ABSTRACT
It is not easy now to appreciate the value attached to Malta by the British government in the period between the two world wars. Malta, after gaining its independence in 1964, became a republic in 1971, and although British and NATO forces continued to use the island's military facilities for several years, the last British naval, army and air force units left the island in April 1979. The first task, therefore, is to understand why Malta was held to be of such importance in the pre-war years, and to seek the reasons for this we need to return to the 1920s.
