The Armed Rovers by Roy C. Nesbit

[Antipodean Andy]

The perfect book to get an overview of anti-shipping ops in the Med by the RAF particularly if, like me, you're planning to do a lot more reading on the subject. This book really sets the scene. A fair bit of it reads like "The next day four Beaufighters of 272 Sqn in the anti flak role accompanied eight Beauforts of 39 Sqn..." and then details of any successes or losses. Might not be your cup of tea but it does strike home how frenetic these ops were as the pace is relentless and before you know it, you've read a chapter!

As much as possible, Nesbit includes details of particular crews on each trip and there are some interesting anecdotes regarding particular attacks, evasions etc. This is all put in context by a good overview of what was going on in the theatre at that time. The flying is described matter of factly but Ihad to keep reminding myself that these guys rarely flew very high so any error of judgement often meant ploughing into the sea. Brave men indeed.

I thoroughly recommend The Armed Rovers to anyone looking for an overview of this aspect of the Mediterranean Theatre.

[Kyt]

I'd second everything Andy has said. It is a very well written book, and though tere aren't many "human interest" stories of the type written as personal memoirs, neither is it a dry theatre history. A nice balance in between.