THOUSANDTH RAID

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20629, 3 December 1941, Page 7

THOUSANDTH RAID

ISLAND OF MALTA (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2 p.m. RUGBY. Dec. 1. Malta has just had its thousandth air raid warning. Familiarity with raids has not bred contempt, rather have the Maltese become connoisseurs of air raids. The Daily Telegraph says: “Let us never forget how much the fighting power of the island has done for the British commonwealth. “When Mussolini came into the war Fascism bragged of taking Malta in a day and Gibraltar in two. The boast was not altogether fantastic. Plans for the defence of the island assumed the effective co-operation of the French air arm from Bizerta. Sicilian aerodromes arc only 20 minutes’ flying time away. “We have been told there were only three Gladiators —happily christened Faith, Hope and Charity—attached to the night squadrons of the island. Twelve hours after declaring war Mussolini sent his aircraft to Malta, and he went on sending them in vain, until Hitler occupied Sicily and launched the Luftwaffe into action more damaging but equally ineffective.

“After five months Nazism retreated and Fascism took over again, and fared worse than ever. The constancy of the Maltese has made their island., fortress invaluable to the forces of freedom.”