In an interesting feature on the outbreak of World War II (September 3) it was stated that "when the British first declared war in 1939... Italy's involvement was inevitable."

This is open to some question, as Richard Lamb, Elisabeth Barker and other historians have indicated.

Not only were some of Signor Mussolini's own aides still skeptical about going to war at all but, as I noted in my introduction to The Epic of Malta (Valletta, 1990, p. iv), as late as May 1940 the British Cabinet were belatedly but actively considering an offer of Mediterranean territories, including Malta, to Mussolini, in return for Italy's agreement not to take sides.

Mussolini only decided "irrevocably" to declare war on June 10, 1940, nearly a year after Germany's invasion of Poland, when the Germans, with amazing speed and prowess, had blitzkrieged their way to the Atlantic Ocean, thereby opening up France's western coastline to U-boat operations against the British Royal Navy, while Britain herself feverishly sought to evacuate hundreds of thousands of British and Allied troops from Dunkirk in retreat (by June 4, 1940). Following Italy's vittoria mutilata after World War I, when she had fought on the Anglo-French side with territorial prospects in view, Mussolini reckoned that, given the turn which the war was now clearly seen to be taking, jumping on the German bandwagon had suddenly become a matter of urgency if Italy were to partake of the spoils.

But that was not until an overall German victory on the continent seemed most likely.

Malta was indeed unprepared for war in June 1940, which was a crying shame. But, in the circumstances, that was hardly surprising.

When in 1935 there loomed a threat of war between Italy and Britain (probably over Malta) at the time of Italy's Abyssinia venture and Sir Anthony Eden's push for international economic sanctions against Italy, in the name of the League of Nations, Britain was first of all keen to protect her Mediterranean fleet. This she promptly withdrew from Valletta to Alexandria.