Operation Herkules

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During World War II, Operation Herkules was the German plan for an airborne invasion of Malta with General Kurt Student in command of 2 airborne divisions, one being the Italian 2nd Parachute Division. The concept was approved at a meeting between Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini on 29 April - 30 April 1942.

The planning for this attack was extensive. Preparation began on three glider strips 25 miles south of Mount Etna. Over a thousand gliders and other aircraft were to cover the assault and drop one Italian and one German airborne division onto the southern portion of the island. The role of these divisions was to seize the higher ground behind Valletta and from there overrun an airfield and secure it for Axis troop-carrying aircraft to land with heavier weapons.

An attack at Marsa Scirocco bay was also planned as a diversion to cover the main assault by the Italian Navy which would land 2-3 assault divisions south of Valletta.

After the initial assault, seventy-thousand Italian troops would land by sea at two points to link up with the paratroops. A number of special operations were to be carried out by Axis commandos to destroy key targets in the hours before the airdrop.

The Regia Marina would be committed to a fleet action to protect the seaborne troops. This attack was to be over five times as large as the airborne attack on Crete.

A date near mid-July 1941 was set for the invasion partly to allow time to bring troops from other frontline positions and partly because Hitler believed the Italian Navy was no match for the Royal Navy.

Field Marshal Erwin Rommel supported the idea of this invasion, to the point that he personally asked Hitler to allow him to do the invasion under his command. Herman Goering was opposed to the invasion, as it would probably draw upon some units of his 'Praetorian Guard' units stationed in mainland Italy. Erwin Rommel's main reason for this invasion was to hinder the Allied troops in Africa, as well as remove the threat to the convoys heading to Rommel with supplies, oil, and men, of all which he was desperately low on. He put the emphasis on the attack to such an extreme that he was willing to move units from his front for the attack.

General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring was initially a supporter of Operation Herkules, but eventually was dissuaded when it became apparent that much of his Luftwaffe would be involved in the fighting. This, along with Hitler's lack of faith in the paratrooper divisions as a result of the Invasion of Crete, led to the scrapping of the plan.

Scheduled for September it was repeatedly delayed and finally canceled after the Axis defeat at Tobruk on November 11th.