June 11

Malta, Central Mediterranean • June 11, 1940 On this date in 1940, one day after Italy entered World War II on the side of Axis part­ner Nazi Germany, the Ital­ian Royal Air Force opened a nearly non­stop series of air raids on the Medi­ter­ra­nean is­land of Malta, a British pos­ses­sion since 1800. Benito Mus­so­lini spec­u­lated…

Malta, Central Mediterranean · June 11, 1940 On this date in 1940, one day after Italy entered World War II on the side of Axis part­ner Nazi Ger­many, the Ital­ian Royal Air Force opened a nearly non­stop series of air raids on the Medi­ter­ra­nean is­land of Malta. Lying 50 miles off the Sicilian coast and 200 miles north of…