After the battle ended, peace did not immediatly
come to Malta. Enemy forces still occupied vast tracts of the
Mediterranean. The North African campaign still to be won, and
later followed by the invasions of Sicily and Italy. Malta thus
became a staging area for the RAF and allied forces heading
to other parts. Eventually, the action moved from the Mediterranean
to the Tyrrhenian Sea as the allies worked thier way to Rome.
But Malta was still a base for squadrons of Beaufighters and
other strike aircraft , in their relentless search and destroy
missions for enemy maritime targets - in the process, sinking
hundreds of tons of shipping destined for Libya, Tunisia or
Algeria from axis ports in Italy or France.
Atleast until 1944, the Maltese endured the
hardships of war until the war eventually passed them by. The
island's last alert or air raid siren went off in the darkened
early hours of 28 August 1944, with the 'All clear' not sounding
until 9.30 am. It was Malta's final wartime air raid warning
of the war - in actual crisis - a welcome respite, considering
that there were 3340 other instances that had come and gone
before it since those early days in 1940. Only in 1945 were
the sirens run again, not announcing imminent danger, but instead
glorious truimph. Victory in Europe was heartily celebrated
by Maltese, who remembered that some of the first, key steps
to victory were forged in the skies over their little island.
