DEFENCE OF MALTA

Wairarapa Times-Age, 11 July 1940, Page 5

DEFENCE OF MALTA

4 POPULATION UNDISMAYED BY BOMBING IN SPITE OF DEATHS & DAMAGE. AIR BATTLES WATCHED FROM ROOF-TOPS. (By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright I (Received This Day, 9.10 a.m.) VALETTA, July 10. Hundreds of bombs have been dropped on Malta since the outbreak of Signor Mussolini’s war. Civilian casualties amount to 82 killed, including 20 under the age of fourteen years, and 194 injured. Whole streets of houses have been demolished in certain areas. The numbers of shelters, cut into rock, are increasing rapidly. An efficient siren system warns people to take cover, but there is a general inclination to watch the air battles from the roof-tops, where thousands of spectators cheer wildly when an enemy plane is brought down. There was great,religious fervour in a Mass celebrated underground, as in the catacomb days. Two churches have been demolished. Maltese gunners, who are manning the defences with British regulars, paint pictures of their patron saints on the guns and kiss the ammunition, with a prayer, as it is placed in the gun. Hundreds of volunteers are working at first aid. A.R.P. and communal kitchens. Dockyards workers have manned their own defence batteries. BOMBER SHOT DOWN IN SPITE OF PROTECTION BY FIGHTERS. (Received This Day. 11.15 a.m.) CAIRO. July 10. A R.A.F. communique states that an enemy bomber, supported and guarded by two formations of fighters, attempted to raid Malta. Our fighters set fire to the bomber, which crashed.