Operation Judgment, the air raid on Taranto, formed part of the wider Operation MB8. Convoys sailed from Egypt toward Crete, mainland Greece and Malta, while forces from Gibraltar headed toward Malta and Alexandria. Hundreds of ships moved across the Mediterranean and approached the central area at roughly the same time. Reports from flying boats, submarines and radio-equipped fishing vessels therefore presented Italian headquarters with several plausible British objectives. Cunningham used those simultaneous movements to conceal the purpose of the carrier force.
Chapter · 1:21:01-1:22:44
Operation MB8 hides the real objective
Cunningham used overlapping convoys and fleet movements across the Mediterranean to make Taranto only one possibility among many.