The Battle for Malta Page #4

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"to North Africa, the capture of

Malta is an absolute requirement. "

All that stood in his way was a

weak and inferior air defence.

"German fighters are fundamentally

superior to British fighters. "

"It is primarily important to crush

the enemy air force on the ground

"and in the air through

ongoing incessant attacks

"by bomber and fighter

planes, day and night. "

"Signed, Field Marshal Kesselring. "

When Kesselring had written

his report, he'd been right.

The Hurricanes were inferior.

Despite better planes being

available back in Britain,

the defenders of Malta

were still flying aircraft

that were underpowered and underarmed.

Malta's war leaders had been

slow to demand better fighters,

but Britain had now woken up

to the strategic importance

of the island's position.

Finally, in March 1942 came the

reassuring sound of an aircraft

that was more than a match for

the German and Italian fighters.

I was on the roof one morning,

and the next thing I saw

was two aircraft speeding

up right above our heads

and doing the victory roll.

And I recognised that they were Spitfires.

The cannon-armed Spitfire

had finally arrived.

It was a huge morale

boost for the islanders.

It wasn't just the fighter pilots

that were eagerly awaiting

the arrival of the Spitfires.

So, too, it seems was The Times of

Malta, who report with great glee

that Spitfires had gone into

action for the first time.

And then the very next day, March 12th,

"Spitfires over Malta. Their first kill. "

It says, "Spitfires engaging. "

"These dramatic two words

that have chilled the hearts

"of many German pilots

again made history today. "

"For the first time since the war

began, Spitfires were in battle

"over this tiny island fortress

in the central Mediterranean,"

"and they met with success

in their first engagement. "

It was an encouraging start,

but had it come too late?

Many more would be needed

to make a decisive impact.

On Sicily, Kesselring had more than 800

German and Italian

aircraft at his disposal.

Malta had 80 fighters.

When the Germans started

coming, they meant business.

And there were bombs, bombs and bombs.

With these raids, there were times

when we just couldn't breathe in between.

There were always raids, raids, raids.

But the thing was that we

had to carry on our work.

We still had to go to the

hospital to carry on work.

With much of the Mediterranean

now in Axis hands,

reaching the island was becoming

increasingly difficult.

By 1942, the situation got

desperate, extremely desperate.

Convoys were being sent, and

not much coming into Malta,

and seeing the ships coming

into harbour, convoys,

hearing of convoys coming

in and not making it.

And the great loss of life

and shipping, you name it.

That was really sounding ugly and

looking ugly and feeling ugly.

By the spring of 1942, Malta's

port facilities had been wrecked.

The island's infrastructure

was largely destroyed.

And it was now that strong

leadership was most needed.

As the battle of Malta intensified,

so the demands on her war

leaders became greater.

What had been adequate before

was now found wanting,

as the islanders discovered to their cost.

'In March, a four-ship convoy

was sent from Alexandria.

'It was the first attempted

since December. '

We always knew the convoys were

coming, because the Italians

always reported the early attacks

on them, so we knew that.

It's hard to express just how much

Malta needed the March convoy

to be a success, so when three

out of four ships reached

the island safely, the relief was immense.

But getting here was only half the job.

Incredibly, no extra hands were brought in

to help with the unloading.

Not one serviceman, and despite

low cloud preventing enemy raids,

for two whole nights, no

unloading took place at all.

When the skies cleared,

the Luftwaffe returned

and sank all three ships in harbour.

Of the 26,000 tonnes of precious

cargo, only 5,000 were salvaged.

It was nothing short of a disgrace.

The lost cargo was entirely

down to poor planning.

In failing to prepare for

the unloading of the ships,

Malta's war leadership

had failed the people.

It had directly contributed

to their mounting misery.

During the heavy, heavy

bombing, we had nothing.

We didn't dare go out

during the heavy bombing.

When there was nothing to eat,

the farmers were frightened to go to work,

the fishermen were

frightened to go out to sea,

because they use to machine-gun them.

So when the convoy didn't come in,

there was no food on the island.

If you had the money,

there was nothing to buy.

It was tough after the March convoy,

because more rationing was enforced.

But one didn't really

think about it, you know.

One got used to hunger, too.

We carried on above ground,

between the raids.

We ran like rabbits down into the shelters

if the bombers were too near.

Then the dockyard grimly moved

underground, into the living rock.

Soft, yellow limestone rock,

that trembles and vibrates under

direct hits, but doesn't yield.

Malta had been neutralised.

The island was on its

knees, gasping for life.

Above ground, the RAF was engaged

in one of its biggest ever aerial clashes.

The only time I'd been in the public

shelter was a terrible experience,

really, because it was a big

shelter under Valletta,

and the people had bunks,

and it was sort of dirty,

and it was like a sort of ghetto,

and the noise of the bombs,

the vibrations, was something terrible.

The poor people, most of

them didn't have a home.

They lived down there, so

they cooked down there,

they slept down there,

they made love down there,

they did everything down there.

This was the Malta Blitz.

Axis forces mounted

round-the-clock air attacks.

In eight weeks, nearly 7,000 tons

of explosives fell on the island.

Malta had become the most

bombed place on earth.

At the lazaretto,

the submariners had been forced

out of their comfortable digs.

The bombs were destroying

the submarine base,

so by expanding the old sewage system,

they were able to create

a labyrinth of tunnels.

Already living under the

sea when on patrol,

the submariners were now forced to

live underground when back on Malta.

These are their bunks.

It's hard to imagine a tougher existence.

And there was no let up in the raids.

We were all out having dinner,

and we left it rather a long time

before going down to the shelter.

Too late.

One of the bombs dropped,

and we got the blast.

It was a big, big window.

That blew right in.

And with it, we three, and I was

knocked out for a little while,

came to, and their voices saying,

you know, "Maggie, where are you?"

"Are you alive?"

And I must have sat up and said,

"I don't know, but I think so!"

And of course, they hooted with laughter.

But, of course, I had been injured.

It was a bad night.

It was hard going, because on

top of it all you were hungry,

you had nowhere to live

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