From Publishers Weekly
During World War II the tiny island of Malta commanded both Allied and Axis supply routes in the Mediterranean and was an important intelligence listening post for the Allies. From June 1940 until August 1943 it was subjected to heavy bombardment by Italian and German planes (262 air raids in one month alone), yet the islanders and the British garrison not only survived but assisted in turning Malta into a launching pad for a counteroffensive. Winston Churchill called the island "that unsinkable aircraft carrier." Although Bradford's book is oddly devoid of individuals, he conveys in magnificent detail the privations of the defenders and the ingenuity with which they coped with bombs, starvation and the threat of invasion. The relief and exultation with which the island-saving Santa Marija convoy was greeted is movingly described. Bradford's previous books include Ulysses Found and Julius Caesar.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
From Library Journal
Bradford, author of an earlier work on the great siege of Malta by the Turks in 1565, has written a lush, almost romantic, narrative of the more familiar siege of 1940-43. His vivid account of an Axis air blitz that surpassed anything suffered by England is marred by a tendency to present the Maltese as simple and enduring folks loyal to their betters. This distortion is corrected in Charles A. Jellison's Besieged ( LJ 2/15/85). Bradford is more accurate, but not particularly original, in describing the island's increasing importance as an air and naval base athwart Axis supply lines to North Africa, and in presenting the natural features that made invasion, as opposed to neutralization, so difficult. Interesting reading for general readers; repetitive for scholars. Dennis Showalter, History Dept., Colorado Coll . , Colorado Springs
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc. --Ce texte fait référence à une édition épuisée ou non disponible de ce titre.
