Vivid description of ordeal faced by civilians

The death and destruction in St Rita Street, Sliema, on the night of March 11/12, 1941 is graphically recorded in the latest part of "Malta at War".

Photographs and eyewitness accounts in issue 10 of the second volume show the devastation in the narrow Sliema street when 22 residents were killed, including children and two newly-weds.

This issue continues the story of the ordeal of the civilian population under the attacks of the Luftwaffe, particularly the destruction caused by aerial mines which fell on Valletta and the Cottonera.

The last three issues carry photographs of the extensive damage to civilian property and the fight against heavy odds of the defending RAF fighters and gunners. It also shows how the population stiffened its reaction to the heavy bombing and how many defied the German bombers to welcome a convoy that reached Grand Harbour at the end of March 1941.

The illustrations, a spokesman for the publishers say, retain the sharpness of detail which is a hallmark of the publication. Many of the photographs are being published for the first time and provide a historic record of those dramatic days - with more to come in future issues, the spokesman added.

The aerial siege of Malta is set in the context of the war in general and the development of the conflict in the Mediterranean in particular, based on records from British, Italian and German sources and archives, and documents in Malta, a main source being the wartime daily issue of The Times of Malta.

Considerable research and planning goes into each issue so that even today, after 60 years from the end of the war, the role of Malta in the Second World War is kept alive and recorded for posterity, the spokesman explained.

The next issue will pay special tribute to the Royal Navy in which so many Maltese served, with an extensive description, minute by minute, of the Battle of Matapan that was to influence the sea war in the Mediterranean and the situation in Malta. This was the biggest Royal Navy victory at sea since the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805.

The narrative will incorporate a previously unpublished account of the Fleet Air Arm torpedo attack on the Italian Navy flagship Vittorio Veneto described by one of the pilots who, only a few weeks later, was in Malta to marry his Maltese sweetheart, who today lives at Naxxar.

"Malta at War" is published by Bieb Bieb Ltd and is printed by Progress Press, selling at Lm1.75 an issue.