You Won't Catch Me In Malta!

摘要

Surrounded by Axis forces, the tiny island of Malta remained a pocket of British power attacking enemy shipping supplying Rommel's Afrika Korps - but it paid the price. Bombed constantly by German and Italian aircraft based in Sicily only 40 miles (64km) to the north it was desperately short of fuel, food and all the essentials for both ordinary life and the war effort. All supplies had to be brought in by ship from Egypt - about 900 miles to the east, or Gibraltar - a similar distance away to the west. Critically positioned in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Malta was fighting for its life. Its defence depended on a few Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires but they were outnumbered and outclassed by the Luftwaffe -particularly the latest variants of the Messerschmitt Bf 109.