The Protagonists (in alphabetical order)

• Adolf Hitler
• Benito Mussolini
• Field Marshal Rommel
• General Eisenhower
• General Montgomery
• Franklin D Roosevelt
• Josef Stalin
• Winston Churchill

Island Fortress - Malta  WAR hits the Maltese Islands

The years following the 1914-1918 World War were far from blissful
for Europe and the rest of the World.

In most countries there still reigned the bitter aftertaste of death
and destruction. For the majority of Europeans as well as for the
Soviets there was extreme economic hardship (which brought about
starvation for many) as well as political disorder.

For the defeated Germany, this terrible reality was further
aggravated by the frustration of its having to submit to the indignant
terms of the Treaty of Versailles, to add insult to injury.

This, along with other political drama taking place the world over during
the period between 1917 and 1933, triggered yet another, even more
horrifying, war - the Second World War - whose battlefields would
spread far and wide from its origins.

Among the political changes dominating the times, the world was
seeing the downfall and breaking up of empires, as well as the shifting
of European borders. The period also marked the birth of democratic
republics, which later reverted to repressive dictatorial rule. And so
the old order of supreme power and the rule of fear were restored!

1917 - In Russia, the Tsar was overthrown in a violent revolution,
following which Lenin and Trotsky formed the world's first Communist
State; sponsoring communism the world over.

1918 - Germany lost the First World War…

1919 - and surrendered all of its empire as well as parts of its home
territory to its victors and its neighbours at the Treaty of Versailles.

1919 - A Soviet-backed coup overthrew the government of Hungary.

1919 - In Italy, the Fascist Party, or Fasci di Combattimento, was born.

1919 - A popular uprising in Malta over the unaffordable price of bread
left 4 civilians dead. These are known as the Sette Giunio (or 7th June)
Riots.

1919 - Adolf Hitler joins the German Workers' Party and in …

1922 - transformed it the National Socialist German Workers' Party,
the NAZI party, with its official, primary aim of combating Communism.

1922 - Italy's Fascists come to power, amidst widespread violence.
Benito Mussolini became 'Duce' (pron 'doo-che' - Leader) and Italy's
military dictator.

1923 - The Nazis attempted to seize power in what is known as the
'Munich Putsch' (revolt) in a bankrupt German republic which lost its
Ruhr coalfields when the nation was unable to pay for WW1 reparation
dues to France and Belgium.

1924 - Vladimir Lenin died and Josef Stalin became Soviet dictator.

1927 - Civil War continued to rage in China, when the Nationalist
forces of Chiang Kai'shek took Shanghai city.

1929 - The Wall Street Crash in the United States of America.

1932 - German unemployment reached a staggering 5.6 million.

1933 - Hitler became Fűhrer (the autocratic ruler) of Germany.

The whole world was restless and in crisis. And such circumstances
were fertile ground for Adolf Hitler and his allies to realise their plans of
world domination.

The power of Hitler's persona inspired Fascist Italian dictator Benito
Mussolini, and later Japan's General Tojo, to join him (under the treaty
known as the Tripartite Pact) in his quest for supremacy over the rest of
the world.

Hitler wanted to reverse the humiliation of the Versailles Treaty; to
win back the land forfeited after Germany's WW1 defeat and to reunite all
German-speaking people, to eradicate Communism and Judaism,
whom he blamed for Germany's misery, and to become the master of
Europe and lands beyond.

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Hitler demanded a part of Czechoslovakia and got his way in what was
known as the Munich Pact; an act of appeasement on the part of
Britain and France which only made him feel more powerful, seeing them
for what they were; afraid of another conflict. In August 1939, he signed
a non-aggression pact with his eternal enemies, the Soviet communists
and, on September 1st 1939, marched his armies beyond Germany's
frontiers to invade Poland.

Britain and France (joined by Britain's Commonwealth-, Imperial- and
political- allies) now declared war on Germany but this did not stop
Hitler because, during the course of 1940, German forces continued to
sweep across Norway, Denmark and Holland in quick succession.

For Britain, the most significant of the allied militarily engagements was
that of the United States, although the military might of the Soviet Union
was also crucial to keeping Hitler in check and draining his resources on
the Eastern Front, eventually leading to his defeat. Every nation,
however, whether large or small, demonstrated incredible courage in
this enterprise; civilian resistance forces remained active even in defeated
(allied) countries.

On June 22nd 1940, following the retreat (and narrow escape) of
French and British troops from Dunkirk, France surrendered to the might
of the German invader.

These were the early days of Winston Churchill as British Prime
Minister, and his was arduous duty of restoring morale to the nation. It
was here that one of his famous speeches was made: "We shall fight
on the beaches. We shall fight on the landing grounds…"

The Nazis were determined to annihilate Great Britain, launching a
massive aerial campaign, known as the Battle of Britain, between
August and October of 1940, but the island was bravely defended.

During the years that followed, upon Italy's declaration of war on
Britain and France, armed conflict raged in the Mediterranean, until
September 1943, marking the official capitulation of Italy. Things finally
started to look up for the Allies, following the surrender of German
troops at Stalingrad and subsequent Soviet advance into Poland by 1944.

The Allied Invasion of France, known as D-Day, on the 6th June 1944
collapsed the Western Front for the Nazis, who by now were feeling the
tolls of their war.

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Field Marshal Erwin Rommel, known to his enemies as the 'Desert Fox',
was the commanding officer of Hitler's Afrika Korps. His sobriquet was
owed to his successes in the North African desert, upto October 1942,
when General Montgomery turned the tide in favour of the British at the
battle of El Alamein.

Like Napoleon before him (who wanted to turn the Mediterranean into a
French lake) Hitler wanted to conquer all the lands around and within the
basin. German forces occupied Yugoslavia, Albania and Greece, as well
Libya, then better known by the regional names of Tripolitania and
Cirenaica. So Rommel's mission was to advance and conquer Alexandria,
where the British had an air and naval military base, and onward to Port
Said, another British naval base at the mouth of the Suez Canal, thereby
controlling a major world trade route.

Air Bases were stationed at Gibraltar (at the mouth of the Mediterranean
Sea), at Alexandria and the Suez Canal, in Egypt, as well as in Israel and
Syria (at the other extreme, eastwards). Joining East and West, right in
the center of the Med, was the base that provided the British forces their
vital link; the island fortress of Malta and Gozo.

With the British fighter-plane range being some 250 miles (400-Km),
Malta was very much in the way of the enemy's supply convoys between
Taranto, at the geographical heel in southern Italy, and Tripoli in Libya. It
was, therefore, small wonder that the islands would become an obsessive
bombing target of the Italian Regia Militare Aeronautica and the German
Luftwaffe, stationed at Sicily.

British Naval Bases lined the eastern Mediterranean coast, from
Alexandria and Port Said in Egypt, Haifa in Palestine, Beirut (at the time
a part of Syria) and Famagusta in Cyprus. The closest base to Britain
(and the only one in the western Mediterranean, which was not Nazi-
controlled) was in Gibraltar, some 1150 miles (1840-Km) from
Southampton port in England.

Here too, the link between East and West was vital. So Malta, the lone
Island Fortress, was amongst Britain's prized possessions in this area
of heavy combat far from the reach of home.

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The war for the Mediterranean raged on until General Montgomery
defeated the Rommel's Afrika Korps at El Alamein (Egypt) in October
1942, leading to Italy's invasion and surrender in September 1943.

Britain's efforts could now be concentrated on the European front. 

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The Allied Normandy invasion marked the beginning of the end for
Germany. Other landings followed the raid and, by the late 1944, both
France and Belgium were liberated.

Following the surrender of German troops at Stalingrad, Russia, the
Soviets advanced into Poland and into the eastern part of Germany.
Allied bombings of German industrial resources and cities left the Nazis
badly pounded and, despite German attempts to counterattack, the
allied land forces continued to advance on Berlin. On the 7th March the
Allies broke through the Siegfried Line, forcing their way to the capital.
Hitler is said to have committed suicide in May 1945, with
Germany's unconditional surrender being signed at Nurnberg on May 7th.

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When Rommel's Afrika Korps had the upper hand in the north African
desert, an impatient Prime Minister Churchill, urged General Auchinleck
to press on and engage the Nazis immediately. Firmly believing in the
importance of Malta as Britain's prime supply base in the central
Mediterranean, on May 26th 1942, he wrote to his general and pledged
him every support:

But Rommel is said to have advanced before Auchinleck and it was
General Montgomery who later, in October 1942, brought home
victory to the allies when he defeated Field Marshal Rommel at the
battle of El Alamein, just as US troops were landing in Algeria.

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The capitulation of Germany in World War One was sealed by
document known as the Treaty of Versailles. In hindsight, one could
say that the terms of this document went far beyond the expected
cautiousness, resulting in humiliation for the vanquished German nation
and her allies.

Under the terms of this treaty, the borders of Germany would now move
back in some areas, so that part of it would now belong to its neighbours.
This meant that many German-speaking peoples, formerly German
nationals would now become Poles or French.

Hitler's rise to power may, in some way, have been aided by the anger
and resentment felt by his followers as a result of the Treaty of Versailles.
In fact, his early actions - indicative of his political intentions - went
in violation of this treaty, as if he was daring the world to push him back,
as if he was finally getting his own back on behalf of Germany and her
'exiled' peoples.

 Second Appendix

Berthed at Marsamxett Harbour (pr: mar-sum-shett) just off Fort
Manoel (at Manoel Island in the Gżira/Sliema area) HMS 'Terror'
was a prime target for the Axis bombers, resulting in heavy casualties
and loss of civilian lives this side of the island.

On the 16th January 1941, the HMS "Illustrious" limped into Malta’s
Grand Harbour where her fallen and injured crew-members could be
disembarked. She had been attacked by dive-bombers in the Straits of
Sicily; the Luftwaffe’s first action in the Mediterranean.

Intensive repairs commenced immediately, but the carrier was again to
become the prime target of enemy air strikes, which left the first heavy
civilian casualties in areas surrounding the port.

Valletta and Cottonera, the historic fortified cities of the Knights of Saint
John, suffered devastation during the endless blitz of the Maltese Islands.
Important buildings were stricken and treasures lost. The town of Senglea
was reduced to rubble.

On the 23rd January 1941, the stricken aircraft carrier left Malta bound
for Alexandria.

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