Bombers over Sand and Snow

205 Group RAF provided the only mobile force of heavy night bombers in the Mediterranean theater in the Second World War. It operated mainly from bases in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia and Italy, with occasional excursions to Malta, Greece and Iraq, attacking tactical and strategic targets according to the demands of the wider war in the theater. The force was relatively small when compared with the numbers of aircraft available to Bomber Command in the Western European theater, and it carried on using the venerable Vickers Wellington long after this aircraft had been relegated to the training role in the United Kingdom.

Like their UK-based counterparts the night bombers were intended to operate in a strategic role, bombing targets away from the immediate battlefront. However, the demands of the war in the Middle East and Mediterranean soon diverted the bombers from their strategic role and saw them operating much closer to the front line in support of the hard pressed ground forces.