June 1943: Pantelleria - the Axis-held fortress island blocked the invasion of Sicily

It is the 70th anniversary this month, when in June 1943 air power sent a message that would reverberate down the years to the present day. In three weeks of sustained aerial bombardment, Allied air forces forced the Axis garrison of the fortress Mediterranean island of Pantelleria, to surrender without any armed conflict on the ground.

In early 1943 in the planning for the invasion of Sicily, a major concern was that the fleet would have to sail close to the Axis-held Italian island of Pantelleria, which was a ‘Malta-like’ threat to the invasion fleet. It allowed the Axis to dominate both the air and sea routes between Tunisia and Sicily. It was critical for the Allies to achieve a dominant air superiority, so as to protect the open sea voyage and landings of a vast invasion fleet, which would be larger and more concentrated than Operation Torch in North Africa.

Pantelleria was about 50 miles from the Tunisian coast, about half-way to Sicily with a civilian population of some 10,000. Around 14 miles long and 5 wide, it possessed an airfield with modern, underground aircraft hangars, a garrison of some 12,000 Italian and 600 German troops, and 112 fortified gun emplacements. Pantelleria was both a trip-wire that would give advance warning of the invasion fleet by Axis reconnaissance aircraft, and a launching pad for damaging air strikes against the Allied ships, and potentially cause the invasion to be aborted.

Besides the threat of reconnaissance flights, some 80 or so Pantelleria-based aircraft could be rapidly increased by the Luftwaffe from Sicily and Italy. Axis aircraft known to be operating from Pantelleria included Italian Macchi 202 fighters, Savoia Marchetti 79 torpedo bombers, and the German, twin engined Messerschmitt Bf 110 fighters and fighter-bombers. The slow moving invasion fleet could be seriously damaged by air raids mounted from Pantelleria.