Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-10-21
The Epic of MuItu


planes, kept up almost continuously
by successive flights not only by day
but also through nights dimly illu-
mined by half moon. The en-
battled island has come through its
gruelling ordeal with new laurels,
and it's deadly anti-aircraft defenses
have taken heavy toll OF the
enemy-nearly 100 planes.
The story of Malta in this war has
been often told, yet the latest chap
ter in its saga of splendid heroism
should be noted, because it comes at
a crucial moment in the intermi-
nable struggle for the Mediterranean
of which Malta is a vital phase.
That relatively small island, with an
area less than that of the District of
Columbia, is the strategic key to
Mediterranean mastery. Lying only
so miles off the Italian island OF
Sicily, it blocks Squarely the water
route from Sicily to Tripoli, the main
Italian base in Lbya, and is only
$50 miles from the even more i'm
portant Axis water route to the
North African ports which immedl-
ately supply Marshal Rommels army
in Egypt. Those costly Axis raids on
Malta are certainly designed to i'm
mobilize temporarily British planes
which otherwise would be out blast
ing Axis conveys on their way to
Africa. 1t is the price the Axis has
had to pay on each such occasion,
and to date the bill totals we'll over
1000 planes destroyed. The deadly
game has been going on for more
than two years, and the Axis air
raids over Malta aggregate fully 5000,
an average Of four per day.
Think what this means to the
British garrison and the civilian
population of over a quarter million.
For Malta is densely peopled island,
and no part of its restricted surface
has escaped the scars of aerial war
fare. It's historic capital Of Valetta,
with its quantity fortified harbor and
it's palaces and churches dating back
to the Knights of st. john is heap
of ruins, while scarcely a miniature
farm throughout it's stony country
side is without one or more bomb
craters. The people have survived
chiefly because they have turned
cave-dwellers. Fortunately. the war
found those shelters ready made. The
island Is a mass of rock, soft and
easily worked when fresh cut, but
turning flint hard with prolonged ex-
poSure to the air. From that MALE
able material, the Maltese have done
all their building for ages. The re-
suit is labyrinth of chambers and
galleries underlying the surface, and
in them the inhabitants have taken
up their abodes.
The morale of the Maltese has been
superb, backing up the heroism of
the large British garrison. So we'll
fortified is the entire island that an
Axis land invasion would be i'm
possible unless the air defenses were
knocked out, which has never hap
pened. Malta's one danger has been
through exhaustion of munitions and
foodstuffs, which have to be brought
in. That is the grim work of periodic
conveys like the big one sent from
Gibraltar couple of months ago.
Those conveys have to run a deadly
gantlet of Axis submarines, aircraft
and E-boats, which sometimes in
flict heavy ship losses. Yet the con-
voys get through, and Malta enjoys
another long reprieve. 1t fights to-
day with undiminished courage and
tenacity, doing its important part in
foiling Axis efforts to control the
Mediterranean and drive the British
from North Africa. Indomitable
Malta is a heartening token that
Avic r,1o,,e will FL