In November 1942 the Axis lost the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Allies landed forces in Vichy French Morocco and Algeria under Operation Torch. Success would have made possible a combined German–Italian amphibious landing ( Operation Herkules) supported by German airborne forces ( Fallschirmjäger), but this did not happen.Īllied convoys were able to supply and reinforce Malta, while the RAF defended its airspace, though at great cost in materiel and lives. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids, dropping 6,700 tons of bombs on the Grand Harbour area alone, over a period of two years.
Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Axis resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission, to soften it up for invasion, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, and Allied shipping supplying the island. In May 1941, he warned that "Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa". General Erwin Rommel, de facto field command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognised its importance quickly. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe Churchill called the island an " unsinkable aircraft carrier". The opening of a new front in North Africa in June 1940 increased Malta's already considerable value. From June 1940 to November 1942, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of the British Crown Colony of Malta pitted the air and naval forces of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany against the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy.
The siege of Malta in World War II was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre. ² - Involved an Axis convoy or delivery mission ¹ - Involved an Allied convoy or delivery mission
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