Operation Retribution was the Second World War air and naval blockade designed to prevent the seaborne evacuation of Axis forces from Tunisia to Sicily in the final phase of the Tunisian Campaign. Axis forces were isolated in northern Tunisia and faced Operation Vulcan, the last Allied ground assault. The equivalent blockade of air evacuation was Operation Flax.
The British Admiral Andrew Cunningham—Allied naval commander—opened the operation on 7 May 1943 with the signal "Sink, burn and destroy. Let nothing pass". He had named the operation "Retribution" in recognition of the losses suffered by his destroyer forces during the Greek campaign, the German occupation of Greece and Operation Mercury during the capture of Crete.[1] The Germans were unable to mount a major naval rescue.
The predicament of the Axis had been recognised earlier, and a large-scale evacuation was considered possible. All available Allied naval light forces were ordered to concentrate at Malta or Bone, each with specified patrol areas.[note 1] To achieve this, convoy movements were restricted to release their escorts. The Italian Fleet was expected to intervene, and the battleshipsHMSNelson and Rodney and the aircraft carrierHMSFormidable were moved to Algiers in readiness for a major action.[2]
The Italian Fleet did not leave port, due to the presence of strong British forces in much of the Mediterranean. As a result, there was no large-scale or fleet-organised attempt to evacuate Axis forces by sea. Two supply ships en route to Tunisia were intercepted and sunk. Inshore flotillas of British Motor Torpedo Boats (MTBs) and American PT boats raided the waters around Ras Idda (Cape Bon) and Kelibia.[1]
The only significant threat to Allied ships came from friendly fire attacks by Allied aircraft, after which red recognition patches were painted on the vessels.[3]
The Allies captured 897 men, while an additional 630 Germans and Italians are thought to have escaped to Sicily and Sardinia. An unknown number drowned.[4]
Evacuations
Although Allied accounts long held that no organised Axis evacuation took place during Operation Retribution, both German and Italian naval records show that a number of small-scale withdrawals were attempted before the collapse of the Tunis–Bizerte perimeter. The most precise figures come from the German Kriegstagebuch der Seekriegsleitung (KTB) and the Italian Ufficio Storico della Marina Militare (USMM).
German evacuations
The KTB of 9 May 1943 recorded that Axis personnel had reached Trapani aboard “two tugs, several auxiliary motor minesweepers and harbour defence vessels”. On board were two officers, 25 NCOs and 1,500 men, for a total of 1,527 German troops evacuated by sea. The naval staff emphasised that this was an incomplete total and that reports from other ports had not yet arrived.[5] No further German sea evacuations are recorded after that date.
Italian evacuations
The Italian naval command Mariafrica carried out separate evacuation attempts, continuing until 11–12 May. According to USMM records, 468 Italian Navy personnel, including 85 officers, reached Sicily or Sardinia in the final week of the campaign, not counting the wounded carried by hospital ships.[6]
The hospital ship Aquileia evacuated 445 wounded from Kelibia to Trapani on 10–11 May, including men of Mariafrica and Rear Admiral Carlo Pinna. Her sister ship Virgilio had sailed on 7 May with several hundred wounded.[6]
Small craft also escaped: 153 naval personnel reached Trapani aboard Italian tugboats and German auxiliaries on 7–8 May; 25 sailors reached Tropea aboard a German tug; and three MTSM motor boats of the "Giobbe" detachment carried 18 personnel to Sicily on 12 May.[6]
The final and most successful Axis naval evacuation was the extraction of the Italian garrison of La Galite. Following repeated failed attempts due to storms and Allied air illumination, the 5th MAS Squadron (MAS 51, 52, 54, 55), commanded by Tenente di Vascello Curzio Castagnacci, reached the island on the night of 11–12 May. After exchanging recognition signals at Punta Madonna, the squadron embarked 105 soldiers and one Italian civilian and arrived safely at Cagliari at 06:00 on 12 May.[6]
Individual escapes
A small number of independent escapes are documented in German and Allied sources. These include 18 men of the s.Pz.Abt. 501 Werkstatt Kompanie reaching Sicily, and the widely reported escape of Kapitänleutnant Rudolf Nieger, who reached Sicily with six soldiers after hiding on small islands and using a captured Allied motorboat.[7][4]
Comparative assessment
Together, the KTB and USMM records show that Germany evacuated roughly 1,527 personnel by sea (almost all before 9 May), while Italy evacuated over 1,100 personnel, including 468 naval specialists and several hundred wounded, up to 12 May. These evacuations were too limited to affect the outcome of the Tunisian campaign but constituted the final organised Axis withdrawals from Africa. These archival figures also provide a contextual contrast to Admiral Cunningham’s wartime signal that “nothing got through”: while the Allied blockade was overwhelmingly effective, a small number of Axis vessels nevertheless succeeded in crossing to Sicily or Sardinia during the final days.[6][5]
Aftermath
Axis forces in North Africa, squeezed into a small area with minimal supplies, surrendered on 13 May. The north African ports were rapidly cleared for forthcoming Allied operations. Minesweeping flotillas from Malta cleared a channel through the Sicilian Channel minefields, reopening the Gibraltar–Alexandria route for the first time since May 1941 with substantial savings in shipping and escort use.[3]
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