Saving Malta

Operation Pedestal to relieve British-controlled Malta took place in August 1942:

The epic attempt to run some 80 ships past bombers, minefields and u-boats has gone down in military history as one of the most important British victories of the Second World War - though at a cost of more than 400 lives. Malta, then part of the British Empire, was strategically important because it lay in the heart of the Mediterranean. To its north was Italy and to its south the north Africa coast, both controlled by the Axis powers. But at the eastern and western entrances to the sea were the British naval bases of Gibraltar and Alexandria.

Whoever controlled tiny Malta, would almost certainly control the Mediterranean and the outcome of the war in southern Europe. For two years, the Italian forces bombarded Malta, protected by a limited military force. Convoys of supplies were picked off one by one as they approached. One of the worst single losses came on 13 November 1941 when the Ark Royal, a modern aircraft carrier, was torpedoed and sunk.

By the summer of 1942, King George had already awarded Malta the George Cross for the bravery of its civilians. But military planners knew Malta would be forced to surrender if fuel, grain and ammunition did not get through before the end of August.

Read the whole story via BBC news here