1935
Italy invades Abyssinia, provoking crisis. AA defences of Grand Harbour strengthened, and plans laid for Fleet Air Arm attack on Italian fleet at Taranto.
1938
29 September, Munich Agreement allows German demands for Czechoslovak territory.
1939
16 March, German troops enter Prague completing annexation of Czechoslovakia.
7 April, Italian troops enter Albania.
20 April, British merchant shipping banned from Mediterranean.
July, Governor of Malta’s Advisory Council creates Central Committee.
September, District Committees start to be formed on a parish basis throughout Malta. First two battalions of Territorial King’s Own Malta Regiment ready by end of month.
3 September, United Kingdom and France declare war on Germany following invasion of Poland.
1940
2 – 3 May, Blackout practice between 22.00 and dawn.
11 May, Air raid warning practice.
20 May, Newspapers carry appeal for volunteers for what was to become the Malta Volunteer Defence Force.
27 May, Curfew introduced between 23.00 and 05.00. Emergency hospitals established.
10 June, Italy declares war at midnight if Malta is not surrendered.
11 June, First Italian air raid at 07.00.
15 June, Governor announces protection officers to work with district committees.
17 June, French seek armistice. In Malta, seven ‘Economical Kitchens’ are already operating to help feed refugees from the towns.
22 June, Armistice signed by France and Germany.
25 June, Italy signs armistice, which now takes effect, leaving Britain standing alone. French troops in Egypt outnumber those of Britain.
26 June, Bomb hits a bus crowded with passengers at Marsa, killing twenty-eight people.
30 June, First offensive operation from Malta: 830 Naval Air Squadron’s Fairey Swordfish attacking the port of Augusta.
10 July, Convoy MA-5 evacuates British civilians and dependents to Alexandria. All eight ships arrive safely.
13 July, From midnight, private cars and hire cars other than taxis banned.
19 July, 830 Squadron sinks a U-boat.
12 August, Twelve Hawker Hurricane fighters flown to Malta from HMS Argus.
15 August, Last day on which sales of ice cream permitted.
1 September, First convoy arrives. All three ships in MF-2 reach Malta safely from Alexandria.
5 September, First appearance of Junkers Ju87 Stuka dive-bombers in Italian markings.
13 September, Italian forces invade Egypt.
21 September – 21 October, Police crackdown on overcharging in food shops.
11 October, Convoy MF-3 arrives from Alexandria with all four ships.
13 October, Taxis banned and hours of bus operation curtailed. 9 November, Convoy MW-3 arrives safely from Alexandria with all five ships.
11 – 12 November, Successful Fleet Air Arm attack on Taranto using aircraft from HMS Illustrious and Eagle flown off the former ship, crippling half of Italy’s battleships.
17 November, Fourteen Hurricanes flown off Argus, but only four manage to reach Hal Far as the others run out of fuel.
26 November, Convoy MW-4 arrives safely with all four ships from Alexandria.
29 November, Convoy code-named Operation Collar from Gibraltar arrives safely with two ships.
20 December, Convoy MW-5 arrives safely from Alexandria with eight ships. Cunningham aboard HMS Warspite enters Grand Harbour on first visit since May, to a warm welcome.
December, Government ensures abundant supplies of kerosene to allow householders to lay down reserves.
December – January, Luftwaffe moves Fliegerkorps X from Poland to Sicily.
1941
10 January, Convoy operation Excess nears Malta from Gibraltar with one ship for Malta and several for Alexandria, with another two ships in MW-5 ½ from Alexandria. In heavy aerial attacks by the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica, HMS Illustrious is crippled and limps into Grand Harbour.
13 January, Start of the Illustrious blitz.
16 January, Heaviest air raid to-date, fifty-three Maltese civilians killed, 300 houses destroyed in Senglea.
23 January, Illustrious leaves Grand Harbour after nightfall.
February, Rationing announced. Conscription introduced. U-class submarines deployed to Malta for the first time, as well as four J-class destroyers.
6 February, Rommel ordered to take command in North Africa with two crack German divisions; he urges that Malta be invaded.
March, Air raid precautions eased to allow work to continue away from target area, while during previous four months, Axis shipping losses exceeded 100,000 tons.
28 March, Mediterranean Fleet sinks three Italian cruisers and two destroyers in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
April, Lieutenant Commander Wanklyn in Upholder starts a year of successful attacks against Axis convoys.
3 April, Axis forces in North Africa take Benghazi.
7 April, Rationing introduced.
11 April, Good Friday, but church bells are rung for the first time ever in Malta on this day to sound the ‘all clear’ after Luftwaffe air raids.
12 April, Twenty Hurricanes flown off Ark Royal, boosting strength of 261 Squadron.
15 – 16 April, In a successful night action, Malta-based destroyers wipe out Italian convoy of five ships and sink one of the three escorts, but HMS Mohawk is sunk.
20 – 21 April, A single ship, the armed-tanker Breconshire, arrives from Alexandria protected by naval forces.
21 April, Mediterranean Fleet bombards Tripoli just before daybreak following air raids by Malta-based RAF and Fleet Air Arm aircraft.
27 April, Germans enter Athens.
28 April, Dockyard Defence Battery disbanded, and its role taken over by the Royal Malta Artillery.
May, Rationing extended to kerosene. Coffee, tea, sugar, lard, margarine, rice and matches all rationed by this time.
9 May, Convoy MW-7 arrives from Alexandria with seven ships, although two badly damaged, one by a torpedo and the other by a mine.
20 May, German airborne invasion of Crete begins.
1 June, Last troops evacuated from Crete.
9 June, Buses withdrawn in middle of day except at weekends.
July, No further supplies of fresh imported meat.
21 July, RAF Blenheims attack convoy of five ships, destroying two of them.
24 July, Convoy Operation Substance arrives from Gibraltar with six ships, with one having turned back. The previous day, seven ships from the previous convoy trapped in Grand Harbour sailed.
26 July, Just before dawn, Italians attempt attack on Grand Harbour using explosive-filled motorboats, or barchini, and two-man torpedoes.
28 September, Convoy Operation Halberd from Gibraltar reaches Malta with eight out of the nine ships, one having been sunk.
October, Axis losing more than sixty per cent of supplies sent to North Africa. Two light cruisers and two destroyers based at Malta as Force K.
November, Axis losses reach seventy-seven per cent.
9 November, Force K attacks Italian convoy, sinking all seven merchantmen and two destroyers.
13 November, Ark Royal torpedoed, and sinks the following day.
24 November, HMS Barham torpedoed and blows up.
5 December, Single ship slips out to Alexandria.
18 December, Italian human torpedo attack on Mediterranean Fleet at Alexandria cripples two battleships. A single ship arrives from Alexandria.
26 December, Convoy ME-8 takes four merchant ships to Alexandria.
1942
January, Victory Kitchens introduced.
1 January, twenty-six killed and fourteen injured in first air raid of the year.
2 – 3 January, Malta’s airfields suffer a full thirty-six hours of aerial bombardment.
6 January, Single ship sails for Alexandria.
8 January, Single ship arrives from Alexandria.
19 January, Convoy MW-8 arrives, having had one of the four ships sunk.
25 January, Convoy ME-9 takes two ships to Alexandria.
27 January, A single ship arrives from Alexandria.
February, Baking of cakes and pastries banned. Axis convoy losses fall below thirty per cent in this month. Kesselring revives plans to invade Malta.
12 February, Convoy of three ships from Alexandria fails to get through, with two ships sunk and one turned back.
13 February, Convoy of four ships leaves, including tanker Breconshire, with one of the ships taking Maltese with Italian sympathies to internment in East Africa.
23 February, Weekend buses withdrawn and all routes stopped short of ‘country’ terminus, with many smaller villages losing services completely.
17 March, Red flags introduced for areas targeted in air raids, allowing those elsewhere to continue with work.
20 March, Heavy air raid on Ta’Qali, with Jabo projectiles used to blast hillside in belief that it included underground aircraft hangars.
23 March, Convoy MW-10 from Alexandria arrives having lost one of the four ships. Tanker Breconshire is towed into Marsaxlokk badly damaged, the other two ships are attacked repeatedly over the next six days until both sink with most of their cargo. Convoy from Gibraltar wiped out.
April, One in seventy of the population has been either killed or wounded. Kesselring obtains Hitler’s approval for invasion. Almost 7,000 tons of bombs dropped on Malta’s airfields during the month.
7 April, Opera House destroyed in air raid. King George VI becomes Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Malta Artillery.
8 April, HMS Penelope escapes to get repairs.
9 April, 2,000kg (4,400lbs) bomb crashes through dome of packed church in Mosta, but fails to explode.
15 April, King George VI awards George Cross to the people of Malta.
20 April, USS Wasp flies off forty-eight Spitfires to Malta, of which forty-seven arrive, but twenty destroyed and twelve badly damaged within twenty minutes of landing.
28 April, Electricity supplies cut for several days.
May, By end of month, forty-two Victory Kitchens opened.
5 May, Bread rationing introduced.
7 May, General Lord Gort arrives and takes over as Governor from Sir William Dobbie.
9 May, HMS Eagle and USS Wasp fly off sixty-four Spitfires to Malta; sixty-one reach the island.
10 May, Smoke canisters used to protect shipping in Grand Harbour for the first time. Kesselring forced to transfer Luftwaffe units to Eastern Front.
19 May, By this time, the British have asked if they could pass hospital ships through to Malta; the Italian Navy agrees, but the Germans and Mussolini object.
20 May, Further reductions in rations.
15 June, Second rehearsal of exercise to expedite distribution of supplies after first rehearsal was sabotaged by people fearing that lights would be seen by enemy bombers.
16 June, Two convoys sent to Malta, Operation Harpoon from Gibraltar and Operation Vigorous from Alexandria. The former has just two out of six ships arrive, while Vigorous loses two ships and the other nine are forced to turn back because of poor air cover.
20 June, Tobruk falls to Rommel’s Afrika Korps. In Malta, Lieutenant Governor explains that situation is critical and makes first announcement of the ‘target date’, the date on which Malta could no longer continue and would have to surrender.
1 July, Householders ordered to declare stocks of essential commodities.
13 August, First ships arrive of Convoy Operation Pedestal, with tanker Ohio arriving on 15th. Just five merchantmen out of fourteen reach Malta, while an aircraft carrier and two cruisers are lost, and another two carriers severely damaged. In Egypt, Field Marshal Lord Alexander and General Montgomery relieve Lord Auchinleck and General Corbett.
13 September, Lord Gort presents George Cross to Sir George Borg, the Chief Justice, who receives it on behalf of the people.
10 – 11 October, German air raids start again, but being confronted by Spitfires while still over the sea.
19 October, Although Kesselring maintained that the new air offensive lasted just three days because of heavy losses, British and Maltese sources record this as the last day.
23 October, Battle of El Alamein starts.
5 November, Rommel’s force in retreat.
8 November, Operation Torch, the Allied landings in North Africa.
10 November, New airfield opened at Safi, between Luqa and Hal Far.
23 November, Convoy Operation Stoneage reaches Malta with four ships, the first to reach the island unmolested.
1943
January, Victory Kitchens are feeding 175,000, but as rations are increased, numbers fall away rapidly over the month.
23 January, Tripoli falls to British Eighth Army.
1 February, Fast minelaying cruiser Welshman lost off Tobruk, with just half her ship’s company rescued.
26 February, Final air raids.
26 May, First convoy for three years to arrive in Gibraltar from Alexandria without the loss of a single ship.
20 June, King George VI visits Malta.
10 July, Operation Husky, Allied landings in Sicily.
3 September, Allies cross into mainland Italy.
8 September, Feast of Our Lady of Victories in Senglea; Italian surrender announced.
10 September, First units of the Italian fleet arrive off Malta to surrender.