Day 316/17. The Lascaris War Rooms.

The Lascaris War Rooms consist of an underground complex of tunnels and chambers that housed the War Headquarters from where the defence of Malta was conducted during the Second World War. From this room the air defence of Malta was co-ordinated using techniques (and staff) used during the Battle of Britain.  See picture 2 today for the plotting of incoming bomber formations towards the island. The Malta radar stations gave just 20 minutes warning of incoming bombers from Sicily to the north.
Later in the war, this secret complex contained operations rooms for each of the fighting services from where not only the air defence of Malta was coordinated,  but also some of the greatest battles fought in the Mediterranean during the war.
Lascaris was also later the advance Allied HQ from where General Eisenhower and his Supreme Commanders Admiral Cunningham, Field Marshal Montgomery and Air Marshal Tedder directed Operation Husky – the Invasion of Sicily in 1943....... and WWII in Malta came to an end as the fighting moved north to the Italian mainland.