NEWS FROM THE FRONT
No pain no gain – but unfortunately unnecessary pain when the obvious dangers are ignored. Politicians suffer no pain – you do.
10th January, 1941 : Just after dawn, off the island of Patelleria, two Italian torpedo boats attack a British naval squadron escorting a convoy bound for Malta. The Italian torpedo boat Vega is sunk. Forty German aircraft, Ju-87s and Ju-88s, then go into action, and hit the aircraft carrier Illustrious, which is seriously damaged, and the cruiser Southampton, which is sunk by the British themselves because it is impossible to recover her. The battleship Warspite manages to escape the bombs, but two merchant ships in the convoy and other smaller escort vessels are hit. This is the first action by German aircraft in the Mediterranean (the bombers are part of the 10th Fliegerkorps stationed in Sicily)