With Utmost Spirit: Allied Naval Operations in the Mediterranean, 1942-1945

Operation TORCH was the first major amphibious operation of the war in Europe, led by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Adm. Andrew B. Cunningham, Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, and others. The Allies seized the island of Sicily, landed at Salerno and Anzio, and established a presence along the coast of southern France. Barbara Brooks Tomblin chronicles the US Navy's and the Royal Navy's struggles to wrest control of the Mediterranean Sea from Axis submarines and aircraft, lift the siege of Malta, and open a through convoy route to Suez.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 608 pages
Publication date: 12 April 2022
Publisher: The University Press of Kentucky

In the nineteen months preceding the D-Day invasion of Normandy, Allied assault forces made their landing in North Africa as part of Operation TORCH, the first significant amphibious operation of the European war. Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, AUS, Adm. Andrew B. Cunningham, RN, Adm. H. Kent Hewitt, USN, and other leaders directed the Allies in putting pressure on the Axis by striking what Winston Churchill referred to as the "soft underbelly of Europe." The Allies took control of Sicily, made landings at Salerno and Anzio, and established a presence along the southern French coast.

With Utmost Spirit provides a new perspective on this pivotal naval theater of World War II. Barbara Brooks Tomblin details the US Navy's and the Royal Navy's efforts to wrest control of the Mediterranean Sea from Axis submarines and aircraft, to lift the siege of Malta, and to establish a through convoy route to Suez, while also providing ships, carrier air support, and landing craft for five successful amphibious operations. Tomblin examines official action reports, diaries, interviews, and oral histories to describe each of these operations in terms of ship-to-shore movements, air and naval gunfire support, logistics, countermeasures, antisubmarine warfare, and the establishment of ports and training bases in the Mediterranean. Firsthand accounts from the young officers and men who manned the ships provide essential details about Mediterranean operations and paint a vivid picture of the war at sea and off the beaches.

Weight: 932g
Dimension: 153 x 228 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780813184616