The day after Mussolini declared war, the 10th June, 1940, Italian bombers attacked Valletta and its harbours. Malta, one of the world's smallest nations, occupies an area of 316 sq. Convoys from the eastern and western ends of the Mediterranean could now supply Malta more freely, easing the pressure on British submarines that had been bringing in essential military personnel, urgent stores, and oil. The rare snaps, featured in a new book by Anthony Rogers, give an insight into life on the Mediterranean island during the Siege of Malta between 19. WWII Quarterly, the hardcover journal of the Second World War that is not available in bookstores or on newsstands, and can only be obtained and collected through a personal subscription through the mail. The Italian navy surrendered on 8th September, by coincidence the very same day on which 378 years earlier the Great Siege had ended. Civilian casualties June 1940 - April 1944 1,581 The Islands' strategic location once again made it centre stage in the theatre of war in the Mediterranean: a key stronghold from which the Allies could sustain their North African campaign and from which they could launch their eventual attack on mainland Italy.Tonnes of bombs dropped on the Maltese islands 15,000.Air raids registered throughout the war over Malta 3,343.Population in Malta and Gozo at the beginning of the war 270,000.In 1947, the Islands were granted some £30 million to help rebuild. Then, on June 22 an SM-79 on reconnaissance was intercepted and shot down by a Gladiator. To end the threat of the French fleet being used by the Germans against convoys for Malta, the British navy sent some of its warships to Oran and Mers-el-Kebir in Vichy-French occupied Algeria to negotiate the future of French naval forces. Historian James Holland presents a fresh analysis of the World War Two battle for the tiny Mediterranean island of Malta. The raid crippled the Italian fleet and made Mussolini reluctant to risk a direct confrontation with the British Royal Navy, lessening the threat against Malta. When you have eliminated the JavaScript, whatever remains must be an empty page. In 1940, in the early months of World War Two, Malta had been the centrepiece of Britain's strategic naval position in the Mediterranean for almost a century and a half.
Granted, Malta was not its own sovereign state at the time, but the people of Malta certainly comprised a nation by any definition. In circumstances of the greatest danger he was always first at hand to deal with emergencies, whether in fire fighting operations or in rescue work. The map was created by Rean Monfils and combines the Geographic Information System (GIS) database of Asian Pacific shipwrecks with the Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian Ocean (AMIO) WWII shipwreck database. In return the Islands were under constant attack, in a game of return fire. When World War II began in September 1939, just nine months before the Siege of Malta, its three small islands in the central Mediterranean were still considered part of the British Commonwealth. The Italians came back in increasing numbers, six times in the next nine days, and the Gladiators failed to shoot down any of them. Light Green: Allied countries that entered the war after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Other aircraft filtered in to create a small strike force consisting of the 12 Swordfish torpedo aircraft and a few Vickers-Armstrong Wellington bombers and Short Sunderland flying boats. In February, German armor under the command of Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, later to gain fame in North Africa as the Desert Fox, arrived in Tripoli to reinforce the Italians and stabilize the Axis position in Libya as both Germany and Italy began to massively reinforce their North African front. Smith, London: William Kimber, 1970 Red Duster, White Ensign - The Story of Malta and the Malta Convoys, Ian Cameron, Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, 1960. Pedestal - The Malta Convoy of August 1942, Peter C. Soon, Malta’s geographical position would prove to be one of the most decisive factors of the war in the Mediterranean. During the Second World War, Malta was the most bombed place on earth.
On January 16 more than 70 German Junkers Ju-88 twin-engined medium bombers and Ju-87 Stuka dive bombers, escorted by Italian CR42 fighters, attacked Valletta. Malta 2019 Malta At War - The Map Plotters, WWII, World War II MNH** $5.60 + $5.00 shipping.
For more on the siege of Malta in World War II, check out these other stories: XHTML: You can use these tags. From Malta’s harbors it was possible for the entire Mediterranean to be dominated by warships and submarines, and from its three airfields and seaplane base by fighters, bombers, torpedo, and reconnaissance aircraft.