Operation Pedestal: A Times Book of the Year 2021

I should perhaps start by saying that I much enjoy Sir Max Hastings' military histories, of which I have almost a dozen in my study, and I must confess to liking this latest offering. It is a fast-paced and gripping account of what was, in my personal opinion, the critical naval battle in the Mediterranean Theatre in World War II [pace those members of the Fleet Air Arm who would propose Taranto or Cape Matapan]. That said, the book reads like an article in a popular newspaper, although I suspect that his writing style owes much to Sir Max's journalistic background.However, his views, as expressed in this volume have a continued a somewhat 'revisionist' trend in his writings (which was already apparent in some of his earlier books, such as 'Chastise'), which is accompanied by what seem to me to be what can only be characterised as 'socialist' (perhaps that should read 'populist') views; as evidenced by his frequent denigration of senior British commanders, largely I would contend, on the basis of critical accounts supplied by very junior Royal Naval and Merchant Naval personnel.As a former Royal Naval Officer, I studied Operation Pedestal during my initial training at BRNC Dartmouth and again, somewhat later, while attending the Senior Staff Course at RNC Greenwich and have read about it extensively in the succeeding years. Furthermore, having served in the Type 42 destroyer HMS MANCHESTER in the 1980's, I am fully conversant with the fate in 1942 of its unfortunate predecessor; having met in person [on 'Old Manchesters' Day] almost a hundred of the ship's company who served in that WW2 vessel.To me, Sir Max also appears ambivalent about which side won the battle, whereas I am confident that, despite its severe losses, the Royal Navy came out on top. I would assert this because Operation Pedestal achieved its aim, which was to resupply Malta sufficiently to enable the island to sustain itself until the Battle of El Alamein and Operation Torch [both of which were already foreseen as Pedestal was being planned and mounted] transformed the strategic situation in the Mediterranean.The above relatively minor criticisms aside, I would recommend this volume to any serious student of naval history; not least for the photographs, quite a few of which were new (to me at least). However (admitting that this is a personal bugbear), the book would be improved by the addition of more detailed charts - one say for each of the critical days of the fight [i.e. 11 to 13 August inclusive] - showing as a minimum the extent of the Axis minefields, the tracks of the merchant ship "stragglers" and "rompers" and the radii of action of the British and Axis bomber and fighter aircraft.In light of the foregoing, I feel that I should award 'Pedestal' four stars, not five.

A nail biting account of 'Opertation Pedestal' by Max Hastings who manages to provide his often insightful analysis of the success and failures of such militray conflicts.

As my father was on the Indomitable, I was drawn to reading this asap. I am very impressed by the research that has been carried out and the detail of participants actions on both sides and at all levels makes the account both readable and gripping. I was tempted to give it top rating but though I like the conclusions, I felt that in the earlier parts of the book I was being given a little to much opinion as fact rather than being presented arguments that would enable me to come to my own conclusions. I nevertheless highly recommend this book to anyone interested in this critical period of history.

Very well written and interesting book. Dives into various sketches of submariners, pilots, merchantmen, seamen and gives a very personal account of each. If I had any criticism it's a bit relentless in its vignette style so you sometimes lose perspective of where you are and what is happening in wider context. This would be easily fixed with a few more of the clear diagrams. Otherwise a great book.

As always, Max Hastings gives you the facts in a very readable way but few can convey the terror of being bombed, shot at and terrified day and night.However, he makes a very good job of conveying just that!

I’ve purchased every book written by Max Hastings since his seminal The Battle for the Falklands, and this is the first I’ve been disappointed with.In the introduction he says that the story of Operational Pedestal has been neglected, but I would dispute that. Just a month after the PQ17 disaster, the RN (and Merchant Marine) gambled all on ‘Malta’, and had its finest hour in WW2 – excluding campaigns such as the Battle of Atlantic it is the one instance where the RN (and Merchant Navy) almost alone fought a Battle that had a clear and direct influence on the course of the war. The failure of Pedestal and the subsequent surrender of Malta would have been a catastrophe that made the loss of Force Z in Dec 1941 seem just a slightly unfortunate event for the British Empire. The lengthy (and not complete) bibliography shows that Sir Max is hardly the first historian in recent years to recognise the importance of the convoy.When I try to understand why the book is disappointing compared to his previous books, there are several clear reasons. (1) He has not been able to interview any participants in the events described, they are sadly now all deceased. (2) He has not been able to include any significant new information. (3) He has not bought a new /fresh/revisionist/thought-provoking perspective to the battle.In the introduction he admits to a reliance on “testimony given by Pedestal survivors to 20th – and early 21st – authors”, and the extensive use of secondary sources is self-evident and very unusual compared to his other works. To fair, he is clearly aware of the problem as the first sentence of the section Acknowledgements states “Some wit observed that to borrow from one source is plagiarism, while to borrow from many is research”.Hopefully Sir Max will now avoid the almost overly documented WW2, and either look at more recent events or perhaps put his almost unrivalled knowledge and analytical skills to work on 19th century campaigns.

I like the depth of information given and the coverage of the secrets uncovered. A good read.

Obviously well researched. A wealth of information. Perhaps to much detail about individuals which made reading a bit tedium at times. Perhaps a summary periodically to indicate where the convoy was, how many ships still there. Merchant and support vessels . How far to go and prospects ahead. However a good read indicating the heroic efforts to supply the George Cross Island.