Fortress Malta Campaign

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Just a footnote to the last mission, for the first time we saw the german bombers dump their bombs short of Malta and scarper. This is something that became more and more common during the last days of the October Blitz.

The germans and italians are starting to suffer from something they called "Malta Disease" which is not unlike the "Channel Disease" of the Battle of Britain. Essentially it's a crisis of morale. Several times a day, day after day they are being sent to attack Malta and suffering losses. Over and over they are told the enemy is weakening and that if they press on just a little longer they will succeed and the island will be neutralized. But in contrast, mission after mission they run into just as many spitfires and just as much flak if not more and continue to take losses. Another axis nickname for Malta was the Hornet's Nest. At first it was used in the context that they were going to "smoke out that british hornet's nest!". In the end it took on a new meaning, as you can only be told to kick a hornet's nest and get stung so many times before you say "To hell with this!".

This is pretty much the conclusion some of the bomber crews are reaching and once they come under attack they are dumping their bombs and getting out. In some cases the bombers would not even try to reach Malta at all. They would fly well out to the east or west, dump their bombs in the sea and go home. I'm not really sure how they pulled off the latter, could the axis not see on radar the bombers were not going to Malta? Did the fighter escorts not wonder what was going on? Or were they complicit? Perhaps these were orders from higher up as it became clear victory was out of reach.

DW

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

I'm not really sure how they pulled off the latter, could the axis not see on radar the bombers were not going to Malta? Did the fighter escorts not wonder what was going on? Or were they complicit? Perhaps these were orders from higher up as it became clear victory was out of reach.

I NEED AN ANSWER!

[_AH_Nimble]

DW ... that photo shot of  Jack is priceless  :happy-112:   but in reality the 3rd flew well.... its just so hard to catch the jerries in those fighters

[_AH_Col._Hogan]

Awesome campaign Darkwolf, it was challenging and extremely fun at the same time. You are a master builder sir, I salute you....... S!

[_AH_gatlingun]

~S~Col Hogan

I afree with you Sir,that DW does a fine  job on the campaigns but shouldn't I have gotten a shout-out for landing my plane without tearing the wheels off of it on the last mission.WOW

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Glad you guys liked it.

DW

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Epilogue

The October Blitz represented the last attempt by the axis powers to subdue Malta. After 9 days of heavy fighting they called a halt to their operations, effectively ending the Malta campaign altogether. Though air combat would continue for some time in the form of token fighter bomber raids, the process of dispersing the forces on Sicily to other theatres had already begun.  The focus turned particularly to North Africa and the Anglo-American landings in Morocco and Algeria (Operation Torch) in early November.

The winter of 1942 saw the Malta spitfire squadrons begin undertaking more and more offensive sweeps over Sicily and as the final moves were being made in the North African campaign they were involved in the interception of axis transports attempting to to fly in supplies. With North Africa secure allied attention turned to the invasion of Sicily, the build up for which saw 23 spitfire squadrons crammed into the airfields on Malta. The Malta squadrons would contribute to Operation Husky by attacking axis troops concentrations, interdicting supply routes and providing cover wherever needed.

As the allied armies pushed north across Sicily and into Italy, Malta quickly found itself left behind. In September 126 Squadron left for Italy, followed by 249 and 1435 Squadrons in October. 229 Squadron remained until January 1944, leaving 185 Squadron as the last of the Malta defenders. 185 continued to defend Malta for months, rarely seeing an enemy aircraft let alone shooting one down, they would finally leave for Italy at the end of July.

Events of Note Following the Last Mission :

October 18th - Gatlingun lands without tearing his landing gear off.

October 19th - Axis forces call off October Blitz.

October 20th-21st - Heavy rains render Luqa inoperable, something the Luftwaffe had been unable to do in the previous weeks bombing.

October 25th - First Spitfires fly to Malta directly from Gibraltar using 170-gallon slipper tanks combined with a 29-gallon fuselage tank. The flight takes 5.25 hours.

October 29th - The last carrier delivery of Spitfires is made, 29 of them arriving from Furious as part of Operation Train.

October 31st - A B-24 transport carrying George Beurling and other wounded and tour expired pilots and civillians crashes at Gibraltar. Beurling survives but 16 others are not so lucky including two children and Eric Hetherington, a frequent wingman of Beurling in the battles over Malta.

November 20th - A four ship convoy arrives from Alexandria bringing badly needed food supplies. Though attacked by torpedo bombers, only one ship is slightly damaged.

December 6th - Another five ship convoy arrives from Egypt bringing more food and supplies. This convoy arrives entirely unscathed and heralds the beginning of a return to regular deliveries by smaller numbers of ships. This marks the end of the longest siege in british history.

September 11th, 1943 - The Italian fleet surrenders at Malta.

December 1943 - President Roosevelt visits Malta. "In the name of the People of the United States of America, I salute the Island of Malta, it's people, and it's defenders, who in the cause of freedom and justice and decency throughout the world, have rendered valorous service far above and beyond the call of duty," he said during his address at Luqa. "Under repeated fire from the skies Malta stood alone but unafraid in the center of the sea, one tiny bright flame in the darkness - a beacon of hope for the clearer days that have come."

DW

[_AH_Bear]

~S~ DW.. That was an awesome campaign.. well done sir, thank you for the entertainment.

~S~ Bear

[_AH_BBQhead]

Yep. That DW fella is some kind of campaign builder.  Lotsa fun built right in. And with alternate missions to adjust for participation levels, and skins, and historic facts posted in the forums along the way - a little show offy but I'm willing to overlook that this time. I'm not even gonna mention the show offy part on accounta how much time you must've spent.  Really well done, DW. Thank you for all of it.

[_AH_taldrg]

~S~
   What BBQ said. I did not get to fly as many mission as I had wanted because of this Windows 10 mess but those I did get into it was very very well done.

[_AH_DarkWolf]

Show offy?? This coming from one of the highest scoring pilots this campaign who was arse in a day on mission 28?

I learned it from you ok, I learned it from you!


Also, this is what the campaign ribbon will look like :



The blue represents the mediterranean blue our spitfires were painted in, the red and white stripes are the colors of the maltese flag and the little metal pin in the center is the George Cross medal which is what Malta as a whole was awarded for it's perseverance during the seige. One can hardly tell cause it's shrunk down so much but the image I used for that was actually a picture of Malta's George Cross, so rather apropo.

DW

[_AH_Jack]

Why, it's beautiful!

[_AH_Nimble]

I would just like to take the time to thank DW for a challenging and intense campaign.... some very good work my friend and enjoyed by all   :happy-112:

[_AH_Lippy]

Thanks DW this Camp. was especially fun to lead. Had a blast I am sorry I had to cut out some of it but Life must come first. ~S~ nicely done Sir.

[_AH_Turbo]

Job well done DW. ~S~     :happy-112: