Cunningham read the growing German air presence as a threat to British sea communications rather than only to individual warships. The January attack on the Suez Canal inflicted no direct damage, but unexploded bombs still stopped traffic for twenty-four hours. Convoys coming around the Cape and up the Red Sea depended on that passage to reach Alexandria, the only Egyptian port able to handle their volume. A chokepoint could therefore be operationally denied without being physically destroyed. The episode connects air defense, port capacity, and convoy routing as parts of one logistics system.
Chapter · 2:24:49-2:26:09
How air attack could disrupt the Suez Canal without destroying it
Unexploded bombs halted Suez traffic for twenty-four hours despite causing no casualties or direct damage, revealing the fragility of Britain's Mediterranean supply route.