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Synopsis
During the Second World War, As the Regia Aeronautica and the Luftwaffe unleashed their full might against the island of Malta, the civilian population was in the eye of the storm. Faced with the terror of the unexploded bomb, the Maltese people looked for help to the Royal Engineers Bomb Disposal Section, who dealt with all unexploded bombs, outside of airfields and the RN dockyard, across an area the size of Greater London, and through 3,000 raids in two years.
Through violent winter storms and blazing summer heat, despite interrupted sleep and meagre rations, they battled to reach, excavate and render safe thousands of UXBs, and saved thousands of lives in the process. Day after day, and in 1942 hour after hour — through constant air raids — they approached live bomb after live bomb, mindful that it could explode at any moment. In the words of one of their number they were ‘just doing a job’. Complete with interviews with survivors, extracts from contemporary diaries and research from hundreds of previously unpublished wartime documents, UXB Malta is the first book to reveal what it is like to work in Army bomb disposal in the most bombed place on Earth.
Susan Hudson is a specialist in local history and folklore. Her experience led in 1984 to a career in communications for the heritage industry, including work as a guide-lecturer and writing short publications for historic sites such as Rochester and Chatham Historic Dockyard. She also compiled and presented two local radio series on heritage attractions. She lives in Herne Bay, Kent.
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