Its primary task was to protect convoys from the German Kriegsmarine's U-boat force. It also protected Allied shipping from the aerial threat posed by the Luftwaffe. The main operations of Coastal Command were defensive, defending supplies lines in the various theatres of war, most notably the Mediterranean, Middle East and African theatres and the battle of the Atlantic. It also served in an offensive capacity. In the Mediterranean theatre and the Baltic sea it carried out attacks on German shipping moving war materials from Italy to North Africa and from Scandinavia to Germany. By 1943 Coastal Command finally received the recognition it needed and its operations proved decisive in the victory over the U-boats.