Armistice Day, marking the end of the First World War in 1918, was recalled on Thursday with a poignant ceremony at the Saluting Battery of the Upper Barrakka in Valletta.

The ceremony included an inter-faith service and wreath-laying by diplomatic representatives from the former belligerent states and former servicemen's associations.

Two-minute guns were fired from the Saluting Battery at 11.00am and 11.02am to mark the official period of silence.

The ceremony was coordinated by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna. 

Malta was not directly attacked in the First World War but played an important role as the 'nurse of the Mediterranean' caring for wounded Allied troops involved mostly in the Gallipoli landings.

Many Maltese men served with the British forces abroad, and the War Memorial in Floriana, erected 20 years after the end of the First World War and shortly before the start of the second, recorded the names of 592 Maltese who died.

The biggest single tragedy to hit the Maltese came on January 20, 1918 when 73 Maltese sailors perished as the British-requisitioned passenger ship HMS Louvain was torpedoed and sunk in the Keros Strait in the Aegean Sea. The ship had left Malta two days previously on its way to Mudros.

In yet another tragedy, 14 Maltese died in a massive explosion in Hamrun while filling hand grenades for use by the British forces.

The war had a profound economic and political impact on the island, which continued well after hostilities ceased, and sparked the movement for self-government, including the Sette Gugnio riots. The Legislative Assembly was set up  in 2021.