The backgound
to the Fateful Voyage
The Thistlegorm
took part in the secret mission code-named Operation
Crusader which was intended to deliver
supplies to the 200,000 strong British 8th Army
during the Second World War. The army was stationed
in Egypt at the time as well as Libya, which
was then known as "Cyrenaica"
Libya had already
been occupied by the Italians in 1912 so by
the start of WWII it had become an important
base for the Italian and German alliance troops
- or the so called Axis. The Axis troops
were ordered to press East and and conquer the
strategically important areas of Alexandira
and Suez.
By September 1940,
the Italian 10th Army had made considerable
advances which lead to the first British offense
from December 1940 to February 1941. On the
31st March there was a big Axis counter-offensive
under the command of Rommel which pushed the
British forces back and re-occupied the whole
of Cyrenaica.
A second British
offensive was scheduled for November 1941, but
this needed considerable supplies and equipment
in order to happen. The Axis troops in Cyrenaica
at that time completely controlled the entire
east ern Mediterranean, but Egypt was still
n the hands of the British. This meant that
the safest way to to deliver supplies to the
port of Alexandria was to circumnavigate around
the entire continent of Africa, past the Cape
of Good Hope and then sail back up through the
Red Sea via the Suez Canal- a considerable detour
but a much safer option than running the gauntlet
of the German and Italian Navy and Air Forces
Operation Crusader
was planned as a convoy of at least 16 vessles,
inlcuding the Thistlegorm which was to take
this long route via Africa and deliver supplies
to the troops for the new offensive. Unfortunately
the Germans had deployed a squadron to control
the Suez Canal and the Red Sea routes. The Thistlegorm's
fate was thus sealed...
The
last voyage of the Thistlegorm
