January of 1941 marked one of the darkest periods in Maltese history as the month marked the start of the ‘Illustrious Blitz’.

According to the Facebook page, ‘Combat Archives’, the Italian army wasn’t doing too well in North Africa which meant that the Germans had to send reinforcements to prevent defeat.

However, they saw Malta as a problem as the British could have easily sunk their ships from the Maltese islands.

The axis ended up transferring the X. Fliegerkorps, a Luftwaffe formation specialising in anti-shipping operations from Norway to nearby Sicily instead.

They went on to bomb and destroy much of Malta’s supplies in an attempt to protect the Axis' convoys to North Africa.

It all started on the 6th January, 1941 when the British sent a supply convoy to Malta escorted by HMS Illustrious, the Royal Navy’s newest aircraft carrier. It was heavily attacked resulting in the death of 126 crew members.

The ship managed to arrive at the Grand Harbour where it was repaired.

However, just a few days later on the 16th January to be exact, the Germans showed up at the Grand Harbour in order to destroy the HMS Illustrious for good.

They fired over the Maltese coastal towns, resulting in a ginormous number of Maltese deaths and irreversible damage to many homes and buildings, but the Allies ship managed to survive.

The raids from the Germans continued for days on end until the HMS Illustrious managed to escape undetected.

That being said, the attacks did not stop there…

The Luftwaffe then started attacking other military locations on the Islands, bringing death, destruction and constant terror all throughout the Maltese Islands.

The horrifying bombardment thankfully ended by November of 1942.