基座行动:1942年向马耳他作战的舰队 Operation Pedestal: The Fleet That Battled to Malta, 1942

基本信息

Publisher：Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (April 18, 2023)

Language：English

Paperback：496 pages

ISBN-10：0062980149

ISBN-13：978-0062980144

Item Weight：1.4 pounds

Dimensions：6 x 1.25 x 9 inches

页面参数仅供参考，具体以实物为准

书籍简介

"以二战期间的一个重要拐点为背景，对致命的危险进行了目击。" ——《华尔街日报》。

知名历史学家马克斯·黑斯廷斯（Max Hastings）现在以平装本的形式再现了第二次世界大战中惊心动魄的事件之一： 基地行动是英国为拯救其在马耳他的部队免遭饥饿而采取的行动--这是一个关于勇气、毅力、损失和战胜一切困难的故事。

1940年，当涉及到地中海地区时，希特勒有两个选择：不参与，或者投入足够的力量将英国人从中东驱逐出去。违背他的将军们的建议，元首犯了一个重大的战略错误。他命令德国国防军夺取克里特岛，让英国的长期堡垒马耳他继续留在盟军手中。1941年秋天，皇家海军和皇家空军在英国情报部门的帮助下，利用该岛对德国人发动了一场惩罚性战役，击沉了他们75%以上的运往北非的补给船。

但到1942年春天，英国人失去了他们的优势。在4月和5月，德国空军在马耳他投下的弹药比伦敦在闪电战中收到的弹药还要多。1942年，英国试图通过护航船队补给和增援该岛的一系列努力都失败了。英国潜艇和水面战舰被撤回，剩余部队处于饥饿的边缘。

《基座行动 》记录了英国随后为拯救这些部队而进行的任务。在8月的12天里，德国和意大利部队在战争中激烈的战斗之一中与英国空军和海军舰队对峙，而装满物资的船只则被费力地分割和分散。只有少数盟军船只成功，其中重要的是SS Ohio号，它为马耳他的士兵运送了急需的燃料。

正如黑斯廷斯所表明的那样，虽然德国人声称取得了胜利，但最终获胜的是英国人，因为马耳他仍然是帮助导致纳粹失败的一个重要资产。虽然皇家海军再也没有尝试过如此规模的行动，但黑斯廷斯认为，如果没有8月的那支护航船队，马耳他的英国人就不会幸存下来。在残酷的战争核算中，这个代价是值得付出的。

“An eye-level view of mortal danger set against a major inflection point during World War II." -- Wall Street Journal

Now in paperback, renowned historian Max Hastings recreates one of the most thrilling events of World War II: Operation Pedestal, the British action to save its troops from starvation on Malta—an action-packed tale of courage, fortitude, loss, and triumph against all odds.

In 1940, Hitler had two choices when it came to the Mediterranean region: stay out, or commit sufficient forces to expel the British from the Middle East. Against his generals’ advice, the Fuhrer committed a major strategic blunder. He ordered the Wehrmacht to seize Crete, allowing the longtime British bastion of Malta to remain in Allied hands. Over the fall of 1941, the Royal Navy and RAF, aided by British intelligence, used the island to launch a punishing campaign against the Germans, sinking more than 75 percent of their supply ships destined for North Africa.

But by spring 1942, the British lost their advantage. In April and May, the Luftwaffe dropped more bombs on Malta than London received in the blitz. A succession of British attempts to supply and reinforce the island by convoy during the spring and summer of 1942 failed. British submarines and surface warships were withdrawn, and the remaining forces were on the brink of starvation.

Operation Pedestal chronicles the ensuing British mission to save those troops. Over twelve days in August, German and Italian forces faced off against British air and naval fleets in one of the fiercest battles of the war, while ships packed with supplies were painstakingly divided and dispersed. In the end only a handful of the Allied ships made it, most important among them the SS Ohio, carrying the much-needed fuel to the men on Malta.

As Hastings makes clear, while the Germans claimed victory, it was the British who ultimately prevailed, for Malta remained a crucial asset that helped lead to the Nazis’ eventual defeat. While the Royal Navy never again attempted an operation on such scale, Hasting argues that without that August convoy the British on Malta would not have survived. In the cruel accountancy of war, the price was worth paying.

作者简介

马克斯-黑斯廷斯是27本书的作者，其中大部分是关于战争的。他于1945年出生于伦敦，在成为记者之前，曾就读于牛津大学学院。1967年，他在美国担任世界新闻学会研究员，然后留下来报道1968年的美国大选。此后，他在BBC电视台和英国报纸担任记者，报道了11次冲突，包括越南、1973年日战争和1982年南大西洋战争。他的重要著作是《轰炸机司令部》，于1979年在英国和美国出版。此后，他又撰写了《越南》、《灾难》、《军备竞赛》、《报复》、《温斯顿的战争》、《朝鲜战争》和《毁灭》等作品。1986年至2002年期间，他曾担任英国《每日电讯报》的主编，后又担任《伦敦标准晚报》的编辑。他的书籍和新闻报道都获得了许多奖项，包括2012年10万美元的普利兹克图书馆终身成就奖，以及2019年美国对外关系委员会因《越南》获得的阿瑟-罗斯铜奖。他与妻子佩妮住在英国伯克郡，有两个长大的孩子，夏洛特和哈利。马克斯说："我很幸运，能够靠做我喜欢的事情来谋生：旅行和听世界各地的人讲述不可思议的故事，然后写下他们在战争中的经历，此时人类处于好和坏的状态。在他的战地记者生涯中可怕的时刻中，他提到了1973年10月在戈兰高地跟踪被围困的以色列军队，以及1975年在越南报道后几周，在撤离时飞出美国大使馆大院。

Max Hastings is the author of twenty-seven books, most of them about war. Born in London in 1945, he attended University College, Oxford before becoming a journalist. In 1967 he was a World Press Institute Fellow in the United States, then stayed to report the 1968 US election. Thereafter he worked as a reporter for BBC TV and British newspapers, covering eleven conflicts including Vietnam, the 1973 Yom Kippur war and the 1982 South Atlantic war. His first major book was BOMBER COMMAND, published in Britain and the US in 1979. He has since authored such works as VIETNAM, CATASTROPHE, ARMAGEDDON, RETRIBUTION, WINSTON'S WAR, THE KOREAN WAR AND INFERNO. Between 1986 and 2002 he served as editor-in-chief of the British Daily Telegraph, then editor of the London Evening Standard. He has won many awards both for his books and his journalism, including the 2012 $100,000 Pritzker Library prize for lifetime achievement, and the 2019 Bronze Arthur Ross medal of the US Council For Foreign Relations for VIETNAM. He lives in Berkshire, UK, with his wife Penny and has two grown-up children, Charlotte and Harry. Max says: 'I am lucky enough to have been able to earn my living doing the things I love most: travelling and hearing incredible stories from people all over the world, then writing about their experiences in war, when mankind is at both its best and worst'. Among the scariest moments of his career as a war correspondent, he cites following the embattled Israeli army on the Golan Heights in October 1973, and reporting the last weeks in Vietnam in 1975, before flying out of the US Embassy compound in its final evacuation.