商品簡介
A detailed exploration of the land, sea and air units that defended Malta, and the repeated Axis attempts to bring the crucial Allied island fortress to its knees.
From June 1940 through 1942, Malta was effectively besieged by a joint Italian and German air offensive. The strategically situated Mediterranean island, and, to some extent, nearby Gozo, were subjected to one Axis air raid after another. Italo-German forces were expected to invade, but first the islands had to be subjugated. Malta was reliant for defence on antiaircraft guns and often-outnumbered fighter aircraft and dependent for survival on naval supply convoys. But, soon, the population was reduced to starvation rations. Anti-aircraft guns were restricted in ammunition use and fighter aircraft were sometimes grounded through lack of fuel or numbers. Against the odds, and at heavy cost, Malta was held.
Anthony Rogers’ fascinating account of these desperate times explores the background to events, and shows how the Royal Air Force, the Royal Navy and merchant navy, British and Maltese infantry and, not least, the islanders themselves, emerged triumphant. Their achievement was formally recognized in April 1942, when King George VI presented the George Cross to Malta – the highest award that a sovereign nation could bestow on a community.
