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The siege of Malta




The siege of Malta was between 1940 and 1943 it was one of the most heavily bombed areas during war with a total of 3,000 air raids occurring during the two years of the siege. Killing 1,493 civilians and wounding 3,674. The cost to the military of men aircraft and ships defending and trying to resupply the island were horrendous. One of the Maine reasons for the siege was it was ideally positioned as a base to attack the German and Italian supply lines to north Africa. At one point only one in four supply ships were getting through to Rommel's army significantly contributing to their eventual defeat. On the 15 April 1942 Malta was awarded the George cross by King George V1 the highest civilian award for gallantry in the Commonwealth to honour the brave people of Malta. President Franklin Roosevelt, describing the wartime period, called Malta "one tiny bright flame in the darkness". I have tried to cram as much as I can into this short video but I realise I can't really show all that happened during the siege or really show how badly the civilians and military suffered during this time so I have portrayed the events that stick in my mind such as the air raids, bombing, air battles, the supplying of spitfires by aircraft carriers to the island and the convoys of ships battling their way through to the staving population, and of course the George cross. I was inspired to make this video by talking to ww11 Malta siege veteran leading aircraft man Wilfred Wilson to hear some of his memories go to my web site at http://server.microlite16.com/josephs-militaria-and-homefront-collection.co.uk/

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