"The Siege of Malta in the Second World War was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre. From 1940–42, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of Malta, then a British colony, pitted the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany against the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.
The opening of a new front in North Africa in June 1940 increased Malta's already considerable value. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe; Churchill called the island an "unsinkable aircraft carrier". General Erwin Rommel, in de facto field command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognised its importance quickly. In May 1941, he warned that "Without Malta the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa".
The Axis resolved to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, and Allied shipping supplying the island. Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids over a period of two years in an effort to destroy RAF defences and the ports. Success would have made possible a combined German–Italian amphibious landing (Operation Herkules) supported by German airborne forces (Fallschirmjäger), but this did not happen. In the event, Allied convoys were able to supply and reinforce Malta, while the RAF defended its airspace, though at great cost in material and lives. In November 1942 the Axis lost the Second Battle of El Alamein, and the Allies landed forces in Vichy French Morocco and Algeria under Operation Torch. The Axis diverted their forces to the Battle of Tunisia, and attacks on Malta were rapidly reduced. The siege effectively ended in November 1942.
In December 1942, air and sea forces operating from Malta went over to the offensive. By May 1943, they had sunk 230 Axis ships in 164 days, the highest Allied sinking rate of the war. The Allied victory in Malta played a major role in the eventual Allied success in North Africa."
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There are two tablets on the plinth with details of the monument.
DAN IL-MAFKAR
SAR MILL-POPLU RABTI
BIL—HIDMA TA'
L-ARCIKONFRATERNITA'
TA SAN GUZEPP
TA' DIN IL-BELT
MIKXUF MILL-
E.T. IT-TABIB CENSU TABONE
PRESIDENT TA' MALTA
11 TA' OTTUBRU 1992
B'TIFKIRA TAL-HAMSIN SENA
MIT-TIENA GWERRA DINJIJA
ISIMHOM MINQUX
FUQ DAN IL-MAFKAR
BIEX QATT MA. JITHASSAR
AHNA U WLIEDNA
MA NINSEW QATT
LI KIENU NIES B'QALB EROJKA
LI TQABDU
GHALL-HAQQ U L-HELSIEN
TA' ART TWELIDHOM
1939 1945
English translations.
THIS MONUMENT MADE BY THE PEOPLE
OF THIS CITY
OF THE FRATERNITY
OF SAINT JOSEPH
UNVEILED BY E.T. DOCTOR VINCENT TABONE
PRESIDENT OF MALTA
11 OCTOBER 1992
COMMEMORATE FIFTIETH YEARS OF
SIEGE OF MALTA
THE NAMES CARVED ON THIS MONUMENT
ARE SO OUR CHILDREN NEVER FORGET
THE HEROIC PEOPLE
WHO FOUGHT FOR THEIR MOTHERLAND
1939 1945
The Monument
The monument in stone was carved by Anton Agius who was known in Malta as 'National Sculptor'.
It shows a group of 4 people standing near to the fuselage of a downed Nazi fighter plane.
One man is stood with his back to the fuselage holding his head, whilst the three other people are lying on the ground, either dead or wounded.