F.B.A. provides an in-depth photographic presentation of this item to stimulate your feeling and touch. More traditional book descriptions are immediately available.

The key to our position in the whole Mediterranean lay in Malta. (Tedder) Two of the greatest strategic mistakes by Hitler involved failure to take control of two key locations, Gibraltar, and Malta; between them these two were able to influence, and at times dominate, the Western Mediterranean area, and surrounding land masses. Malta, with its strategic partner, Alexandria (and Egypt) likewise dominated the Eastern Mediterranean and surrounding land masses. Malta only existed strategically for its ability to attack the enemy Lines of Communication between European bases (now stretching from France to Crete) and North Africa. Every piece of equipment, every man and all supplies had to move from Europe to North Africa, the majority by surface vessel, and had to be gathered at a limited number of port facilities in both locations, which made those locations key choke points and targets. Once in North Africa, everything had to move along the main coastal road from the supply ports to dumps and to units. Every campaign is to a greater or lesser extent one of logistics, the Desert War more so than most. It has often been called a war of airfields but it is more accurately described as a war of logistics, with airfields playing a major role in defending one’s own supply lines whilst striking at the enemy s lines. If Malta could not attack, then it was a drain on resources; but in order to attack it had to protect the infrastructure and equipment needed for attack. The ability to take a pounding, shake it off and fight back was the key to survival. The Island required determined leadership, external support dedicated to supplying the Island, and the committed resilience of all those on the Island to ensure success. This is the story of how Malta rose to meet the challenges facing its defences during the Second World War; how it struck back and survived one of its darkest eras.

Review

Over the past few years, I have been researching anything and everything connected with Malta’s amazing collection of shipwrecks – which, incidentally, contain what I consider to be the greatest shipwreck available to scuba divers found anywhere in the world. That, however, is a subject for another day – except to say that Malta’s history and the role the country played during two world wars are central to my studies. Although some might see the connection with shipwrecks as tenuous, this is not the first book about the vital contribution made by aircraft and pilots I have studied. Instead of finding the occasional snippet of information not previously known to me, I soon came to respect Ken Delve as an accomplished historian and equally able writer. As he says at the end of the explanatory notes found inside the front cover; “This is the story of how Malta rose to meet the challenges facing its defences during the Second World War; how it struck back and survived” and the book is exactly that.

For most of WW2, Axis forces occupied the northern Mediterranean coastline. Consequently, Allied convoys to Alexandria in support of the North African campaign were routed via South Africa and the Red Sea. Being centrally placed in the Mediterranean, Malta became isolated, desperate for food and supplies and, at one point, was within days of surrender. On the other side of this coin of war, however, Rommel had to be supplied along with other German troops in Greece and elsewhere and the only serious interruption they faced were pilots based in Malta.

“Malta Strikes Back” is a hard-back book measuring approx. 250 mm x 180 mm and containing 263 pages of well written and extremely well researched material. Numerous black and white photographs are placed throughout the work. The content is laid out in quite simplistic form making everything so easy to follow. Chapters are: One – Introduction, Two – The Italian Campaign Jun-Dec 1940, Three – Luftwaffe Round One Jan-May 1941, Four – Back on the Offensive Jun-Nov 1941, Five – Luftwaffe Round Two Dec 1941 – May 1942 and Five – Dominating the Sea Lanes May-Nov 1942. These are followed by 6 extensive Appendices as follows: A – Greece and Crete, B – Chronology 1940-42, D – Battle Honours and Awards, D – Order of Battle, E – Anti Shipping Scores, E – Convoys and Reinforcement Flights.

As I have said before, a close scrutiny of photographs will always reveal the depth of research undertaken by any author. In this case, the selection is as near perfect as anyone might hope to find with each image being as important a part of the overall jigsaw as the next. I spend my waking hours immersed in research and must say that this particular tome instantly became one of the most important additions to my own library of knowledge. In short, this is a great story well told and I congratulate both author and publisher for a job well done.

Ken Delve was an RAF Tornado bomber pilot during his service career and is now considered to be one of the world’s leading experts on the history of military aviation. He has written countless specialized articles for leading aviation magazines and has authored more than sixteen books including The Short Sunderland, D-Day: The Air Battle, Avro Lancaster, The Mustang Story, RAF Bomber Command, A Source Book of the RAF, and The Desert Air Force in World War II: Air Power in the Western Desert 1940-1942.