During this week in 1941 Unbeaten was not far from her intended port of call. Malta was not the safest of places for a submarine, or any vessel for that matter. Combined bombing raids inflicted by the Luftwaffe and the Italian Regia Aeronautica had numbered 58 during the month of January 1941. By the time Unbeaten eventually reached the island the frequency of raids had steadily increased month on month, to a point where in May there were a total of
97 raids. Twenty six of these were night raids. The chaps on board Unbeaten must have thought to be alongside the Maltese island was reminiscent of being alongside at Pompey, having also suffered sustained bombing raids back home. Located 985 and 820 miles respectively from the ports of Gibraltar and Alexandria the island of Malta, not un-like Gibraltar, was also seen as a very strategic Island. Winston Churchill summed up the importance of the little island when he said ‘Malta must be held, or the way to the east would be open’.
97 raids. Twenty six of these were night raids. The chaps on board Unbeaten must have thought to be alongside the Maltese island was reminiscent of being alongside at Pompey, having also suffered sustained bombing raids back home. Located 985 and 820 miles respectively from the ports of Gibraltar and Alexandria the island of Malta, not un-like Gibraltar, was also seen as a very strategic Island. Winston Churchill summed up the importance of the little island when he said ‘Malta must be held, or the way to the east would be open’.