Upon its return to Malta, the battalion was billeted at St. Andrew's Barracks.
Its strength by the end of June was 25 Officers and 631 Men. 
In January 1940, the Faughs moved out of A,E, & G Blocks at St. Andrews Barracks, occupying Block D and retaining Block J, Australia Hall, a new cook house, dining hall, sports facility, and petrol store.

     On 30.08.1940 Malta's Infantry was re-organised into Northern & Southern Infantry Brigades (NIB / SIB) - The Faughs were posted with NIB and deployed to the East of Wardija Hill, Qala Hill, Bidnija, Mosta, Naxxar, Gharghur, Madliena, and Pembroke, along with the underlying plains and shorelines such as Burmarrad, Maghtab, Salina and Ghallis. 
Responsibility for Wardija was split between a detachment of Fusiliers stationed in St. Paul's Hutments and the 8th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment. The latter was shipped to Malta from Gibraltar in May 1940 and were assigned to the NIB covering the sector stretching West from Wardija (l/o St. Paul's Bay) to Ghajn Tuffieha.
The area further North of the British detachments was guarded by the 1st Battalion of the King's Own Malta Regiment 

Defence of the Northern Sector was based on a network of Pillboxes built at strategic points, making best use of the terrain, to trap an invading enemy force in a deadly crossfire and serve as stop-lines. They were divided into three categories, with the forward positions being referred to as Beach Posts. Pillboxes forming part of the second line were known as Depth Posts, while Reserve Posts comprised a third line further inland. Each of these posts had its own identification code and was manned by 7 to 8 men armed with Bren / Medium Machine Guns and a variety of small arms and grenades. These outposts were surrounded by barbed wire perimeters and occasionally by mines and boobytraps. 

Although the men stationed in these defensive positions were relatively safe from Axis air raids, since there were mainly focused on Airfields and the Grand Harbour, field living conditions and Malta's hot humid autumn contributed to widespread cases of scabies & pediculosis.
The practice of wearing thick woollen socks all year round to protect feet from heavy drill ankle boots, couple with the use of puttees, could cause 'trench foot' from trapped moisture worsened by potential sores deriving from Malta's rugged terrain. 
The Battalion was kitted out in standard British Army Infantry Battledress and accessories. 
Summer-wear included short sleeved shirts and shorts. 

The following excerpt taken from Commanding Officer Low's memoirs renders a clear picture of the hardship experienced by the Fusiliers and other line infantry battalions defending Malta.

"The four months after Italy's entry to the war were perhaps the greatest strain of my time in the Island. Men were always short, there was much work to be done, and all posts kept day and night watch. The strain on the men of this constant readiness was severe.
Practically nobody for months on end ever got more than four hours sleep at a stretch, and the effect could be seen in their eyes, which seemed to be always peering and straining..."

An afternoon patrol for downed Italian airmen became the first active duty for the Faughs in wartime Malta. A Company was duly stationed at Ta' Qali to fill craters and assist groundcrews and the regimental band was dissolved with its men assigned stretcher-bearer duties.  
B Coy (company) was moved to Villa Remigio in Madliena in mid-November. 
Victor Ronald "Taffy" Kenchington2 was one of the band boys who put away his clarinet to hold a stretcher. His words are another testimony of the limitations endured by the local garrison:

"...We did all sorts of work being infantry men at war, filling in bomb holes on the Airfield, Takali (Ta' Qali) was our drome. Or we may be unloading ships in Valletta. We had about 4,000 Air Raids whilst we were there, having more bombs in a month than England had during the Blitz... Our food rations were sometimes very small, and we had 15 cigarettes a week during the siege... When we left (Malta) we went on double rations to get some of our weight back!"

In late December 1940, the Germans entered the fray after the Luftwaffe's Fliegerkorps X was redeployed to Sicily. The first half of 1941 brought about a determined aerial offensive by the Axis, in view of neutralising its defences and offensive capability. An unnamed Fusilier remarked in jest:

"On the whole, life carried on much as usual during these night visits. It added a zest to the game of Tombola, when one was wondering which would be the first 'sweat' to turn up, all the 8's or 8 & 7."

 This in reference to Lutfwaffe Junkers 88 bombers and Junkers 87 Dive-Bombers
On the 11th April the Faughs claimed downing one such machine, a German Junkers JU-87 'Stuka' Dive-Bomber with small arms fire. The aircraft has been identified as
 Ju-87 5724/ J9+BL of 9/ Sturzkampfgeschwader 1.3 

  As fears of a potential invasion grew, more reinforcements were poured into the island and the 2nd Battalion's strength at the end of June consisted of 34 Officers and 891 Men, augmented to 48 Officers & 927 Men by early September 1941. The RIF was now under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel A.A.J. Allen, who had taken over from Low in April of that year.
With the arrival of the 1st Btn. of the Durham Light Infantry on 26.01.1942, Malta Command re-organised the NIB and SIB into four Infantry Brigades. The 2nd. Btn. RIF, along with the 8th Btn. Manchester Rgt., and 8th Btn. King's Own Royal Lancaster Rgt. were grouped together with the 1st Btn., King's Own Malta Regiment to form the 2nd Malta Infantry Brigade, retaining their positions in the North of the Island.     

In January 1942, the 2nd Battalion of the King's Own Malta Regiment was given the responsibility of manning beach defences in St. Paul's Bay, Ghajn Tuffieha and other areas in the sector, to release British units for other duties.
The Faughs were hence withdrawn from their posts during daytime to help out at Ta' Qali Airbase and unload convoy supply ships in harbour.

Working in the airfield necessitated the use of many working parties, transport, fuel and lots of heavy work in a dangerous setting due to the constant menace from the air. Commencing daily at dawn and finishing after dark, the men built stone pens around the aerodrome and in dispersal areas to protect aircraft from shrapnel and strafing.
This was alternated by filling in bomb craters and repairing runways, belt-fitting, refuelling and aircraft maintenance, while remaining alert and protecting the facility from low-flying attacks.

One morning, a working party from D Company, under the command of Lieutenant Critchley-Salmonson came under attack. The company was caught off-guard with the men running for any cover they could find, but suffered no casualties despite bombs whistling down on all sides.
The Lieutenant recorded the incident as follows:
 "After it was all over, and the dust cleared away, heads began to peep up in all directions, and the only cries to be heard were the moans and groans over the amount of craters which would now have to be filled in"
The battalion would not always be so lucky. A German pilot or crewman was taken prisoner after landing by parachute on March 21st, 1942, but the day ended tragically for the RIF when four of its men were killed by a direct hit on the Quarter Master’s store at Ta' Qali.
Then on April 29th, St. Andrew's Barracks was hit along with 39 General Hospital. The barracks was then occupied by families of the battalion. Corporal Poynter RIF one of those killed in the raid.

The RIF endured siege conditions along with the rest of the garrison between 1940 and early 1943. A diary kept by William Shepherd5, RIF Regimental Sergeant Major, bears witness to the nature of Malta's struggle. At the peak of the siege in mid-1942, before the arrival of Operation Pedestal's relief convoy, he writes that the only food left for servicemen and civilians alike was cabbage and water, after all living animals including rats and birds had been eaten.

Leaving the Island was just as perilous as getting here. P.M. Marjoribanks-Egerton, another RIF Major was on a homeward bound when his transport ship, the Duchess of Atholl was torpedoed in the Atlantic in October, 1942. Luckily, the majority of those aboard were rescued.
At around this time, Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice French replaced Allen as General Officer, Commanding of the 2nd Battalion. 
The defeat of the Axis in North Africa and German setbacks on the Russian Front in early 1943 brought some respite. As the scales tipped further in favour of the Allied cause, orders were circulated to relieve the British infantry battalions defending Malta and remobilise them where needed most. Beginning in Spring, the individual units were shipped out to North Africa for rest,  refit and redeployment to other Fronts.

The RIF's turn came in June when the battalion embarked for Alexandria, Egypt on June 11th, 1943. Shepherd described the scene in the following words:
"Our old friend H.M.T. Neuralia moved slowly through the Grand Harbour...past the breakwater, where H.E. Lord Gort V.C. acknowledged from his launch the cheers of all on board the troopship, out to sea, passing a long line of L.C.T.s forming for the coming Battle of Italy... 234 Infantry Brigade was now leaving for fresh fields..."6
Twenty-one Men would remain behind, having succumbed to injuries or sickness, lying in the peace of local military cemeteries.

The following excerpt, taken from an edition of the regimental gazette summarises the sentiment of the civilian population with eloquence. The names were purposely left blank in view of wartime censor regulations.

The 2nd Battalion proceeded to Alexandria in June and deployed to the Greek Island of Leros in late September 1943 as part of the reformed 234 Brigade under the command of Major General F.G.R. Brittorous. The General had served in Malta as commanding officer of the Manchester battalion, but was relieved of his command at Leros in November, reportedly due a bad relationship with his subordinates. He was replaced by Brigadier Robert Tilney, merely a week before a German paratrooper attack resulted in a massive British defeat. 

Lieutenant-Colonel Maurice French, the RIF 2nd battalion's commander was killed in action along with several of his men, with the rest being wounded of taken into captivity until the end of the war. Only 27 men managed to get away, ordered to regroup in Palestine then returned to England via a transit camp in Egypt. 
In a sad twist of fate the invasion averted in Malta happened nevertheless, in another  Mediterranean Island, effectively destroying the Battalion and other British formations in Leros.
Apart from the many killed, 2300 men mostly from 234 brigade were taken prisoner, leading to its disbandment in mid-January 1944.8
In recognition of the gallantry demonstrated by the RIF in defending our islands, the title 'MALTA 1940' was bestowed and added to the regimental colours (flag) of the Royal Irish Regiment.

To read more about the individual men and their eyewitness accounts or to view the individual outposts they manned, kindly access the links below.