Malta - Daily Mail.

[Administrator]

Malta has been viewed as one of the jewels in Britain crown of empire since 1815
In 1942 it was the only surviving British bastion in the central Mediterranean
Constant attack from Italians and Germans saw more than 1000 people die.

Since 1815, the island of Malta had been viewed as one of the jewels in Britain’s crown of empire — a vital way-station to the East and a sun-baked fortress that showcased the Royal Navy’s dominance of the Mediterranean.

But in the summer of 1942 it was the only surviving British bastion in the central Mediterranean, beleaguered, tottering and close to capitulation.

Constant attack from as many as 300 aircraft in 24 hours — the Italians by day, the Germans by night — had left more than a thousand people dead, 4,500 injured and 15,500 homes destroyed. Its Grand Harbour was a lagoon of stagnant oil from sunken ships, amid which bobbed debris and decomposing corpses.

LINK

[Administrator]

Drowning men screamed as burning oil engulfed them: With hundreds dead and half the supply ships sunk, the British mission to save Malta in 1942 seemed doomed. What followed, as Max Hastings recounts in a gripping book, would go down in maritime history
By summer 1942, the island of Malta was on the brink of surrender.

Starving population endured round-the-clock bombing by Germans and Italians
Operation Pedestal carried vital food, fuel and ammunition on ships
In compelling account of heroism under fire, remaining ships limp doggedly on

LINK