The From the home of the co-breakers and the birthplace of modern computing, this is the Bletchley Park podcast.

This is M.C. Fontaine, welcoming you to another Bletchley Park podcast extra.

This week we have the second and concluding part of Bob Horner's talk, Malta, George Cross, 1940 to 1942, The Battle for Survival.

Last week, Bob left us at the start of 1942, a dark time for the survival of Malta.

He now continues with the story of one of the most pivotal moments during all of the resupplying

of Malta. Operation Pedestal.

In 1941, most merchant ships got through.

This changed drastically in 1942.

After February, only one merchant ship reached Malta safely,

although some fuel was salvaged from another that nearly made it in March.

The Royal and Royal Australian Navy

ships escorting were taking losses as well. The entry for MW10 leaves much unsaid. Two ships,

Talibot and Pampas arrived, and unloading started using Maltese stevedores, said to be much

faster workers than inexperienced servicemen. But work was

suspended overnight. The following day, both ships were set on fire during air raids, with Taliban

being scuttled. Out of 16,000 tonnes of cargo, only 1,800 tonnes have been discharged. A further 5,000

tons was ultimately recovered. In addition to the

submarines running supplies was the fast mine layer HMS Welshman. This ship could achieve 40 knots.

The failure of Operation Vigorous, when after repeated air surface and U-boat attacks,

the convoy turned back, left the islands in a difficult state,

which steadily became desperate. The Axis was sending over two to three hundred aircraft a day,

and by mid-April the RAF only had six fighters fully operational at any one time.

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