Churchill and Malta

During the first years of the Second World War, Churchill and his advisers were constantly concerned with the defence and sustenance of Malta. From 11 June 1940, the island, only sixty miles from enemy airfields in Sicily, suffered intense and prolonged air attack, but Churchill refused to consider abandoning it. He ordered that every effort be made to maintain a base from which Rommel's supply convoys, and other enemy targets, could be attacked. Despite severe losses, Malta pulled through its unique contribution to Allied victory in the Mediterranean was recognised in April 1942 when King George VI awarded the George Cross to the island and its people. Here the story of Malta's heroic struggle is told through Churchill's official Malta Papers, which reveal the unfolding events and top-level discussions and decisions necessary for Malta's maintenance, including extracts from letters, diaries and memoirs which shed additional light on these dramatic events.