Between the summer of 1940 and the end of 1942, Malta became one of the most bombed places on Earth.  The RAF’s desperate fight to retain control of the diminutive Mediterranean island is one of the epic stories of World War II. 

Crucial to the Allies in their battle with the Axis forces in North Africa, Malta’s naval dockyards and airfields provided the only base from which ships and aircraft could attack the convoys supplying Rommel’s desert forces.  The German High Command, fully aware of its importance, made every effort to bomb the island into submission.  By April 1942 the RAF was down to just six serviceable Spitfires and Hurricanes, Allied convoys were being decimated unopposed, and Malta was in danger of starvation.  Two and a half years of relentless bombing had blitzed the dockyards out of operation, prompting Axis Commander-in-Chief Field Marshal Kesselring to tell Hitler that Malta was neutralized.  

But the Field Marshal failed to take into account the heroism of a tiny force of RAF fighter pilots, the British Merchant Navy, the decisive role played by the British aircraft carriers Eagle and Furious, the American carrier Wasp, and the iron will of the people of Malta.

In the spring of 1942, when Spitfires flown from the decks of carriers HMS Eagle and USS Wasp arrived at the island’s battered airstrips, the battle took a new turn.  At last, though still heavily outnumbered, the volunteer pilots from Britain, Australia, America, Canada, New Zealand and other Commonwealth countries were able to put up a meaningful defense.  Never again would the Axis raids be met only with token resistance.  Gradually, the Spitfires began to dominate the sky above the beleaguered island.  They had arrived in the nick of time.

The print depicts Pilot Officer John Bisley of 126 Squadron in combat with Me 109s from JG-53 during one of the intense aerial air battles over Valetta in April 1942. Between the summer of 1940 and the end of 1942, Malta became one of the most bombed places on earth. The RAF’s desperate fight to retain control of the diminutive Mediterranean island, and the defiant courage of the people of Malta, is one of the epic stories of World War Two.

Malta – George Cross was specially commissioned to support the Spitfire Memorial Defence Fellowship at the Australian Defence Force Academy and the University of New South Wales in Sydney, and commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the award of the George Cross to the island of Malta.