fair?

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