Individual Under 65 Health Carriers Individual Stand Alone: Fill & Download for Free

Superfluous, huh? Military spending is one of those topics which is governed primarily on perception rather than reality. Facts are facts, but if you don't look at enough then you don't understand the whole story. No I am not saying that US doesn't spend a whole lot, but that most don't understand why. The fact in and of itself is more than enough to justify some judgment of guilt from those who don't know better. For example, most of the narrative is based upon only a few key graphs based on only a fraction of the information available.In fact, the narrative is so overwhelming that to assume anything other than the popular point of view is tantamount to blasphemy. Consider, if you will, how a question, a thing which itself is an open admittance of ignorance, as all questions are, would be delivered with such righteous indignation as is the current wording of this question. Oh well. I can't say that everything is as it should be or even what is and isn't right or what anyone should do. What I can do is offer some ways of thinking about military spending that you probably haven't thought about before. I feel that everyone is entitled to a change in the narrative. As a United States Marine Corps Sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2007, I'd like you to give me a few minutes of your time; not so much for my sake, my war is over after all, but for those who will be fighting them in the future.An Incorrect AssumptionBefore moving on, and to answer the question "why has the US military demanded and gotten funds..." briefly, the United States military doesn't really get to "demand" very much. It does have some political power, but its budget is set and determined by Congress. They determine how superfluous the military gets to be and as I have said before elsewhere, they are your fault in the case that you don't like their decisions, at least in the case that you are American voter. As it is said, democracy is a beautiful thing because the people always get exactly the government they deserve.Second, there is the assumption that their enormous strength is superfluous, or even adequate. The rest of this write-up will focus on this assumption and some other facts that should be considered along with it. That said, by the end of it, I am pretty sure the assumption won't stand so strongly that, according to the question that stands today, one might consider the American military to be "unnecessary, especially through being more than enough."It's not like we are the only ones doing it:The first graph most people ever look at is the one that shows how the US spends more than anyone else in the world on their military budget. It's a pie graph with a big red chunk making the very clear (and oh so scary) point that the US spends more money than anyone else in the world by far. It asks the question of why do they need that much, but you know what? That isn't the question to ask. That particular question is too short term.Consider this. When you show that graph for 2009, and then 2011 and then 2012, did you notice a pattern? If you say, "The US spends more than the rest of them!" you'd only be half right. The truth is that there is more going on. You probably didn't take a look at the changes in the rest of the nations. These sorts of things are hard to do when you only read pie graphs, but here is an interesting one.The USA led the rise [in military spending], but it was not alone. Of those countries for which data was available, 65% increased their military spending in real terms in 2009. The increase was particularly pronounced among larger economies, both developing and developed: 16 of the 19 states in the G20 saw real-terms increases in military spending in 2009.— Sam Perlo-Freeman, Olawale Ismail and Carina Solmirano, Military Expenditure Chapter 5, SPIRI Yearbook, June 2010, p.1This graph shows the % change in military spending over the last decade. On the right you can see how these amounts measure against one another, but the bars to the side are what are most important. They show long term pattern of growth and answer the question, "Which nations are most dedicated to growing their military?"Many nations, such as China and India, are staying even with the %GDP spending and the growth in military spending shows a somewhat even with the economy. Others, however, such as Russia and Saudi Arabia show significant spikes even as the world at large, including the US, is showing a pattern of reduced military spending. The US? Why yes, check the bottom graph and several more throughout this post. Military spending in the United States has gone down significantly over the past few years even during a time when we were and are still involved in two different wars. What is interesting is, despite the narrative, though the US is leading the others in military reduction, it doesn't seem to be determining how much they spend since the reduction in its spending is not matched by a proportional reduction in military spending overall worldwide.Note the blue line, that's the US. Since 2010 it has steadily been reducing its military spending in relation to GDP. Meanwhile many other nations have not. I used Russia and Saudi Arabia as two important examples because of how much their priorities seem to be changing and also given their precarious political situations presently. What is also shown is the World average (and the UK which is miraculously even with it) which shows that the rest of the world, while spending less overall than the US, is declining its spending on military nearly as quickly as is the United States. Given that so many sources are in agreement that the US makes up such an enormous amount of worldwide military spending, this would be surprising. For the graph to be true (see sources at bottom of the image) others would have to be filling the gap in spending left by the US military's budget reduction. That is the case throughout much of the world. The world isn't becoming a more peaceful place as the US declines in influence. It's gearing up for something, to be more precise, many small somethings. Many nations, many nations that many other nations don't trust are still growing even as the US military is cut down by social pressures to do so. While I will agree that the spending of the United States military seems exorbitant, current spending doesn't matter nearly as much as growth in spending. Size today is static, but growth is measured exponentially when time is a factor.Igor Markov's answer to Why does the US government spend so much on military?Jon Davis's answer to Given that China is fine without blue-water navy, why does the US need one?Being even is the Deadliest form of WarfareA lot of people might think that all this military spending is wasteful and overkill. Non-military minds believe that one simply shouldn't need that much power to overcome an adversary. I'll admit that this way of thinking makes sense in most regards, but when you consider the way of thinking in which men and women's lives are at stake, that kind of thinking starts to falter.Let's look at it another way. In the men's 100 meter dash, the difference between the fastest man on Earth, Usain Bolt and the second fastest man, Tyson Gay, is just over 1/10th of a second. It doesn't matter how much faster Bolt is, so long as he is just a little bit faster than Gay. That's all he needs to win. Being 10 times faster isn't necessary secure victory. People understand that. People also understand politics. Under normal or ideal conditions when a person gets more votes he is the winner. There isn't really a debate after that. He or she doesn't need a landslide. One vote should be fine. People understand that. These, realistically are the only forms of competition that non-military minded people ever consider. The two competitors compete, under perfectly equal grounds, one is declared a winner and the loser is not really worse off than if he had done nothing at all. It's straightforward, it's fair, and in some circles, such "sportsmanship" would be considered a holy practice. But not in warfare. Warfare is something completely different. Warfare is an unholy thing and those who think that "playing fair" and to try to make a necessary evil into something more moral in practice by leveling the playing field are, in fact, advocating for atrocities on a scale impossible to imagine.Consider this; in the 1990's Saddam Hussein commanded the 4th most powerful military in the world. 4th. Of the hundreds of nations in the world he was among the top four. That means that he was an insanely powerful individual by measurements of those days. Even given all his strength, however, in less than a month his army was utterly defeated. To top that, his regime was defeated so bad that coalition forces only lost 190 servicemen to enemy action while the Iraqi lost somewhere between 20,000-35,000. That's not even including wounded. The simple fact is that in warfare, the loser almost never loses by a close margin. They are almost always utterly decimated presuming that they don't have the sense to surrender early. I've studied this from a historical perspective before. In how has mortality rate per battle changed throughout history? I described how the presence of overwhelming force, among other things, is actually the factor that saves lives as it quickly ends conflicts.In the opposite case, conflicts in which competing forces are mostly even, or where overwhelming force is absent are horrific cases indeed. These are known as a Pyrrhic victory, a victory with such a devastating cost that it is tantamount to defeat. I'd like to talk about events in American history where even forces led to disastrous ends. One example being much of the American Civil War. Battles like Antietam and Gettysburg are remembered for being the bloodiest days in American history. One thing is for certain, they would have never had happened had either side not believed they had a chance of winning. Another example, one I regret to speak about would be Iraq not long after 2003, my war. While overwhelming force there did secure the single greatest military upsets in history, the occupying force was far too small to prevent the insurgency which followed, growing larger and angrier in the power vacuum that consumed Iraq. This, of course, led ultimately to the events of today.But a better example exists elsewhere.Let's consider next the conflict between Russia and Germany during WWII. By some accounts, in three separate battles, the dead numbered more have been killed in the entire history of American warfare. What most don't understand, is that this is the ultimate result of when militaries try to be too efficient, and send in just enough men to get the job done, without predicting the inevitable failures in planning that are an unavoidable part of war. According to estimates and official records for the Battle of Stalingrad, Axis powers had over 850,000 total casualties (killed, injured, or captured) with the Russians suffering 1,129,619 total casualties. The main reason for this is simple; there wasn't a single force with the strength of overwhelming force early enough in the campaign to secure a victory, and thereby likely prevent the deaths of over one million people. This is, of course, an oversimplified view of one of the most important series of battles in history, but it also goes to show just how dangerous a "fair fight" is to those who fight it. I don't want to get into the argument of whether you would have wanted Stalin or Hitler to win, or play a hypothetical debate on where the world would be if either of them hadn't done so poorly. The point of this lecture is to show that overwhelming force saves lives, in spite of how much of a counter-intuitive contradiction it sounds. I would very much suggest anyone who would like to understand this more read my answer to how has mortality rate per battle changed throughout history?Given the new consideration that overwhelming force prevents otherwise horrendous casualties How much stronger is the United States military as compared with the next strongest power? asks an interesting question. One graph worth noting from that question is this one:Here you see a short glimpse of some very important figures that indicate basic strength measurements between the two most powerful nations on Earth. First we see is the cost basis in which the US is essentially 10 times as large and its % of GDP is also twice that of China. Besides that, this doesn't actually tell you as much as you think, but it is a good indicator of the massive advantage that exists between #1 and #2.Of course there are some important things to know. Namely is that China's military really doesn't seem to be as focused with protecting, or even expanding China's interests outside of the county, but rather as a balance against a nation of 1.4 billion people getting sick of being holistically governed by less than 7% of its population, i.e. the Chinese Communist Party. So the military there exists for different reasons, at least for now.Now, I am not saying the China and the US are on any sort of military collision course, but the original title of this section was called, "It doesn't do anyone any good to be second place in warfare." Therefore, the question has to be asked, "who would win?" One would obviously suggest that the Americans would easily defeat the Chinese military. There, the spending surpasses the Chinese by more than 10x. In the next section, however, I will make a very clear point: that very expensive strategies can be undone by very cheap ways of thinking. Consider, for example, the large amount of submarines owned by the Chinese. I love our aircraft carriers, but they are massive cities floating out on the water. They are massive money pits, even if they are a very important part of a very large global strategy. What's even more? They aren't even one ship. They are literally always surrounded by others.What's my fear? A single nuke taking all this out. What's even worse? China already has that exact weapon! And at least sixty more of them. (DF-21 Dong-Feng 21) I fear that the days of the aircraft carrier being numbered and China's large number of subs, really their best asset I see on that graph, are exactly why. Even worse than that is that the US has build almost its entire integrated naval strategy around its aircraft carriers. It has eleven of them, which doesn't sound like that much, but that is still 11 times more than all the other guys (except you UK.)So why the side rant on how inefficient, or at least dated it seems that we have built a massive war beast? Well, consider again, twenty years ago when Saddam was sitting high and proud on his chair in Baghdad. Then he lost, and now where is he? Where is his country for that matter? Would you like to be fourth place in a world that didn't like you?To summarize, John Steinbeck put it best by saying that, "If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck.”Increased costs of military Technology:There is rule of thumb in understanding the costs of military technology. It's called Augustine's laws. Augustine's laws were a series of tongue in cheek aphorisms put forth by Norman Ralph Augustine, an American aerospace businessman who served as Under Secretary of the Army from 1975 to 1977. In 1984 he published his laws. The book and several of the laws were the topic of an article in Sound and Vibration magazine in March 2012. His most cited law is number 16, which shows that defense budgets grow linearly but the unit cost of a new military aircraft grows exponentially:"In the year 2054, the entire defense budget will purchase just one tactical aircraft. This aircraft will have to be shared by the Air Force and Navy 3½ days each per week except for leap year, when it will be made available to the Marines for the extra day."There's a chance you didn't read that correctly. Take a look again at that y-axis and if you need to, refresh yourself on reading log scale. So that we are clear, the F-22 isn't 20% more expensive than the F-15. It's actually about 25 times more expensive to build and develop. And to screw with your mind a bit more, the F-15 isn't twice as expensive as the WWII P-51 Mustang; it's actually more than 220 times more expensive.The reason for this pattern is that weapons technologies are needed to always stay ahead of the other combat systems constantly being put out to defeat them. This is a thing one really doesn't understand until you've full experienced it is that incredibly smart systems can be defeated by really cheap ones. Take for example the Humvee. That's a really great vehicle. Trust me, I've driven one. It was also a pretty expensive improvement from the old Jeep and other combat vehicles in warfare of the late 20th century.But did you know this beautiful machine could be leveled by the usage of a simple unspent twenty year old artillery shell wired to a makeshift detonator with a cell phone as a trigger?I promise you it could, I've seen it happen.So to overcome this, we went through a very costly process where, more or less, every Humvee in theatre was given a very costly "uparmoring" process. These involved massive plates being installed all over the vehicle.This was a very costly change to be made, and sadly, it didn't really help that much. It was a massive cost, but didn't increase survivability of the soldiers or Marines inside much if a bomb went off underneath them. That blown vehicle I showed you before, was partially uparmored, by the way. What the plating was good at, however, was destroying transmissions. The vehicle was never meant to carry the weight of all that plating along with its normal load. Something else had to happen.So we made the MRAPs. MRAP stands for Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected and actually I think the South Africans developed it first. Either way, it solved our problem of jury rigged bombs bringing down the most powerful military machine on the planet. This vehicle looks like it just took massive blow to face, but it will keep on going and so will the Marines or soldiers inside. There's a catch though... you guessed it. It is very expensive; far, far, far more expensive than this old thing.Now to understand truly how important Augustine's laws are we have to consider what the phrase "defense budgets grow linearly but the unit cost of a new military aircraft grows exponentially." Really means. It means that we have cooler stuff, but those technologies and weapons systems are set to do much, much more. A single Marine now is outnumbered by far more people than he would have been in 1943. The days where a storm of Sherman tanks can overtake and overwhelm enemy locations and where hundreds of thousands of Jeeps can be produced to do every job imaginable are over. Now, we live in a world where a single F-22 must do the old job of 100 P-51 Mustangs and one MRAP is provided for the hundreds of Jeeps no longer on the road. This means that where the technology is they rule, but where they aren't, where they can't be, there is vacuum.Piracy:I really love the piracy example because it is just a beautiful way of reminding people that, oh yeah, if not for a globally integrated military leading an international effort to protect our frail and valuable trade lanes, I wouldn't have this beautiful wifi enabled iPad to voice my disapproval of said military to the world.The United States has, for reasons you may or may not agree with, taken a leadership role in combating international piracy as it is a threat to not only the peace and stability of various regions around the world, but also, more obviously, our own trade lanes and economic stability, as well. This can be seen through a thorough reading of Rear Admiral Joseph Kuzmick's testimony to Congress on counter-piracy operations (April 2013):Page on www.navy.milIn it you'll see three different piracy hot spots where the US is either leading coalition efforts to combat piracy, namely in the fighting of Somali Pirates, the Gulf of Guinea, and in the seas of Southeast Asia.The United States Seventh Fleet has led the effort to enhance area nations’ ability to combat piracy and maritime crime. Southeast Asia Cooperation and Training (SECAT) is an annual multinational exercise held at Changi Naval Base, Singapore. The exercise highlights the value of information-sharing and multilateral cooperation in maritime interdiction scenarios, including counter-piracy. Participating nations in 2012 included Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. Additionally, Commander, Seventh Fleet conducts annual bilateral Cooperation Afloat – Readiness and Training (CARAT) exercises with various ASEAN nations. In 2012, the United States conducted CARAT exercises with Bangladesh, Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The at-sea phases of CARAT focused on maritime intercept (MIO) operations, counter-piracy, anti-smuggling and, maritime law enforcement.What's important to remember about this operation is that it is one of several. Many nations are involved in some of these operations, but only the United States military is present, in fact providing the backbone, in all of them. In the case of Southeast Asia, being that nearly one quarter of the world’s commerce and half its oil pass through the Strait of Malacca and South China Sea, I find it odd that no other major military powers around the South China Sea were present in the effort to safeguard what is essentially one of the most important trade routes in the world. My oversimplified point of view on the matter is that they don't have to. As I've written before in an answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world" someone else will do it.In fact, piracy is only one of the many functions the United States military has been beholden to do, for better or worse. It would do you well to check out what a world where the US did not expend so much of its budget into international operations by checking that link again.Have you really done your homework?One thing that I hate is when the current narrative feeds the future narrative. What's happening now is that the narrative reads, "US spends more than any other country in military spending." I've shown reasons why that might be explained, and as some might believe, even be necessary, but few will listen. I'm sure that some will only cite a quote of a quote of a quote depicted from a graph. But those third hand analysts probably haven't noticed that the one graph they referenced is changing every year, even though the main fact still remains constant. They probably haven't noticed that the spending of the US military has decreased every year when compared to GDP. What they also probably didn't know was that this decrease in spending by the US is also leading a total world decrease in defense spending, in spite of many other nations increasing their military budgets, but not quite by enough.Secondly, the narrative denies the fact that the spending level experienced today is only slightly more than the norm since WWII, this is in spite of the fact that for over a decade we have been entangled in not one, but two major foreign wars with little foreign assistance.As one can see, even though we are still involved with one of these wars, United States military spending has been reduced significantly, regardless of whether the conflict was actually over or not. In the last three years there have already been a reduction of more than one hundred billion dollars. As I've said before, this doesn't communicate well when you only read static pie graphs. Going back even further tells another story altogether.What's important to see here is what it looked like in 1912 and 1940. The US military had almost no budget relative to today. And what happened next? World Wars I and II. An interesting bit of trivia is that at the time that WWI began the United States military had a smaller force than did Romania. What happened next was a very costly armament and training period in which a military with virtually no experience and no understanding of modern warfare was thrust into battle.Everyone knows how marvelously the US led invasion of Europe after Normandy went. It's all we talk about. What isn't talked about as much was the campaign for North Africa, ending in the occupation of Italy. That entire campaign was marked with costly mistakes and ill equipped men fighting against the elite German military machine. The only saving grace was the presence of superior manpower, a few experienced and unappreciated allies and a German line spread too thin from battles going on on across Europe and the Mediterranean, particularly along the Eastern front, which I've already mentioned. What you also might not know was that the War in the Pacific wasn't so easy either. In fact, one of the early battles nearly lost us the war. Perhaps a few did. Off the coast of the tiny island of Guadalcanal, the American Navy was defeated in one of its most humiliating losses of its history. The campaign would have been lost if not for the superior fighting strength of the stranded Marine fighting force on the island pushing back wave after wave of Japanese reinforcements until the Navy could return to secure the waters around the island. Frankly, this is what happens when an unprepared isolationist nation suddenly is plunged into a global war. A few history lessons would do much for those who wish for America to downsize its military force further.Now you might say that all this is, as the question states, superfluous. Maybe, but I don't think so. You might think that spending what we do is overkill, so to speak, but hopefully I've made you at least see it bit differently. Hopefully, you've at least seen another narrative, one which knows that a nation unprepared for war is hopelessly endangering not only its warfighters, but also its sovereignty.Quite frankly, we value self-determination. We value it a lot. We don't want others making decisions for us. We spend a lot to ensure that there isn't even a possibility that someone might be able to take away our freedom of will. And as I have shown, we are going to have to spend more in the future to be able to maintain the same level of security, not only for ourselves, but for our allies and markets as well. Really, the costs aren't financial. The costs are much of our conveniencies, some extra comforts or an easier life for all Americans. We are going to have to work harder for our luxuries than will so many who live peacefully under the veil of security we shelter them within. That is, until we don't. Then I don't know really what will become of them. The risks, however, are unfathomably high, so much so, that questions like this seem justified. You might not agree, in fact, I am sure that many won't, but the simple fact is that Congress does.So to answer your question, the military rates a large budget because:We aren't the only force out there investing in our military.Historically speaking, it sucks to be in second place.A fair fight isn't, particularly if you're there.Military equipment is often easily overcome by cheap countermeasures which necessitates an exponential cost increase in production and development of new weapons and defensive systems.Pirates are real, and they're everywhere. To fight something that is everywhere, you have to be everywhere.Stop regurgitating graphs if you don't know how to read them.Why I am writing this:As I have mentioned before, I was a member of the United States Marine Corps who served in Iraq. That war was and still is a wake up call to all of us, but I fear that the American public in particular are taking the wrong lessons from it.But that was then. Today I am a writer and a teacher. My wife teaches third grade and this last year, I worked with high school and sixth graders. I think about these kids in ways you wouldn't. I don't just see them as children, but know that once I sat in their very same seats. Once I walked in the same halls of their school and that once I was exactly like them. I eventually went to war. That is how I see them, each one of them. They, just like I was, are all potentially warriors in some conflict I pray every day never comes.These are some my wife's student. I speak to her classes every year for Veteran's Day to tell them what it was like. That's me in the picture, the tall one. Demographically, I know that poor kids like this are the ones who will one day enlist in far greater numbers than their wealthier peers regardless of what grades they made growing up. I also know that her third graders this year will be 18 in 2025, just about the right time for something nasty to kick up again. Like me, they may want to get an opportunity to get out and see the world. Like me they want a means to go to college, since large universities recruiters never visit small towns like ours. Like me, they may feel an obligation to serve that is somehow less potent in the more blessed socioeconomic sectors, a fact which has always escaped my understanding. And like me, they will be joining the military when they graduate.The boy in black shorts and a yellow shirt in the front row wants to join the army because his big brother did. In 2025 he will be trained up and in front line of whatever future engagement he is a part of, if he is unlucky enough to be involved in such an ordeal. The problem is that he will likely be one person per every 80 miles of territory for which his unit is responsible. He will probably be one person per 80,000 people in the country he is deployed too. That's a heavy load. I remember not long ago I helped my wife sort his homework. That day he learned about metamorphosis in frogs.The point of all this is to remind readers that the talks about military budgets today in no way affects any of us. Those of us in malls today aren't really affected by the redistribution of 1% of our annual GDP either way in a meaningful way, not even people like me, the former warfighters. I've long ago retired my boots to souvenir status at the back of the closet as have so many others like me. No, the people who are affected by conversations on budgets today are those who tomorrow will need to make up the difference for our short sighted understanding of the modern military and how it fits into a globally integrated network. Some of these people are going to die if we make poor choices. Even more will die if we make selfish ones. These people today are learning about metamorphosis in frogs, basic algebra and getting their first kisses. It's jarring to consider, I know, but reckless not to.Follow on Reading and Cited Pages:Jon Davis's answer to U.S. Military Operations: Is the February 2014 budget proposal by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel a good idea from a defense and budget consideration?Jon Davis's answer to What would happen if the USA stopped trying to "police the world"? What effects would this have, economically and militarily, on the USA and other countries?Jon Davis's answer to What are some mind-blowing facts about the U.S. military?World Military SpendingUS Drives Down Global Defense SpendingGlobal Defense Budget Seen Climbing In 2014; First Total Increase Since 2009 As Russia Surpasses Britain And Saudi Arabia Continues Its Security Spending SpreeArms and the manMilitary expenditure (% of GDP)Defence spending in a time of austerityThanks for reading!For more answers like this check out On War, Global Outlook and The American, and also follow my blog War Elephant for more new content. Everything I write is completely independent research and is supported by fan and follower pledges. Please consider showing your support directly by visiting my Patreon support page here: Help Jon Davis in writing Military Novels, Articles, and Essays.

1/ Baby Box - a jam-packed box of baby essentials to help new parents at the start of a child's life.2/ Childcare - 800 hours of early learning and childcare, saving families up to £2,500 per child per year @theSNP3/ Free Tuition - students in England face tuition fees up to £27,750 - Scottish students receive university tuition free4/ Period Poverty - Scotland is the first in the world to make sanitary products available free to all pupils and students5/ Prescriptions - prescription charges abolished in Scotland - now £9 per item south of the border6/ Cheaper Council Tax - every Scottish household benefits from cheaper tax bills - on average £500 less than England7/ Care For All - Free personal and nursing care extended to everyone who needs it, regardless of age8/ Free Bus Travel - Over one million Scots now enjoy free travel, including over-60s and disabled people9/ Record Health funding - over £13.9 billion in 2019/20, £4 billion more than when we took office10/ 13,600 more staff in Scotland's NHS, that's over 10% more since 200711/ Health spending in Scotland is £185 per person higher than in England12/ Patient satisfaction is at a five-year high in Scotland, with 86% of patients rating their inpatient experience positively13/ Scotland's A&E services are the best performing in the UK - for almost four years running14/ We are investing £110 million to support implementation of a new GP contract to support wider primary care reform15/ We are investing £200 million in a network of elective and diagnostic treatment centres across the country, as well as expanding the Golden Jubilee, to help meet the needs of an ageing population16/ Over £5 billion has been invested in Scotland's health infrastructure since 2007, includingScotland's superhospital in Glasgow, Dumfries Infirmary, Orkney Hospital & Aberdeen's Emergency Care Centre17/ Most nurses in Scotland are better paid than anywhere else in the UK, and none are paid less than their counterparts in NHS England18/ We've committed £40 million for 2,600 extra nursing and midwifery training places over this Parliament, & are investing £3 million more to train 500 advanced nurse practitioners19/ Scotland has the highest number of GP's per head of population in the UK.20/ We're training more paramedics, with a commitment to train 1,000 more by 202121/ We've expanded IVF to more families - making access in Scotland the fairest and most generous in the UK.22/ Scotland is leading the world on alcohol pricing, being the first country to implement minimum unit pricing23/ Our patient safety record is amongst the best in the world, infection from C.Diff and MRSA has dramatically reduced in over 65's by 88% and 94% under our government24/ We are implementing our new Cancer Strategy, investing £100 million to improve the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.25/ The risk from cervical cancer for the next generation of young women has been cut by providing the HPV vaccine for girls in second year of secondary school26/ Parking charges at all NHS-run hospitals scrapped - saving patients and staff around £27 million.27/ Scotland led the UK by introducing a mental health waiting times target, and our spending on mental health services exceeded £1 billion in 2018.28/ 94% of the Scottish population are now registered with an NHS dentist - double what it was when we took office in 200729/ Free tuition and bursaries for student nurses have been scrapped in England.In Scotland, we've protected free tuition and the nursing and midwifery bursary rises to £8,100 for 2019 and £10,000 for 2020.30/ Irresponsible alcohol discounts in supermarkets and off-licences are now banned, and we've raised the legal age for buying tobacco to 18.31/ We've made it illegal to smoke in a car with anyone under the age of 18.32/ Everyone who uses social care services can now control their individual care budget through the Self-directed Support Act.33/ We've provided extra funding for Scotland's veteran charities, and ensured our ex-service men & women receive priority treatment in the NHS and other services.34/ We are investing record amounts in schools to close the attainment gap - £120 million going direct to schools in 2019 alone.35/ All 135,000 pupils in primaries 1 to 3 now benefit from free school meals, saving families around £380 per child per year.36/ We've launched the Scottish Attainment Challenge, with investment of £750 million over the life of this parliament.37/ We've provided extra resources to local councils, allowing spending on education to increase in real terms for the past three years, up by £189 million in 2018/19.38/ 847 schools upgraded since 2007, providing well-designed, accessible and inclusive learning environments for pupils.39/ Record number of Scots are being accepted to study at university with record numbers from our most deprived communities too.40/ We've launched the First Minister's Reading Challenge to encourage all children to read for pleasure.41/ We've introduced a national £100 school clothing grant to help relieve family pressure.42/ Since 2012, we have invested over £1 billion per year in Scotland's universities.43/ We have protected the Disabled Students Allowance and bursaries for students, both abolished elsewhere in the UK.44/ We've expanded the Education Maintenance Allowance in Scotland- now scrapped south of the border - to support even more school pupils and college students from low income families.45/ We maintain the funding for at least 116,000 full-time college places.46/ We're providing our further education students with record levels of support. £111 million in 2018/19 - up 33% under the SNP.47/ We are supporting the college sector to maintain colleges and to deliver new campuses, including investment of over £228 million in the new City of Glasgow College super campus.48/ The number of higher education qualifiers from college is at an all-time high.49/ Graduates from Scottish universities are earning more than their counterparts in the rest of the UK.50/ Full-time college students in Scotland can now benefit from the highest bursary of anywhere in the UK.51/ Scotland provides the best package of support for university students in the UK - with free tuition, low interest rates for student loan repayments, and a minimum income guarantee of £7,625.52/ We've introduced a £20,000 bursary for career changers aiming to become teachers in priority science, technology, engineering or maths (STEM) subjects, with home-economics included for the first time last year.53/ Scotland's unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest rate on record, under the SNP.54/ Scotland is the top destination in the UK, outside of London, for foreign direct investment.55/ We have delivered a new progressive tax system, supporting additional investment in our public services while safeguarding those on lower incomes.56/Scotland has the most generous business rates relief package in the UK - worth more than £750 million.57/ Scotland's international exports are up 57.2% under the SNP - valued at £32.4 billion in 2017.58/ We're leading the way on fair pay. Over 1,300 organisations are now accredited Living Wage employers - over one quarter of the total across the UK.59/ We've met our target to reduce youth unemployment by 40% - four years early.60/ Business research and development spend in Scotland increased by 13.9% in 2017 to reach a record £1.25 billion, compared to a UK increase of just 2.9%.61/ To help protect jobs and businesses through the recession, we've slashed or abolished business rates for over 100,000 premises - saving small businesses around £1.7 billion to date.62/ Scotland has the highest pay anywhere in the UK outside of London, the South East and East regions.63/ Scotland's productivity is outperforming the UK as a whole. Since 2007 productivity in Scotland has grown 10.3%, compared to growth of 2.9% in the UK.64/ Over 230,000 young people have had the opportunity to undertake a Modern Apprenticeship since 2007. And by 2020, a further 30,000 opportunities will be available every year.65/ We've made relentless efforts to protect manufacturing job, notably saving Scotland's remaining steel works from closure.66/ The number of private sector businesses in Scotland is at the highest level since records began.67/ £500 million to stimulate and support economic growth in Glasgow and the Clyde Valley.68/ £125 million to stimulate and support economic growth in the city as part of the Aberdeen City Region Deal, £254 million more for infrastructure projects across the north east of Scotland.69/ £135 million in the Inverness and Highland City Region Deal - two and a half times the UK government investment.70/ £300 million to deliver inclusive economic growth in Edinburgh and the south east of Scotland.71/ £200 million for the Tay Cities Region Deal, focusing on innovation, internationalisation, connectivity and empowerment.72/ £45 million for the Stirling and Clackmannanshire City Region Deal to unlock investment, deliver new jobs and economic growth, alongside an additional £5 million for infrastructure projects in the region.73/ £85 million for the Borderlands Growth Deal - £20 million more than the UK government.74/ By the end of 2021 we will have committed £1 billion to tackling fuel poverty, and over one million energy efficiency measures have already been installed in almost one million households across Scotland.75/ Our reforms to Land and Buildings Transaction Tax mean that more than 80% of taxpayers either paid less tax compared to Stamp Duty Land Tax or no tax at all.76/ We are establishing a Scottish National Investment Bank, with funds for pre-cursor activities of £130 million.77/ Public sector procurement has been simplified, with more small and medium-sized enterprises now competing for and winning public sector contracts.78/ Scotland's tourism industry is going from strength to strength - spending by tourists in Scotland generates around £12 billion, and in 2015 the tourism industry accounted for around 8.5% of employment in Scotland.79/ We have established innovation and Investment Hubs in London, Brussels, Dublin, Berlin and Paris.80/ We have introduced a new £50 million fund for regenerating run down high streets.81/ We are providing support for our manufacturing sector - £48 million for the National Manufacturing Institute to deliver benefits for companies of all sizes in sectors across Scotland.82/ We are investing a further £60 million to deliver innovative low carbon energy solutions, such as electricity storage and sustainable heating systems - to improve energy efficiency as we look to a low carbon future.83/ We have begun delivering new and improved social security benefits through Social Security Scotland, the first new Scottish public service since devolution.Our mission is to bring a new culture of fairness, dignity and respect to Scottish social security.84/ £226 carers allowance paid twice yearly to over 77,000 carers.85/ Best Start baby grant paid to over 7,000 families - £600 on the birth of a first child, and £300 on the birth of any siblings. From 2019, low income families will get a further £250 when their child starts nursery, and the same again when their child starts school.86/ We have delivered more than 82,000 affordable homes since 2007, including 55,920 for social rent.87/ Scotland's same-sex marriage legislation is widely considered to be one of the most progressive equal marriage laws in the world.88/ Scotland is best in Europe, second only to Malta ???? for LGBTI ?????? equality and human rights.89/ We introduced the first gender-balanced Cabinet in the UK, one of only a handful of gender parity cabinets around the world.90/ In 2011, we became the first government in the UK to pay the real Living Wage to our staff, including all NHS workers.We have now extended the real Living Wage to all adult social care workers.91/ We have mitigated the Bedroom Tax, protecting over 70,000 Scottish households from the charge.92/ We have introduced a Fair Work Action Plan to support employers to embed fairer working practices.93/ Over 316,000 low income households in crisis have been helped to buy essentials such as nappies, food and cookers through our Scottish Welfare Fund since it was established in 2013.94/ We are investing £50 million to support the delivery of our Ending Homelessness Together action plan.95/ We have passed a Child Poverty Act that set targets to end child poverty by 2030, and introduced a new £50 million fund to tackle poverty at a grassroots level.96/ We've kept Scottish Water in public hands.Customers pay less for a better service in Scotland - saving £46 on average compared to the privatised services in England and Wales.97/ We have introduced the Scottish Government's first Gender Pay Gap Action Plan, with steps to tackle gender discrimination and inequalities in the workplace.98/ We are investing an extra £5 million over the next three years to support around 2,000 women to return to work after career breaks.99/ Almost 600 companies have signed the Scottish Business Pledge - a voluntary code for companies to commit to policies that boost productivity, recognise fairness and increase diversity.100/ A 300,000 Sports Equality Fund has benefited 14 projects with the aim of increasing women's engagement in sport.101/ Councils have been enabled to build new homes for the first time in years - with 10,943 council homes delivered since 2007.102/ We have passed a new law requiring public bodies to work towards gender balance on their boards - the only part of the UK with such a statutory objective.103/ 15,500 social houses for rent have been safeguarded by ending Right to Buy.104/ Last year, almost half a million households were supported by Scotland's Council Tax Reduction scheme.105/ We have safeguarded the rights of 2,600 of the most severely disabled by establishing the Scottish Independent Living Fund.106/ Since 2007, more than 28,000 households have been supported into affordable home ownership through our help to buy scheme.107/ We are helping first-time buyers get on the property ladder by lending them a chunk of their deposit. The new £150 million scheme provides loans of up to £25,000 to those who have managed to save up to 5% of the value of their first home.108/ Since taking office, recorded crime is down 42% in Scotland - this is the lowest level ever estimated by the Scottish Crime and Justice Survey.109/ We are protecting the police revenue budget in real terms - delivering an additional £100 million of investment over the course of this parliament.110/ Police forces in England and Wales have lost more than 20,000 officers over the last decade.In Scotland, officer numbers have increased significantly since the SNP came into power.111/ We have invested more than £17 million in violence prevention since 2007.112/ Violent crime is down by 46%, and property crime by 41% since we took office.113/ The Scottish Crime Campus provides a focal point for excellence in intelligence-sharing, evidence gathering and forensic science to tackle serious organised crime.114/ Automatic early release has been ended, meaning that long-term prisoners who pose an unacceptable risk to public safety will serve their sentence in full115/ The reconviction rate has been reduced to its lowest level in 19 years, thanks to tough community sentences116/ Since 2008, £92 million has been seized from criminals and has been reinvested in community projects for young people across Scotland117/ We've introduced the world leading Domestic Abuse Act that makes psychological domestic abuse and controlling behaviour a crime118/ HMP Low Moss opened in March 2012 & HMP Grampian opened in March 2014, two major parts of our prison building programme.119/ Since 2012, we've invested record funding of £13.5 million to support anti-sectarian education in schools, prisons, workplaces & communities120/ The new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been created.121/ We have made the sharing of so-called 'revenge porn' a specific criminal offence, carrying a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment.122/ Scotland has the UK's first national action plan on human rights, showing our ambition to be an example of how to realise human rights and tackle injustice at home and abroad.123/ We have introduced a Bill to the Scottish Parliament to raise the minimum age a child can be held criminally responsible from eight to 12, keeping children out of the court system and reinforcing Scotland's commitment to international human rights standards.124/ We have doubled the walking and cycling budget to £80 million per year.125/ We delivered the £1.35 billion marvel on the Forth - the Queensferry Crossing.126/ We've connected Glasgow to Edinburgh with continuous motorway for the first time.127/ We scrapped bridge tolls on the Forth and Tay crossings - saving individual commuters around £2,280 to date.128/ £8 billion has been invested in our rail infrastructure since 2007.129/ We delivered the Borders Railway, the longest new domestic railway to be built in Britain in over 100 years. 4 million passengers have used the service to date.130/ Our £5 billion investment programme in Scotland's railways will deliver longer, greener trains, new stations, new track upgrades, more seats, and more services.131/ The first section - between Kincraig and Dalraddy - of our £3 billion project to dual the A9 from Perth to Inverness has been completed.132/ The £745 million Aberdeen By-pass opened in February 2019, cutting the 36-mile journey time by half.133/ In the South of Scotland we're taking forward the construction of the Maybole bypass on the A77, making further improvements to the A75 and exploring how to better connect Dumfries and the M74.134/ Scotland has now achieved 95% fibre broadband coverage - and we'll reach 100% superfast coverage by 2021.135/We have demonstrated global leadership on climate change, and were the first part of the UK to declare a 'climate emergency'136/ Scotland is to target net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045, by far the toughest statutory target in the world.137/ Scotland outperforms the UK as a whole in cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Only Sweden ???? has achieved greater reduction in Western Europe.138/ Renewable energy generation in Scotland reached record levels in 2018, providing the equivalent of 75% of gross electricity consumption.139/ In 2016, our low carbon and renewable energy sector supported 49,000 jobs and generated £11 billion in turnover.140/ No fracking and other unconventional oil and gas activity can take place in Scotland.141/ We are on track to achieve our target of recycling 70% of all waste by 2025.142/ Scotland was one of the first countries to commit to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.143/ Carrier bag use was reduced by 80% - the equivalent of 650 million bags - in the first year of the carrier bag charge.144/ We have passed a law to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses in Scotland.145/ We've helped make our communities safer from flooding with investment in flood defences and new measures in the Flooding Act.Since 2008, we have made £42 million available each year to help local authorities invest in flood protection measures.146/ By 2021, £21 million will have been distributed through the world-leading Climate Justice Fund, which is now supporting projects in Malawi ???? Zambia ???? and Rwanda ????147/ We are ensuring the clean, green status of our valuable food and drink sector is protected by opting out of the cultivation of genetically modified crops.148/ We passed a law to fully devolve forestry to Scotland, helping us make more effective use of Scotland's land.149/ We are introducing Low Emissions Zones in our four largest cities by 2020 to improve urban air quality.150/ We invest £20 million per year in support of animal health and welfare.151/ In 2017/18, Scotland created 78% of all new woodland in the UK, and we are on track to meet our target of creating 15,000 hectares per year from 2024/25.152/ Scotland's Natural Capital Accounts estimate that Scotland's natural capital is valued at over £273 billion - 34% of the UK figure.153/ Scotland's independence referendum was the biggest democratic exercise in Scotland's history - with a turnout of 85% of all electors.154/ 16 and 17 year olds now have the right to vote in Scottish Parliament and local government elections.155/ We launched a £200,000 Access to Politics Fund to help disabled people stand for the 2017 local government elections - continuing the fund for the Scottish Parliament elections in 2021.156/ Local communities have been given a voice in the planning and delivery of local services - backed up by an annual £20 million of funding - through the Community Empowerment Act.157/ The Scottish Land Fund has already helped over 100 communities across the country to purchase land.158/ The radical and ambitious Land Reform Act has been passed to transform rules around the ownership, accessibility and benefits of land in Scotland.159/ A record £1 billion has been invested in vessels, ports and ferry services since 2007 as part of our commitment to our islands and remote communities.160/ We introduced and are implementing Scotland's first ever Islands Act to help our island communities thrive.161/ Road Equivalent Tariff has been rolled out to all ferry routes in the Clyde and Hebrides network, delivering significantly reduced ferry fares and the highest passenger numbers since 1997.162/ Residents of Caithness and north-west Sutherland, Colonsay, Islay, Jura, Orkney, Shetland and the Western Isles are eligible for a 50% discount on air fares.163/ With produce output worth around £2.3 billion a year and around 65,000 people directly employed, we work tirelessly to get the best deal for Scotland's farmers, crofters and growers.164/ We are legislating to create a new South of Scotland Enterprise Agency to support businesses, jobs, economic growth and skills in the region.165/ With food and drink worth almost £6 billion in 2017 and 14,000 new jobs estimated to be created in the sector by 2020, we strive to promote Scotland's top quality produce.166/ Through funding from the EU and the Scottish Government, we are investing over £92 million in our fisheries fleet, in harbours, equipment and facilities.167/ The clean, green status of our valuable food and drink sector has been protected by opting out of the cultivation of genetically modified crops in Scotland.168/ Scotland's first National Marine Plan aims to achieve the sustainable development of our seas.169/ We are investing £6 million in a Rural Tourism Infrastructure Fund to help ensure the services and facilities tourists and communities need are provided.170/ To support the building of new affordable housing in island communities, we are investing £5 million in an Islands Housing Fund.171/ We have published a new National Forestry Strategy and invested over £20 million to plant trees on Scotland's national forests.172/ In 2018/19, we invested nearly £118 million to help grow Scotland's food and drink sector - supporting production, marketing, promotion, collaboration, research and innovation.173/ We are investing almost £270 million in Scotland's culture and heritage.174/ Free access has been maintained to our national museums and galleries, which now welcome over five million visitors every year.175/ We have provided £21 million investment in Edinburgh's major festivals since 2008, and have now opened up funding to Glasgow's Celtic Connections.176/ Following the success of the Commonwealth Games and Ryder Cup in 2014, we are ensuring Scotland is on the centre stage for major events, providing funding for the European Championships in 2018, the Solheim Cup 2019, and the UEFA Euro 2020.177/ We invested £38 million in the construction of the world-class V&A Museum of Design in Dundee which opened in 2018.We are investing an additional £1 million a year for the next 10 years to ensure it reaches its full potential.178/ Glasgow will host the inaugural UCI Cycling World Championships in 2023 - reaffirming Scotland's place as a world leader for major events.179/ Over 900 schools and nurseries take part in the 'Daily Mile' challenge.We want Scotland to become the first 'Daily Mile Nation', with all nurseries and schools plus colleges, universities and workplaces involved across the country.180/ 99% of primary and secondary schools across Scotland are now providing two hours of physical education a week - up from just 10% in 2005.181/ Since 2007 our screen sector has gone from strength to strength and production spend in Scotland has increased by 200%.182/ We have invested £20 million to support the establishment of Screen Scotland - a dedicated unit for film and television - and funded the establishment of a National Film & Television School for Scotland in Glasgow.183/ We have improved the supporting infrastructure for sport in Scotland, including investing £24 million in the National Sports Performance Centre, Oriam.184/ We are committed to supporting MG Alba, which operates BBC Alba and receives £12.8 million a year from the Scottish Government.2/ Childcare - 600* hours of early learning and childcare, saving families up to £2,500 per child per year.A Healthier ScotlandA Smarter ScotlandA Wealthier ScotlandA Fairer ScotlandA Safer ScotlandInvesting for the FutureA Greener ScotlandEmpowering CommunitiesSupporting Rural & Island CommunitiesEnabling Creativity & Sport'Stronger For Scotland'

Another miss leading false question…..Malta was awarded a high level British military medal for its defence precisely against the German and Italian attempts to bomb it into submission and surrender.very well, for the ignorant and the uninitiated, and for the rest who want to really know, I will explain…..The Siege of Malta in the Second World War was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre. From 1940–42, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of Malta, then a British colony, pitted the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany against the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Royal Navy.Above. faces bravely glimpsed and soon missed, Sergeant Archie was shot down and sadly killed during the battle for Malta.The opening of a new war front in the deserts of North Afrika in June 1940 increased Malta's already considerable value. British air and sea forces based on the island could attack enemy Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe; Churchill called the island an "unsinkable aircraft carrier".Field Marshall Erwin Rommel, in de facto field command of Axis forces in North Africa, recognized its importance quickly. In May 1941, he warned that "Without Malta, the Axis will end by losing control of North Africa".Above. The price for failure in the skies by the Axis Airforces over Malta grew ever more costly in terms of aircrew and machines shot down and killed.Pictured above is the burnt-out wreckage of Ju 88 1346/M7+AK, piloted by Oberleutnant Schnez of 2./Kampfgruppe 806Below left, taken at the siege of Leningrad on the Russian front, Von Schnez who was to be shot down on Malta when his German bomber aircraft crashed.The Axis resolved to bomb and torpedo or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, and allied shipping supplying the island. Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids, dropping 6,700 tons of bombs on the Grand Harbour area alone, over a period of two years in an effort to destroy RAF defences and the ports.Below; While the siege and battle raged for Malta, Italian and German forces were trying to capture the Suez canal.Success would have made possible a combined German–Italian amphibious landing (Operation Herkules) supported by German airborne forces(Fallschirmjäger), but this did not happen. In the event, Allied convoys were able to supply and reinforce Malta, while the RAF defended its airspace, though at great cost in material and lives.A Royal Irish Fusilier is pictured proudly posing with a Swastika-clad trophy from the downed Luftwaffe Ju 87 5724/J9+BL of 9./Sturzkampfgeschwader 1, which the battalion claimed to have shot down on 11 April 1941A Bristol Beaufort bomber based inside a “blast pen” on a malta airfield sometime in 1942. Blast “pens” or shields were built from walls or sandbags to try to protect the surface parked aircraft against fire and damage from attacking German and Italian aircraft. If aircraft were parked to close together or too many in one spot, the enemy could inflict severe losses. They were dispersed and spread out wherever terrain allowed.Much of the prolonged blood bath on Malta was caused by the British withdrawing their naval task forces in order to try to defend the Suze Canal from Erwin Rommel's Afrika Korps. English Military authorities blatantly told lies to the Maltese, which caused the local islanders to seriously “doubt” British intentions to defend their island at all. And of course, the Italian Airforce, navy and German forces in the region launched attacks, seeing this weakness.Flight Lieutenant Denis Barnham of 601 Squadron is pictured with his comrades in the Spitfire which he flew on 14 May 1942, when he intercepted a Ju 88 of 1./Kampfgruppe 806.There were hardly any defences on Malta because of a pre-war conclusion that the island was indefensible. The Italian and British surface fleets were evenly matched in the region but the Italians had far more submarines and aircraft. The Admiralty had to protect the Suez Canal with the Mediterranean Fleet (Admiral Andrew Cunningham) and Gibraltar with Force H (Vice-Admiral James Somerville).Personnel of the three services stand at the crash site of a Junkers Ju 87, possibly a 2./Sturzkampfgeschwader machine, which was shot down at Hal Far in Malta on 18 January 1941. Defence of the island was dependant upon the Navy, (ships, submarines, Torpedoes) the Airforce (Spitfires and Hurricanes and Gladiators) and the Army (Defence gun positions anti-aircraft etc).In October 1939, the Mediterranean Fleet was transferred eastwards to Egypt, stripping the island of its naval protection. Only the monitor HMS Terror and a few British submarines were still based at the island. When the Maltese government questioned British reasoning, they were told that the island could be defended just as adequately from Alexandria as from Grand Harbour, which was untrue. This led the Maltese to doubt the British commitment to defend the island.Below; Naval resupply of essential spare components, aviation fuel and ammunition as well as food and medical supplies. A supply ship entering the grand harbour in Malta.Another problem was English militarist Hugh Loyd Pew who commandeered certain aerial defence resources for his own other Military purposes. Arriving on the island to replace the previous commander, he resorted to the cynical measure of placing a sign over his new headquarters which read “Less does not depend upon the size of the dog in the fight, but in the size of the fight in the dog” Hmmm yeah right…He was not always popular amongst his command but got the job done. His use and control of some Wellington Pathfinder type bombers on the island, and certain orders he issued overuse of “Air resources” caused some friction.Above; Esprit De Corps. Rhodesian Pilot Officer Douglas Leggo was shot down on 20 March 1942 and died when he baled out at low altitude. He is seen here before his commission with a message for Hitler written in ShonaSome Aviation colours and markings for the battle for Malta.During the Second World War, the fate of the Mediterranean depended on the beleaguered island of Malta – the most bombed place on earth at the time. To defend the islands and keep things running, an army of people was needed, many of whom went unnoticed. Here are five unsung World War II heroes that Malta is definitely grateful for.1. Peter RothwellPeter volunteered to join the Special Duties Flights of Wellington aircraft in Malta, reaching the island in early 1942. He flew Wellington bombers in Malta and took part in 38 sorties, all hazardous and nerve-wracking. One of his units was responsible for attacking an Italian merchant vessel, bombing and sinking it.2. Irene CondachiOne of the best kept secrets of World War II is that the island was being run on the work done by women; women just like Dr Irene Condachi. Irene was one of the few WWII female doctors on the island at the time. This incredible woman single-handedly inoculated and examined at least 20,000 schoolchildren under war conditions and without any means of transportation. She walked long distances from one government school to another to examine between 10,000 and 15,000 children a year, as well as prescribing an ointment for children with scabies. In later years, she was credited with eradicating this condition from government schools.3. George Frederick “Buzz” BeurlingGeorge Frederick "Buzz" Beurling was the most successful Canadian fighter pilot of the Second World War and served Malta greatly. Buzz was recognised as "Canada's most famous hero of Second World War", as "The Falcon of Malta" and the "Knight of Malta", having been credited with shooting down 27 axis aircraft in just 14 days over the besieged Mediterranean island.4. Paul MeilakIn an interview with the U.S. Embassy, war veteran Paul Meilak describes what life was like during the war. He says that the worst three years for our islands were between 1940 and 1942. Around 35 ships were setting sail to Malta from Gibraltar, but only four of them entered Malta, including the Ohio – the ship that essentially saved our islands. Paul was stationed in Valletta at Fort St Elmo when he got the chance to board the ship, describing it as having its upper deck completely blown off. Paul’s house was demolished at 4am during an air raid and his family were left with nothing. Fortunately, a priest had an empty house and offered it to them.5. Mary EllulAt least 10,000 women came forward and lent a helping hand as first aiders, air attack and anti-gas instructors, aid-detachment nurses and secretaries, among others. Mary Ellul was one of these women and was popularly known as ‘Mary the Man’, from Sliema – a true boss lady in the community. She was a woman with phenomenal strength, rescued people from under the rubble and was reputed for dealing with rowdy sailors by chucking them into the Sliema sea when she worked as a bouncer after the war. See? Boss. Lady. You wouldn’t want to get on her bad side!Below. faith Hope and Charity, the famous three Gloster Gladiators aircraft that fought from the besieged island of Malta.There were a great many real-life heroes who took part during the siege of Malta, and it is shameful to say many have been seemingly overlooked and even almost forgotten. NEVER may such a thing happen. I found this touching true story during my research for this article, and have decided to reproduce it here for posterity. it hails from the Malta Times newspaper.The recent death of one of the few surviving heroes of the defence of Malta in World War II passed virtually unnoticed in the island. Peter Rothwell deserved better.Those were dire days: Malta, a last strategic hub in the Mediterranean, just could not afford to fail. Its survival was vital for the success of the Allies, its fall equally vital for the victory of the Nazi-Fascists in North Africa.The fate of the Mediterranean depended on the beleaguered island, “the most bombed place on earth”. The Royal Air Force played a determining role in ensuring that the tyranny of deluded, psychotic dictators did not overcome Malta and prevail in Europe.Rothwell had volunteered to join the Special Duties Flights of Wellington aircraft in Malta, reaching the island early in 1942, when the Axis forces were putting on all they had to vanquish the battered rock by air and by sea.He had previously served in Iceland and believed the Mediterranean would be a delightful paradise next to the numbing temperatures he had suffered in that sub-Arctic land.That proved to be his first disillusion. Malta was going through one of its starkest winters ever.The pilots thought the only way to fight the cold was to down gin with boiling water and to eat tiny pickled onions to simulate somehow the effects of warmth. Belying Tourist Board promotion, Rothwell voted Malta the coldest place on earth.The pilots could well think that, as “within a fortnight their billets had been bombed out and they moved to the seaplane base in Kalafrana, four miles from Luqa.Initially they had a small car to take them there and back but, by March 1942, with fuel so short, they had to abandon it and walk there and back instead, often in the dark after night-time operations”.Worse was still to come. On April 7 bombing wrecked the Kalafrana seaplane base, though the pilots still made use of the mess, disregarding the insignificant detail that one wall had gone missing altogether and their common room henceforth greeted every whim of the elements.“Their billets were now caves, where they were safe from bombs, but easy prey for sand bugs”. In fact, when Rothwell left Malta on June 22, 1942, his body sported numerous malicious boils, aided and abetted by heavy bouts of sandfly fever.In Malta, Rothwell flew Wellington bombers which came in various marks and specifications, with maximum speeds varying from 235 to 299 mph. These Vickers aircraft, the staple warhorses of the RAF between 1939 and 1943, had versatile uses, from reconnaissance to long-range bombing, and sometimes also doubled as torpedo planes.As the siege tightened, these stubborn planes “were increasingly battered, the airfield was a wreck, the pilots were expected to repair their aircraft by hand. Even air tests were dangerous exercises because of the large numbers of marauding enemy fighters”.Rothwell’s last scheduled flight from Malta turned out to be an epic, suspenseful ordeal.His Wellington needed a thorough overhaul, something quite fanciful in the besieged island – no spare parts or facilities for the RAF ground crews to undertake the extensive repairs themselves.Air Force Command decided Rothwell would fly his plane to Cairo, taking with him a number of fighter pilots whose tour in Malta had expired, and some other passengers too. Rothwell, his body decorated with boils and his spirit undermined by malnutrition and sandfly temperature, took off, heading southeast to Egypt.Ninety minutes after leaving, his starboard engine burst into flames. Rothwell immediately activated the fire extinguishers, but, following an initial success, the flames took over again – 200 miles out at sea. He ordered everyone to jettison their luggage, and turned back to Malta.Piloting with one engine out of action and on fire would have been exhausting for a man in fine health, let alone for someone weak, feverish and malnourished.The torque from the working engine pulled the plane violently to one side and only by applying constant hard rudder on the other could Rothwell keep flying. “It was an extraordinary demonstration of skill and resilience”.Rothwell and his passengers, quite understandably, doubted they would reach Malta, with the aircraft implacably losing height and the engine on fire. Those probably remained the longest two-and-a-half hours in their lives, but they made it, the pilot’s last feat being his slalom between the bomb craters and the unexploded ordnance littering the Luqa runway.This was not Rothwell’s only flying drama with a happy ending.Before his Malta posting, in May 1941, taking off from Northern Ireland, he found himself navigating in impenetrable fog and running short on fuel, somewhere on the north coast of Scotland.He searched anxiously for somewhere to land and decided to risk an emergency landfall on the grounds of a grand castle. Predictably his undercarriage gave way and his plane skidded to a halt just short of the castle walls – a shocked pilot, but with crew safe and sound.Great was his surprise, if not his relief, to learn that he had chosen to land on the grounds of the home of Sir Archibald Sinclair, the Secretary of State for the Air. A knock, and then an uninvited visit for tea with his topmost superior.Rothwell was 21 when he volunteered for his Malta stint of duties. Despite his young age, he assumed the full responsibilities that “one of the worst postings in the world” demanded of him.January 1942, when he arrived in Malta, coincided with the beginning of the heaviest aerial blitz by the German and Italian air forces that Malta was to suffer during the whole three-year siege. By that time Malta was “rained upon by bombs and short of just about everything”.His superiors assigned the young lieutenant to Special Duties Flight – about the only air unit then still more or less operational in Malta, and he acquitted himself excellently.On his second sortie, he helped lead the Fleet Air Arm squadrons to a convoy consisting of one merchant ship and one tanker heading for Rommel’s relief – both were sunk.“Peter later commanded the flight which continued to serve valiantly from the island, even when almost all offensive air operations had ceased”.Rothwell’s adversaries in the air were the German and Italian fighter pilots. What he thought of them is not recorded, but it would be fair to set straight a common misconception, born of ignorance and fostered by war propaganda – the cowardice and incompetence of Italian wartime pilots.The truth was exactly the opposite: that British airmen feared and respected Italian pilots far more than they did German ones.All serious military scholars who have tackled the issue dispassionately agree that Italian pilots generally showed astounding valour against all odds.George Beurling, the legendary Canadian ace based on Malta, who was to become one of the greatest flying myths of the Second World War, did not mince his words about the Eyeties (Italians) and the Jerries (Germans) whom the Allied pilots had to fight:“The Eyeties are comparatively easy to shoot down. Oh, they’re brave enough. In fact, I think the Eyeties have more courage than the Germans. They will stick it even if things are going against them, whereas the Jerries will run.”On another occasion, Beurling worded his thoughts differently: “The Jerries are probably better overall pilots than the Italians, but they certainly let the Eyeties do their fighting for them when the going got tough”.It was the Italians’ inferior equipment and weaponry that crippled their air force, not the valour of its pilots. “The Italians were let down badly in the matter of their equipment. Only about half of their bombs went off, and those that did went ‘pop’ instead of ‘bang’. Badly made, undersized bombs blunted their attacks and poor guns their defensive powers.“Their armament was very bad altogether. I’d blame the armaments, not the individuals,” Beurling commented.Wing Commander George Burges, resplendent in his Faith, Hope and Charity renown, expressed exactly the same judgment as Beurling:“The average Italian pilot had more courage in the face of opposition than many of his Luftwaffe counterparts. I found the Germans were far more willing to break formation and leg it back home.“Most German fighter pilots had far less stomach for individual combat, man to man, than the pilots of the Macchis and CR 42”.Burges boasted of “many exciting personal combats with Italian fighter pilots, as did most of the pilots of the Fighter Flight”.The Germans, Burges added, “preferred to stay in large packs at a great height, with occasional sorties to attack defenceless men, women and children on the inland roads of Malta, or to pick up a wounded straggler in a damaged Hurricane or Spitfire”.And another source confirms this in full: “The RAF pilots had a higher regard for the Italian pilots who would ‘stay and mix it’ even if the odds were against them, unlike the gallant Luftwaffe who had a tendency to turn tail and run if they did not have all the cards stacked in their favour”.In Malta, Rothwell took part in 38 sorties, all hazardous and nerve-wracking. On one occasion his command ordered his unit, the Special Duties Flight, to attack an Italian merchant vessel. “Flying through intense flak Peter and his crew bombed and sank the ship”.Immediately after he joined the forces that attacked the Italian fleet at Taranto, a strategic assault which inflicted crippling damage to Italy’s sea presence from which it never really recovered.“At the mercy of the firepower of the entire Italian battle fleet and harbour defences, this was another extremely hazardous task”.The young flight lieutenant also distinguished himself on March 27, 29 and 31 during a series of attacks on Axis airfields, including a successful raid on Catania.Some words about Peter Rothwell the man:Eldest son of an army clergyman who fathered seven children and at the end of the war became a missionary in Africa, the young Peter did well in his studies, especially French.In times of high fever and after a bad riding fall, his brain and his tongue switched to French, to the bewilderment of all those around him.He had to abandon his studies when his father passed away aged 50.“Peter was a humble man and never blew his own trumpet, but praised others and their part in the war”. He hardly ever obtained the recognition he deserved except, perhaps, in later life.And even about that he said half-bitterly and half-depreciatingly, “The only reason I am getting recognition now is because all my more deserving friends have died”.Perhaps his greatest exposure to public acclaim came when he was no longer in a position to relish it – a prominent obituary in the London Times.Rothwell struck others as a tall, slim man with handsome, if charmingly spivvy features. He grew his iconic moustache (his RAF ‘tash’) to handlebar proportions and cultivated it lovingly to the end of his days.In fact, the older he grew the wider his moustache stretched. It distinguished him among others in the yearly April pilgrimage to Malta.“He was the focal point for many celebrations of their (the Malta veterans’) heroism”. Much to his pride, he was treated with respect and gratitude by the people and government of Malta.Rothwell’s adjustment to civilian life when the war ended does not seem to have been as traumatic as it turned out to be for many other demobbed servicemen. He had the support of his “beautiful and loving wife” Eileen and the less obvious comforts of their six children.He suffered the loss of his third-born Anthony when only four years old, and then of his wife, from pleurisy, when she was pregnant with their seventh son. This left him with five children, aged from two to 13, to bring up on his own.A year later he married his second wife Margaret who already had three children from a previous marriage.After the war, Rothwell kept himself busy in various commercial enterprises.At first he renovated and resold properties in the southwest counties, then moved on to a successful boat-building business in Poole – a calling much after his heart as he loved the sea with a passion and always dreamt of wrapping up his occupations and sailing around the world.He often opted to deliver the boats personally when commissioned from abroad. The world-renowned Earls Court show accepted his boats for exhibition.He later turned his large house in Canford Cliffs into a residential home. His last major business revolved around flowers – a teleflorist agency in Plymouth and a plant nursery to go with it.He eventually retired in Bournemouth where he dedicated much of his time to the George Cross Island Association, which kept 2,000 veterans of the siege of Malta in touch and actively promoted their yearly pilgrimage to Malta every April.In part, this made up for the soft bitterness for the half-hearted recognition of the dedication and bravery he had always shown throughout 158 operational missions.Rothwell passed peacefully away, aged 90, at the Cranley Paddock care home in Lyndhurst, on December 20, 2010, survived by his five children.Malta, and the world, would have been a more dismal place were it not for the heroism of the likes of Peter Rothwell. May we never forget that.Acknowledgements from the original article.My thanks to James Holland, Julia Gaw, Tim Lewin and Charles Debono of the National War Museum.Above; One of the “special” Vickers Wellington RAF bombers on Malta during the siege. it was specially equipped for electronic “pathfinder” work. Hugh Loyd Pugh created friction when he tried to send them on daylight bombing (!!) for which they were no longer equipped.Another group of unsung heroes on Malta, the RAF Wellington crew of Vince Camilleri on malta.Below. Malta Spitfire squadron ground support crew.Within a few hours, Lloyd had made an inspection tour of the airfields and the main workshops at Kalafrana. The state of the island was worse than he expected. The slackening of German air activity had allowed the number of aircraft to increase, but the RAF still had fewer than 60 machines of all types. Maintenance was difficult. Hardly any spare or replacement parts were available. Spares had to be obtained by sifting through the debris of wrecks or by cannibalizing undamaged aircraft. Furthermore, the airfields were too small; there was no heavy equipment to work with; and even the commonest sorts of tools, such as hammers and wrenches, were all but impossible to find. All refuelling had to be done by hand from individual drums. The shelter was also inadequate, so there was little protection for what equipment they did have. Most aircraft were clustered together on open runways, presenting tempting targets.Below. A crashed Vickers Armstrong Wellington RAF bomber on Malta.Below. Maltese airfields were defended against German and Italian Air attacks.Pictured is one of four 3.7-inch AA guns at XHB 8, near Benghisa, Malta, which was credited with the destruction of two of the three Ju 88s brought down during the night of 20-21 July 1942At Kalafrana, all the buildings were close together and above ground. The single engine-repair facility on Malta was located right next to the only test benches. Lloyd himself said, "a few bombs on Kalafrana in the summer of 1941 would have ruined any hope of Malta ever operating an air force".Avro York pressurized transport planes parked on a Maltese airfield shortly after the Allied Victory.Three out of date old Gladiator biplane aircraft were at one point during the “fight of the dog”, the only things still flying. they were given the nicknames “faith” “Hope” and of course “Charity”. One of these was still around in a Museum some years back on the island.Between March and April, 1942 Axis planes flew over 11,000 raids against the island. Germany lost at that time 173 aircraft. German seaplanes and Italian float planes also heavily mined the sea waters of the shipping lanes, and navigation routes, leading to the loss of 19 British submarines.For both the defenders of the Island as well as the attacking enemies, use of air power was the principal response. Italian navy strength was seriously reduced after the battle of Taranto, and Italy instead threw large numbers of tri-motor bombers into the fray against Malta.Below. Italian bomber and Torpedo aircraft, like also happened in Germany, were also sometimes used in other civil roles, such as the two airliners shown below.Below Often maligned by rather foolish English pub comediennes, in fact, it was Fascist Italy's Regia Aeronautica which inflicted per capita the worst damage to Malta, and not the german Aifroce. Italian use of Torpedo bombers and functioning Torpedos (Germany actually had to buy its torpedos from Italy or Japan because German ones did not work properly(!!) was a significant factor in the aerial war over Malta and the navy resupply vessels.Technical. Cutaway diagram showing Italian Torpedo bomber Savoia Marchetti or Sm 79 Sparvero. As used to attack Malta.Below. Bombing up an Italian Sm 79 with an Italian Aerial dropped Torpedo.Italian trimotor bombers were in fact dangerously effective weapons when used against Allied surface shipping.Below. A crash-landed SM 79 Sparviero tri Motor Italian bomber.The SM-79 Sparviero ('Sparrow Hawk') was both a conventional and torpedo bomber, introduced into military service in 1934. The SM-79 was instantly recognizable by the unusual cockpit window.HMS Wasp and Eagle managed despite air attacks, to successfully deliver another extra 64 more Spitfires to operate from the island.The Italian Regia Aeronautica were seriously pressing home their aerial raids and one eye witness said “nothing is left to bomb” or still standing on the island. Then on 9th May, Italy lost 37 aircraft over Malta due to the Spitfires, and the next day on the 10th of May, the Axis lost another 67. The tide had been turned against the Axis invasion plan for Malta.Below. The Spitfire from Malta circles overhead as they go down burning in battle…..The pilot is dead and the terribly burning aircraft is stricken hopelessly out of control, during an aerial attack against a British navy supply convoy to Malta. The sudden appearance overnight of 65 Spitfires ruined Axis plans to starve and bomb the island into submission.Had ever the Axis captured Malta, it would have meant the entire loss to the Allies of the entire upper North Afrikan peninsula and also of the Suez canal because Erwin Rommel would invade empowered from all of the fresh resupply coming from an Axis-controlled Malta.Below. During the struggle for the island of Malta, another serious and very important battle was raging in the North Afrikan Deserts against Field Marshall Erwin Rommel (the Desert Fox) and British Field marshal bernard law Montgomery. (The Desert Rat).Above. German Nazi Afrika Korps soldiers tried to capture the Suez canal and to link up via the lower Russian continent with the German Sixth Army of Field Marshall Von Paulus (defeated and destroyed in Stalingrad).Malta was the North Afrikan Mediterranean “Stalingrad”. it HAD TO HOLD or all was truly lost to the Axis of evil. If Malta fell to German forces, the Afrika Korps would also link up with the German Sixth Army of general Von Paulus coming down via Mount Erebus into lower Persia, capturing Russias only resupply railroad head along the trans-Siberian railway.German Afrika Korps forces would occupy the territories, and Annexe also the Suez Canal. The Fascist jaws would close forever around the entire Meditteranean sea, and bring a new thousand years Reich dark age to the world.The race was on to turn the tables or lose the war….Every kind of equipment imaginable was what the Soviet Union desperately needed. By early 1943 the Americans had fully taken over Lend-Lease activity in Iran. The mission had four elements: Transport the goods. Offload the transports. Assemble the gear. Get the gear to the U.S.S.R. To reach the Persian Gulf, Liberty ships, each carrying 10 to 15 trainloads of material, sailed from America’s east and west coasts. The 14,000-mile eastern passage rounded the Cape of Good Hope and steamed along East Africa; ships departing western ports sailed 18,000 miles past Australia and India. At peak, in the summer of 1944, stevedores at the three Iranian ports were discharging as much as 9,000 tons of cargo a day.For railroaders, the army skimped on military training, leaving recruits like Ragsdale not the snappiest of soldiers. One hot day in 1943—a 120°F afternoon was not unusual—Rags hacked his government-issue khakis into shorts, triggering a tirade from his sergeant, a veteran of the regular army. “I told him what I thought of him, and the rest of this Army,” the railroad man wrote in his diary.Below; One of the thousands of American railroad constructors sent to Iran to boost resupply to Soviet Russia by America. Thousands of Black American soldiers also were sent there, to do work unloading and transporting all the supplies.Above. US GI “Rags Ragsdale” who was just one of many American soldiers and railroad builders sent to Persia. Modern day (Iran).Map of Allied Road and rail resupply routes through the Persian (Iranian)Corridor.The Persian Corridor was a supply route through Persia (Modern day Iran) into Communist Soviet Azerbaijan by which British aid and AmericanLend Lease supplies were transferred to the Soviet Union during second world war.This supply route originated in the US and UK with ships sailing around the Cape of Good Hope to the Persian Gulf. From there, the material transited Iran to the USSR. Other supply routes included the Northern Route the Arctic, and the Pacific route which handled US cargo at Vladivostock and then used the Trans-Siberian railway across the USSR.Iranian women watch a United States Army land train resupply convoy moving up to aid Russia.Iraq had also been captured by British soldiers, who wished once again to “re-secure” their own British Empirical Ambitions within the Region, and toppled the ruler and replaced him with “their man”. The strategic importance of Iraqi oil for the British war effort, the state of British colonial rule in Iraq, and the April 1941 coup by Rashid Ali Al-Gaylani, led to a brief Anglo-Iraqi war. Aside from maintaining access to oil, Churchill also wanted to prevent German intervention on the Iraqi side. This conflict between the United Kingdom and the rebel government of Ali al-Gaylani in the Kingdom of Iraq lasted from 2 May to 31 May 1941. The campaign resulted in the re-occupation of Iraq by British forces and the return to power of the ousted pro-British Regent of Iraq, Prince Abdul Ilah. While British secured Iraq for the Allies, the campaign further fueled nationalist resentment in Iraq toward the British-supported Hashemite monarchy.Russia then immediately invaded Iran, to secure the “vital” back door resupply route to defeat the fascist juggernaut invader in Russia.Coming shortly after the British occupation of Iraq and the German invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Anglo-Soviet occupation of Iran secured a vital route for supplies to the Soviet Union and assured British control of the region’s oil fields. This Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, codenamed Operation COUNTENANCE, began on 25 August 1941 and concluded on 17 September. Allied occupation of Iran secured supply lines for the Soviets now fighting against Axis forces on the Eastern Front. Although Iran was officially neutral, its monarch Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi, was friendly toward the Axis Powers. He was deposed during the subsequent occupation and replaced with his young son, Mohammad Rezâ Shâh Pahlavi.An interesting situation of actual unreadiness existed at the time for such a massive large occupation and resupply stage point, and actually, American headquarters had NO MAPS of Iran at all, and only a short number of staff who could speak the Iranian language at all.Although coveted by the Axis powers for its rich oil supplies, the Persian Gulf Theater was the scene of very little fighting in World War II. Nonetheless, the theatre remained important. The delivery of war materiel to the Soviet Union brought a substantial American military presence to the region for the first time. At its peak, the theatre had approximately 65,000 U.S. civilians and 30,000 uniformed service members. However, when the U.S. Army began deploying troops to Iran, American policymakers and the general public had very little knowledge of the region. The War Department did not have maps of Persia when the decision was made to move into the country, and the State Department’s Division of Near-Eastern Affairs had a small staff of thirteen, only three of whom spoke regional languages.This Persian Route became the only viable, all-weather route to be developed to supply Soviet need. It was perhaps, therefore, hardly “remarkable” at all, that Hitler had established through Admiral Donitz, a U boat base in the Antartic, to intercept the Arctic Northern route supply ships convoys. The Nazis also had a weather station there….Below; Showing here JUST ONE DAYS RE SUPPLY unloaded ready to go by rail from Persian Ports.The supply came via several different routes, but the Persian railroad was the ONLY weatherproof delay proof route, therefore it was to see the highest re supply traffic until finaly Axis forces were driven out of the Mediterranean area.There were even licenced factories in Iran, producing American Licenced designed fighter and bomber aircraft for the Soviet Union war effort. Khorramshahr was also producing aircraft. “Russian planes flying over all day,” Rags wrote. “Very low.” The planes came from a plant at Abadan that Douglas Aircraft helped build. Its inventory was not the hottest, but the stock was reliable and plentiful: Bell P-39 Airacobras and Curtiss P-40 Warhawk fighters and Douglas A-20 Havoc light bombers and B-25 Mitchell medium bombers.THE MAIN ENGINE of Persian Corridor aid was the Military Railway Service (MRS), which hauled four tons for every ton carried by truck. Dating to the Civil War, the service had worked in Europe in 1917-18, supplying American forces from dinky, narrow-gauge railways. Now the MRS had divisions on four continents. In Iran, tanks and other loads too heavy for trucks rode the rails. So did refined fuels and ordnance.IN AUTUMN 1944 the equation changed. The Allies took the Mediterranean, allowing aid for the U.S.S.R. to pass through the Black Sea. The Allied presence in Iran began to shrink. Truck convoys stopped rolling that November. In December the Abadan aircraft and Andimeshk truck plants closed, the latter shipped—in crates—to the U.S.S.R. The Iranians got their railroad back the next spring. On May 21, 1945, Ragsdale made his final wartime entry: “The first flight flew out tonight. Won’t be long now.”Only once al Axis troops were cleared from the Mediterranean was Victory assured. had malta been remaining, (if it had fallen) in Nazi hands, it would have been a rather different story and the war would have easily gone on for another two years, perhaps four more years….And then very likely, TURKEY would have entered the war on the German side, spelling disaster for the Allies.In its 34 months, the Persian Gulf Command had assembled and delivered 184,000 vehicles and nearly 5,000 planes and hauled more than 3.4 million tons of supplies. That effort shortened the war on the Eastern Front 12 to 18 months, according to historian David Glantz. Iran’s part strongly affected that nation’s interactions with the United States. Until the war, the Middle East largely had been an Old World sphere of influence. Afterward, however, a growing appetite for oil increased American involvement in the region. In the Cold War, the proximity to the U.S.S.R. that had made Iran crucial during World War II led the United States into a fraught relationship that continues today.It has almost been entirely forgotten today, that American and British soldiers built new railroads up into Russia, that convoys of American lend-lease ships filled with Army supplies, Tools, railway wagons Steam train locomotives and all the parts to build the new railways to “speed up” the urgent resupply of the Russian war efforts against the German Sixth Army in Russia. If Germany captured Malta, it would be used as a staging post for invasions up into Persia and lower Russia, cutting off forever resupply, and defeating the Russian Red Army war machine.If Malta fell and came under Axis control, it would be used at once to resupply Rommel, and to use as a springboard to embark forces up into the Lower Caucasus and through the lower reaches of Russia and the railway that ran through Siberia, cutting off all American lend-lease to Russia, and joining up with the German Sixth Army below the oil fields of Asia. Stalingrad also made sure that this NEVER happened.So, think of Stalingrad, the City on the Volga River, and of Malta, the faraway Island, as two “keys” that were the Golden keys to open the door to Nazi world conquest. In fact, Hitlers plans depended upon it, if he knew this or not. Denying both to him, guaranteed the date in the future for his complete downfall.below Photo. British Eight Army soldiers digging in to make their battle positions. sometime early 1942.Frankly, given the utmost dire world gravity of consequence, if Malta fell, the British initial splitting of their Naval forces just to defend the Suez canal must still be put to serious debate and question.(interestingly in the early 1950’s Egypt's colonel Abdul Nasser also annexed and captured the Suez Canal and tried to threaten the Petroleum and oil supply to the Western countries.)Below Australian and British soldiers fighting from positions in the North Afrikan deserts.One-third of all raids were directed against airfields. At Ta' Qali, 841 tons of bombs were dropped, because the Germans believed the British were operating an underground hangar and the Germans used rocket-assisted PC 18000RS Panther bombs. The usual tactic would involve a sweep ahead of the bombers by German fighters to clear the skies. This worked, and air superiority was maintained. Only slight losses were suffered by the bombers. One notable loss was the Geschwaderkommodore of KG 77, Arved Crüger. Around 94% of the strikes were made in daylight and the Italians supported the Luftwaffe by flying 2,455 sorties in February and March.Wounded in his arm during the Malta air battle, this brave pilot survived the Malta battle, but sadly later died fighting on another part of the Theatre of war a year or so later. James MacLachlan lost his left arm after being wounded and baling out of his Hurricane on 16 February 1941. He is pictured here as a squadron leader during a visit to the US. MacLachlan was critically injured during a sortie over France in July 1943 and died in German captivity.Extreme heat, dry dusty terrain and thirst were always present during the battles, and supplies were in short supply on Malta.This picture below, shows the “carry on regardless” esprit de corps from the times. This soldier is proudly sporting a captured German MP 40 machine Pistol, taken from a fallen German Afrika Korps enemy.Dobbie and the British naval and air commanders argued for modern aircraft, particularly Spitfires, to be sent to Malta. The AOC Middle East, Arthur Tedder, sent Group captain Basil Embry to Malta to assess the situation. The pilots told Embry that the Hurricanes were useless and that the Spitfire was their only hope. They claimed that the Germans purposely flew in front of the Hurricanes in their Bf 109Fs to show off the performance superiority of their fighters. The squadron leaders argued the inferiority of their aircraft was affecting morale. Embry agreed and recommended the Spitfires be sent and the type began arriving in March 1942British soldiers defended North Afrika against the German Afrika Korps, and their Victory eased the pressure on Malta from the defeated Axis.After his decisive Victory for the allies in North Afrika, Field Marshall Bernard Law Montgomery was declared a hereditary peer of the Realm, and given the title of “Viscount Montgomery of Alamein” in recognition of his service.A Red Flag would be hoisted in Malta, to warn of an imminent Air raid.An interesting bit of HistoryThe viscountcy was created in 1946 for the military commander Field Marshal Sir Bernard Montgomery, commemorating his crucial victory in the second battle of El Alamein (23 October–3 November 1942) in the Egyptian town of that name, which sealed the fate of Erwin Rommel's famed Afrika KorpsAs of 2011, the title is held by his son, David Montgomery, the second Viscount who succeeded in 1976. He lost his seat in the House of Lords after the passing of the ahem rather “unpopular” House of Lords Act 1999. However, Lord Montgomery returned to the House of Lords in 2005 in an election of cross-bench hereditary peers, replacing the deceasedBaroness Strange. He retired his seat on 23 July 2015, triggering a by-electionBelow. The Grant of Arms for of Viscount Montgomery of El Alamein.Montgomery in action in the Western Afrikan Deserts.Maltese children are playing amongst the wreckage of a shot down German Stuka dive bomber on Malta.Hitler sent nearly every available nazi U boat submarine into the Malta conflict, to sink allied attempts to reinforce and resupply the island. British submarines and surface ships fought back, and in one month 33 percent of 96,000 tons of Axis supplies, ships or troops were sunk. this helped turn the Axis heat down on the island a bit, and later, after bitter criticism from fed up and demoralised allied pilots whose Hurricane fighter aircraft were now outdated and useless against the newly appearing more faster german fighter designs, received instead at last, the much more effective (certainly for Moral) Spitfires.Above, a rare picture showing Maltese and British island residents celebrating the destruction of yet another Axis aircraft on the island. Every single Axis aeroplane raider that got shot down and destroyed was a major boost to badly needed Morale on the beleaguered island during the height of the siege by Axis forces.Italian soldiers fighting in the Deserts;British naval commanders then tried another foolish and dangerous strategy, they sent two convoys (operation Harpoon and operation Vigorous) to split the attention of the Axis forces. it was an unmitigated disaster.Axis target convoysOperation Pedestal, 11 August: A general view of the convoy under air attack showing the intense anti-aircraft barrage put up by the escorts. The battleship HMS Rodney is on the left and HMS Manchester is on the rightAfter the battles of May and June, the air attacks were much reduced in August and September.While air superiority had been won back by the RAF, German pressure had allowed Axis convoys to re-supply the Panzer Army of Afrika. The island appeared to the Axis forces to be neutralized as a threat to their convoys. Rommel could now look forward to offensive operations with the support of the Luftwaffe in North Africa. At the battle of Gazala, he would win a major victory while the Battle of Bir Hakim was less successful. Even so, he would soon be back in Egypt fighting at El Alamein Despite the reduction in direct air pressure over Malta itself, the situation on the island was serious. It was running out of all essential commodities, particularly food and water, as the bombing had crippled pumps and distribution pipes. Clothing was also hard to come by. All livestock had been slaughtered, and the lack of leather meant people were forced to use curtains and used tyres to replace clothing and shoe soles. Although the civilian population was enduring, the threat of starvation was very real.Poor nutrition and sanitation led to the spread of disease. Soldiers’ rations were also reduced, from four to two thousand calories a day and the British prepared to supply the island with two convoy operations.In June, the Royal Navy undertook Operation Harpoon and Operation Vigorous The two convoys departed for Malta, the former from Gibraltar, the latter from Haifa and Port Said. The move was designed to split Axis naval forces attempting to intervene.Lloyd the AOC, wanted to give No. 601 Squadron over to convoy escort duty. Although he could afford this diversion, he could maintain a standing patrol of only four Spitfires over the convoy. If Axis aircraft attacked as they were withdrawing, they had to stay and fight. Bailing out if the pilots ran low on fuel was the only alternative to landing on Malta. The pilots had to hope that they would be picked up by the ships.The eastern convoy was forced to turn back after a series of naval and air engagements, despite the British ships still having 20% of their ammunition left. It was considered insufficient to see them into Malta. The losses of the convoy were heavy. Among the British losses was the cruiser HMS Hermione. Three destroyers and 11 merchant vessels were also sunk. Malta did send Bristol Beaufort aircraft to engage the Italian fleet and German U-boats attacking the convoy. They torpedoed and sank the heavy cruiser Trento and damaged the battleship Littorio. Two freighters of the western convoy reached Malta and delivered supplies, making them the only ships out of a total of 17 to deliver their loads, 25,000 tons of supplies. A further 16 Malta-based pilots were lost in the operations.In August, Operation pedestal brought vital relief to the besieged island, but at a heavy cost. It was attacked from the sea, but also by air. Some 146 Ju 88s, 72 Bf 109s, 16 Ju 87s, 232 Italian fighters, and 139 Italian bombers (a large number being the highly effective torpedo bomber the Savoia Marchetti SM 79) took part in the action against the convoy.Out of the 14 merchant ships sent, nine were sunk. Moreover, the aircraft carrier HMS Eagle, one cruiser and three destroyers were sunk by a combined effort from the Italian Navy, Kriegsmarine and Luftwaffe. Nevertheless, the operation though costly in lives and ships was vital in bringing in much-needed war materials and supplies.British destroyers saved the lives of of950 sailors from HMS Eagle's crew.The Regia Aeronautica had played the central role against the convoy. Indeed, according to Sadkovich and others, to pretend that the air offensive against Malta had been a purely German affair is misleading.Due to British attitudes toward Italy in the War and since, there has been an annoyingly large amount of diss information and fake reporting surrounding the true cause of British Military casualties, sunk ships and wrecked aircraft; I will speak PLAINLY.Italian Airforce fighters and trimotor bombers had, in fact, fought better over the Maltese skies than their Axis German counterparts. England has NEVER ever faced the uncomfortable Military reality, and fact, that it was the Italians and not “just” the Germans who gave their malta forces a “bloody nose”. I am NO “lover” of fascists, but neither do I love liars and revisionist “Historians who tell some whopping fat lies.from 1940 to 1943 the Italians flew 35,724 sorties against the island and the Germans 37,432 – but 31,391 of the Luftwaffe's missions were completed in 1942. The Italians must thus get some share of the credit for the destruction of 575 British fighters on Malta, and the sinking of 23 of 82 merchantmen dispatched to the island. But the RAF preferred to credit its losses to the Germans, even though the Italians flew more fighter missions over the island, had almost as many fighters on Sicily (184) as the Germans in the whole Mediterranean (252) in November 1942, and seem to have been better pilots, losing one aircraft per 63 sorties, compared to a German loss rate of one per 42 sorties.—(From Sadkovitch).The fight now turned in fact to the efforts again of more British submarines, and to a successfull resupply of a large number of torpedoes from HMS Talbot, a base.The submarine proved to be one of the most potent weapons in the British armoury when combating Axis convoys. Simpson, and George Phillips, who replaced him on 23 January 1943, had much success. The estimated tonnage sunk by British U-class submarines alone was 650,000 tons, with another 400,000 tons damaged. The island base, HMS Talbot, supplied 1,790 torpedoes at that time. The number fired by the 10th Flotilla was 1,289, with a hit rate of 30%.The Chief of Staff of the DAK, Fritz Bayerlein once claimed: "We should have taken Alexandria and reached the Suez Canal had it not been for the work of your submarines".The DAK Afrika Korps was surrounded and cut off and defeated by field marshall bernard law Montgomery on the desert battlefields. unable to escape from Cap Bon in North Afrika, and Hitler gave Erwin Rommel an aeroplane out of the country back to Germany, leaving his men to be captured a few days later on.This was, in fact, on the little island of >Malta, the “Axis High water mark”. After this date, Germany MUST now lose the war in the end. Those in the “know” knew after this date, Germany could, and most likely would, now be finaly defeated due to the loss of its chance to link up with Von Paulus (who was destroyed in the Stalingrad encirclement). The vital resupply up into Russia of the Persian railroad and trans-Siberian railway was open, supplies reached the red army, the Nazi German Sixth Army was annihilated, and Hitler suffered his first major absolute defeat of the German war.Sensing that the war was now slipping away from them, the Nazi commanders ordered the final extinction of the Malta defenders and the German invasion of the key island.Valetta street after a German air raid in MaltaStarvation was very very near before finaly any consequential supplies reached the civilian population on Malta.One soldier remembers that he was only given two dry crumby old biscuits for one ration to eat. people began to weaken and fall sick and very ill due to lack of proper food and drink or medicine. Nazi Air raids broke water and sewage pipes and drains, causing a serious shortage of clean drinking water, and risk from dangerous even fatal diseases. Resupply literally had now become a matter of life or death to everybody trapped on the island.As the sole British harbour between Gibraltar at the west end of the Mediterranean and Alexandria in the east, the island’s geographical position was of crucial strategic significance to both Allied and Axis forces. British and Commonwealth aircraft based in Malta could reach Italy and also North Africa in their attempts to stymie the supply lines for Rommel’s campaign. As a consequence, the island became the focus of attention for German and Italian air attacks in their attempts to neutralize the military bases and to bomb the islanders into submission. Malta’s quarter of a million-people suffered long periods of continuous bombing. They also underwent tremendous hardships as little in the way of food or medicines managed to penetrate the blockade preventing merchant ships from entering the port.Despite the success of Allied convoys in getting through, the month was as bad as any other, combining bombing with food shortages. In response to the threat Malta was now posing to Axis supply lines, the Luftwaffe renewed its attacks on Malta in October 1942. Recognizing the critical battle was approaching in North Africa (Second Battle of El Alamein), Kesselring organized Fliegerkorps II in Sicily to neutralize the threat once and for all.On 11 October, the defenders were mass equipped with Spitfire Mk VB/Cs. Over 17 days, the Luftwaffe suffered 34 Ju 88s and 12 Bf 109s destroyed and 18 damaged. RAF losses amounted to 23 Spitfires shot down and 20 crash-landed. The British lost 12 pilots killed.On 16 October, it was clear to Kesselring that the defenders were too strong. He called off the offensive. The situation in North Africa required German air support, so the October offensive marked the last major effort by the Luftwaffe against Malta.Role of Glory On Malta.Victorious Spitfire aircraft line the road from Valletta. But do not forget please, that many aircraft types took part in this famous battle, and especially their crews, who often flew several hundred combat missions, risking death by fire and bullet to help break the Axis siege of the island. Bristol Blenheim, Beaufort, Wellingtons, Harvard, (Adrian Warburton and the Photo recon of the Italian fleet in the Taranto harbour), Hurricanes, and “faith hope and charity, the famous three outdated but heroic Gloster Gladiator aircraft that defended the island also.Some Gloster Gladiator Bi-Plane aircraft colour schemes, including one of the famous malta aircraft.(Please if I have accidentally missed someone, send me a comment about them, and I will add their mention into this article gladly.)It was OVER, and the Axis of evil had lost……The tide of war and fortune was now against the Nazi juggernaut, and soon, defeat would follow defeat…..Below. The moment for Glory.Men of the Royal Malta Artillery marching up Kingsway, Valetta after the presentation of the George Cross to the people of the island.Malta and the real Stalingrad shortly afterwards, meant that the Axis of evil could NOT WIN and that the Western Allied powers could NOT now lose the war. Only eventually win it.Malta Island was awarded the George Cross medal (the Civilian equivalent to the Victoria Cross <Decoration medal) for its bravery and courage during the bitter long siege.The Island held until relieved….and well deserved the Military Decoration for bravery and courage it received.