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The siege of Malta in World War II was a military campaign in the Mediterranean theatre.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.
It hosted aircraft of Air Headquarters Malta (AHQ Malta) during the Second World War. Particularly during the Siege of Malta from 1941 to 1943, RAF Luqa was a very important base for British Commonwealth forces fighting against Italy and Germany for naval control of the Mediterranean and for ground control of North Africa.
[8] Supervision of residual naval work in the dockyard would be carried out by personnel under the direction of the Flag Officer Malta. After Baileys were dispossessed by the Maltese Government, by February 1968, [9] the dockyard was closed as a naval base and the Royal Navy withdrew completely in 1979. [10]
HMS Sparrowhawk, Royal Naval Air Station Hatston, Kirkwall, Orkney, 1939 - 1948; HMS Tern, Twatt Orkney RNAS Twatt; HMS Urley, Second World War flying station on the Isle of Man, RNAS Ronaldsway. HMS Vulture Royal Naval Air Station St Merryn (later HMS Curlew 1952-56), Cornwall, 1937-1952
The submarine base at Manoel Island was a priority target for Axis aerial attacks [6] and was heavily bombed in 1942 which forced a temporary withdrawal of the flotilla from Malta to Alexandria where the ships of the Mediterranean Fleet had already moved.
The Malta convoys were Allied supply convoys of the Second World War.The convoys took place during the Siege of Malta in the Mediterranean Theatre. Malta was a base from which British sea and air forces could attack ships carrying supplies from Europe to Italian Libya.
Malta was a base for air, sea and submarine operations against Axis supply convoys and from 1 June to 31 October 1941, British forces sank about 220,000 long tons (220,000 t) of Axis shipping on the African convoy routes, 94,000 long tons (96,000 t) by the navy and 115,000 long tons (117,000 t) by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Fleet Air Arm (FAA).
Malta had become an important staging post for aircraft and a base for air reconnaissance over the central Mediterranean. [ 1 ] The Axis powers Italy and Germany made several attempts from 1941 to 1942 to either force the British military authorities on the island to surrender or to destroy its effectiveness as a military base.