How did Germans get to Africa in 1940?

Didn’t British Royal Navy owned seas? I know they kept their presence on Mediterranean Sea. And they must have known about German plans. And the only way they could get there was by sea. I know from coast from France to Africa is not a big distance but I think it would be relatively easy for Royal Navy to block, sink or divert German transports.
I’m not even sure ME-323 were operational in 1940. I heard RAF encountered them during defense of Malta but that’s much later. So no moving tanks over the air. Thanks, love your channel and i hope you are OK.

4 Likes

They did not transport Afrikakorps units to Africa in 1940 and they did not ship them from France. They sent main personnel of first initial two divisions of Afrikakorps in three or four fast convoys from Italy/Sicily down to Sicilian Narrows to Tripoli (main Italian deep harbour and supply base in Libya , the distance between Sicily and Tripoli is much shorter in Sicilian Channel) in February-April 1941. During this period Luftflotte X based in Sicily was staging heavy air raids on Malta that supressed its air/sea interdiction till May 1941 and 10th Submarine Flotilla of Royal Navy was just arrivng to recently constructed closed concentrate submarine pens in Malta. Royal Navy couldn’t be everywhere all the time , their main aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious was damaged in January 1941 and sent to US for repairs and her replacement HMS Formidabble was just arriving. Besides Royal Navy priorty was build up and transfer of Force W in Greece during that period after Greek goverment accepted British military aid and then to evacuate them from Greek mainland and Crete once German invasion started. And even if Bletchley Park had been reading German wireless communication in real time , Mediterranean and Middle East Command in Cairo would not wish to tip Germans that they were decrypting Enigma coded messages by attacking every Axis ship on sea even if they had the means to stop all convoys (they did not)

6 Likes