Volumes such as Confronting Italy and Between Hostile Shores present Royal Navy operational reports in book form. They reproduce material held by The National Archives instead of retelling the campaigns as narrative history. The books contain about ninety percent of the relevant documentation discussed here, so they offer a practical substitute for readers unable to visit the archive. They also establish the source basis for the later accounts of Calabria, Sirte, Harpoon, and Pedestal.
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Published operational reports open the Royal Navy archive
Confronting Italy and Between Hostile Shores reprint most of the Royal Navy's Mediterranean operational reports. They make the primary documents accessible to readers away from The National Archives.