Steiner14 Posted December 24, 2004 Share Posted December 24, 2004 Originally posted by Elefant: Steiner, I am only reiterating that the decision to not take out Malta was Hitler's, Mussolini's et al. and not Rommels. Rommel clearly understood the importance of neutralizing Malta as most of his POL, reinforcements etc. ended up on the bottom of the Med from attacks originating from Malta and Force Z. Huge mistake for OKW to not invade Malta.Elefant, the OKW had planned and already started with the preparations to take Malta. Hitler clearly knew about the importance of Malta. The reason why the already running operation was cancelled, was Rommels unexpeted success at Tobruk, which indeed opened fantastic possibilities, if everything was put on one card and that as fast as possible (this is one of the big ironys of history, that it was Rommels success, that led to the wrong decision about Malta). Rommel was always good for taking high risks and Hitler even more. Nevertheless Hitler wanted to take Malta first and feared, that things would develop how they developed later. Hitler was initially right with his arguments but in the end, Hitler had the last word and he decided to follow Rommel. If you see it that way, it is right, it was in the end Hitler's wrong decision. [ December 24, 2004, 01:41 PM: Message edited by: Steiner14 ] 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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