sentences:  "Staffel" had to relocate to Sicily in support of X. Fliegerkorps, under the command of "General der Flieger" (General of the Flyers) Hans Geisler, for actions against the strategically important island of Malta.With the opening of a new front in North Africa in mid-1940, British air and sea forces based on the island could attack Axis ships transporting vital supplies and reinforcements from Europe to North Africa.To counter this threat the Luftwaffe and the "Regia Aeronautica" (Italian Royal Air Force) were tasked with bombing raids in an effort to neutralise the RAF defences and the ports.