Malta, since the Napoleonic Wars a British crown colony, is in danger to be occupied by the Axis Powers during World War II - it's only half an hour by plane from the Italian airports on Sicily. That's why then-First Lord of the Admiralty Winston Churchill moved the HQ of the Mediterranean fleet to Egypt, i.e. Alexandria. Only 4,000 Soldiers and six Doubledeckers are ready for the defense (it's just a legend that there were just three of those, named Faith, Hope, and Charity). The Italian secret service overestimates the Strength of the defense however, by far. Also, Mussolini expects after the defeat of France that Great Britain will have to cede its "unsinkable aircraft carrier" in the near future anyway.
Since Italy declared war on the Allies on June 8th in 1940, the Regio Aeronautica has started within hours to bomb Malta.
On June 19th, twelve Torpedo Bombers (of the Fairey Swordfish Type, part of the 767 Naval Air Squadron) did not fly to Malta, since they thought to be more useful on the Home Islands. In OTL, they had formed the 830 Naval Air Squadron in Malta - a small additional PoD caused by the Butterfly Effect caused them to miss there.
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| United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |||
| The Crown Dependencies: | |||
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Channel Islands | Isle of Man | |||
| The Dominions: | |||
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| The League of Nations mandates: | |||
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Iraq | Palestine | Transjordan | Togo | Tanganjika | Southwest Africa | |||
| The crown colonies: | |||
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