In the spring of 1942, Malta had the dubious distinction of being the most-bombed place on earth. The first air raid on the island took place seven hours after Italy entered the war in June 1940. Between then and November 1942, there were 3,215 raids and 14,000 tonnes of bombs were dropped on Malta and Gozo, averaging just under 100 tonnes per square mile, although much of the bombing was concentrated on the dockyards of Valletta and on the island’s three major airfields. Nearly 1,500 Maltese civilians were killed in the raids and 24,000 properties were damaged or destroyed, including a high proportion of the islanders’ homes.
However, the island survived this long siege by Italian and German forces and played an important role in turning the tide of war in the Mediterranean. Its strategic position, as a staging post between Gibraltar and Egypt, its importance as both a Royal Navy and RAF base, and the ability of aircraft flying from the island to strike at Sicily, mainland Italy, and much of the North African theatre of war gave the tiny outcrop in the blue waters of the Mediterranean a central and heroic role in the war from 1940 to summer 1943.
Five years after the Allied victory, the Central Office of Information decided to encourage the making of a film to promote the combined operation of the three armed services. The siege of Malta was suggested as a good way to illustrate this. This highlights the film’s greatest strength and also its greatest weakness. While it tells something of the suffering facing the Maltese people, it is primarily a film about Britain at war – with the island as a backdrop.
Lascaux IV