Grand Barrage: 'Gun Buster'Malta, World War II Life on a British anti aircraft gun crew as if you were right there. This story also covers the off duty life of the soldiers on Malta in 1940 but it wasn't all fun and games and liberty leaves. There are many moving incidents and losses, as well as ill fated attempts to make the most out of life before it was too late. The author, believed to be John Charles Austin, had the rare ability to portray grim battlefield realism as well