Seventy years ago today, as London's Big Ben struck 11.15 a.m., the Maltese heard on Rediffusion, the cable radio network the British Prime Minister officially declaring war on Nazi Germany.
Adolf Hitler's regime had ignored Britain's ultimatum to withdraw Germany's attack on Poland by 11 a.m. on September 3, 1939 and World War II broke out.
Bombs were a common occurrence during the war as Malta became the world's most bombed country, historian Joseph Pirotta said.
Although civilians did not feel as threatened when the British first declared war in 1939, on an official level the fear was real as Italy's involvement was inevitable, Prof. Pirotta said.
Malta was one of Britain's most important naval bases and, when Mussolini declared war in June 1940, it was clear the island would become a main target. Prof. Pirotta added that Malta was completely unprepared for war as the British did not take precautions.
BOTH PICTURE AND INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM OUR LOCAL ONLINE NEWSPAPER.
4 comments:
Hey thanks for this useful information.
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I'm glad all that is over for your country.
The picture is beautiful.
I´m a follower of your fantastic blog. We´re in love with Malta, with its landscapes....We will go to Birzebbuga next november and we expect to see all these things about that you take photos
And interesting post even if sourced elsewhere. Hard for me to believe that the war started 70 years ago. I was not born then but it certainly loomed large in my upbringing.
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