"Club Run" was an informal name for aircraft supply operations to the besieged island of Malta during the Second World War. Malta was the object of determined Axis attempts from 1941–1942 to either force the British military authorities to surrender or to destroy its effectiveness as a military base. The island's significance was as a forward base from which Axis supplies to their north African armies could be attacked. It is a measure of Malta's importance that Britain reassigned fighter aircraft from home defence.