This is an excellent book with a silly title. The gamble in the Mediterranean was not Hitler’s; it was Churchill’s. His decision to reinforce the Middle East at a time when the seemingly invincible might of the German army had reached to within 22 miles of the British coast is now generally regarded as audacious and by many historians, including Douglas Porch, as sagacious. At the time, however, it looked more like a lunatic’s gamble.

Nevertheless, neither the Italian army nor the navy proved to be a match for Wavell’s army and Cunningham’s fleet. The Italians even failed to overcome the Greeks. To avoid a potentially fatal exposure of his southern flank, Hitler was inevitably sucked into the campaign and Rommel made his appearance in the desert.

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