ISLAND FORTRESS
COURAGE OF MALTA NEARLY 1000 AIR RAIDS EFFECTIVENESS OF DEFENCE (Heed. 5.35 p.m.) LONDON, Nov. 29 Tributes have been paid in London to the gallant manner in which Malta has withstood nearly 1000 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 are 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."
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New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24136, 1 December 1941, Page 8
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196ISLAND FORTRESS New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24136, 1 December 1941, Page 8
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