This programme relates the true and horrifying story of the small Mediterranean island of Malta during the Nazi onslaught.

From the 11th of June 1940 until the winter of 1942, when ships carrying much-needed supplies fought through enemy blockades to reach the island, the battle of Malta was waged.

It was a battle against the Germans and the Italians, against superior numbers, shortage of equipment, isolation, terror and hunger. 

Sitting smack in the middle of the shortest Axis supply route from Sicily to Libya, the island gave the allies the opportunity to choke off the steady flow of reinforcements needed by the Field Marshall Rommel's dreaded Afrika Korps.

In other words, it held the outcome of the war in both the Mediterranean and African theatres in its hands. The Germans knew this and were ready to annihilate the island. By April 1942, Malta got the title of the "most bombed place on earth." 

Built around intimately told personal stories of survivors and soldiers, this film portrays the story of those people who survived and endured when endurance and survival seemed impossible. 

Many of those interviewed have been in the heart of the battle and their pain is raw. Yet with irony, humour, resilience, love,and care they speak of their struggle to live as human beings.