36. She decided first to consolidate her position in the south The war of nerves against Yugoslavia and Greece had been going on with increasing violence since February on the familiar German pattern. Italy had been trying to establish herself upon Greek soil since 1940, but had achieved so little success that her prestige was everywhere at the lowest ebb.
In March the Italian Navy ventured out of Taranto and suffered a most serious reverse in the Battle of Cape Matapan. Thus came to an end a period of most serious British naval weakness in the Eastern Mediterranean.
Admiral Cunningham, left with grossly inadequate forces to defend the remaining British positions, had fallen back on what he himself described as the only possible strategy in the circumstances, the offensive I His success had been such that not only had Malta been maintained but the Italian Navy driven to the defensive. Never again did it venture on a major engagement after Matapan.
