The Battle for Malta Page #5

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when your house was bombed,

but we had no alternative.

And when your back is to the wall,

you seem to have a lot more courage.

How do you put up with that kind

of incessant level of bombing?

If you're there...

.. you just have to, don't you?

Get on with it.

News broke that would

stiffen Maltese resolve

and cement British claims to the island.

The King made his award of the

George Cross on 15th April,

but it wasn't announced in The

Times of Malta until the 17th,

two days later.

But, interestingly, the very

next day, Saturday 18th,

now on the headline, alongside

The Times of Malta,

is a little image of the George Cross.

It was an image that remained on the

paper right throughout the war,

and, indeed, is on it still.

I was so proud that it was given

to Malta and the Maltese,

because of its heroism that it had.

Of all the people, and I always

say, right from a grandpa,

right down to a child, we all took part.

And if it wasn't for Malta,

they would have never won

the battle in Africa.

The award of the George Cross,

the King is thinking

about what we're doing.

We're not alone. That's

the most important thing.

There were some who grumbled that

we were better off not in the war,

or that it was better in the form

of food or whatever was needed,

but generally, it was that

feeling, a sign of courage.

You are not alone.

The George Cross was a symbolic

lift at a desperate moment.

But it was the material

boost of 47 new Spitfires

that gave the island the

chance to fight back.

Among the new pilots arriving on 20th April

was a promising young artist.

This is the diary of Dennis Barnham,

a Spitfire pilot who served here

in 1942, and I can honestly say

I've never read a better or more

vivid account of air fighting.

Just on these pages alone,

this is the description of

his first combat over Malta,

where he and two other Spitfires take off

to intercept more than 50 enemy aircraft.

What's so incredible is

the immediacy of it.

Each of these extracts written just

hours after the events took place.

"And I'm at Malta.

"It's an island of exquisite

peace for a while,

"and then violent fury

with death everywhere. "

'Two new squadrons of Spitfires was

a step in the right direction.

'But again, few plans had

been made for their arrival.

'Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd was now

increasingly out of his depth.

'On his first evening, Dennis Barnham

'and the other pilots were taken by bus

'up to the Xara Palace

for a pep talk by Lloyd.

'It was a talk that did little

to calm Dennis's nerves. '

Lloyd had barely begun, when

suddenly a aircraft roared overhead.

Bombs whistled down, then

exploded almost on top of them.

The whole building shook,

but as the dust settled,

Lloyd merely cleared his throat and said,

"As I was saying, the Germans

are cowards and bullies. "

He conceded that the task facing

the new pilots was a tough one,

but to help them, now had

ten twin-engined bombers

with which to take the attack to the enemy.

Compared with what they were up against,

it was clear to all that ten bombers

was hardly going to make much difference.

No wonder Dennis left feeling

even more terrified than ever.

His unease was soon proved right.

'The long-promised Wellingtons

arrived, ten of them.

'Throughout the last week

they tried their hardest -

'six of them were blitzed on the ground.

'After the raids, clouds

of smoke would roll back

'from the Lucca drome, changed to a

hazy red dust that would drift away

'with the wind and reveal

another Wellington burning.

'When they operated,

they did magnificently,

'making three trips to Sicily in one night.

'Of the four Wellingtons still serviceable,

'two did not return from that raid.

'In the big bedroom in the

house, 12 beds were empty. '

There were few Spitfires left either.

Within 48 hours, just seven remained.

Exposed and unprotected, they

were shot up on the ground.

One day, I did see a plane coming down,

and I thought, "That's not our plane. "

It was one of the Messerschmitts.

He did really machine-gun all the

Spitfires that were laying there.

'On the ground, Spitfires were

easy pickings for Axis aircraft.

'Targets that should never have been there.

'Deep in the rocks,

'Malta now had the most

sophisticated ground control

'outside Britain.

'The new fighter planes should

have made a big difference. '

The operation rooms used so successfully

in the Battle of Britain

were also replicated here,

from the plotting table through

to the coloured clocks

and the squadron tote boards.

In the spring of 1942, there

was one major difference,

as you can see from that

conspicuously empty squadron board.

On Sicily, there were

hundreds of enemy aircraft.

Here on Malta, for five

separate days in April 1942,

there was just one aircraft available.

And on two days, none at all.

'But without aircraft, the

operations room was redundant. '

'Plans for their arrival had to improve. '

'At Berchtesgaden, Hitler met

with Mussolini to discuss plans

'to invade Malta, codenamed

Operation Hercules.

'Germany would supply airborne

troops and air power,

'but the invasion itself would

be Italy's responsibility. '

"German parachutists and equipment

should be made available

"to the Italians who want to take Malta

"through a surprise raid

around the end of May. "

Weakened and vulnerable, the

island was braced for invasion.

Dennis Barnham was among the

few still defending Malta.

"Two 109's were coming in from my side.

"There was a loud report from my engine.

"Blue smoke came into my cockpit,

"and I was upside down and spinning again.

"I saw the blue seas and

cliffs hanging over my head.

"They seemed very close. 'Am I going

to be killed now?', I thought.

"I remember saying to myself,

" 'You'll have to hurry, Dennis, old chap. '

"There's not much time!

"But I must put on opposite rudder,

for she came out of the spin. "

A week after his arrival,

Barnham came here,

to the RAF rest camp in St Paul's Bay.

It's pretty clear from the diary

that he was already exhausted,

and filthy.

As he says, "My hair was dusty,

my clothes were sticking to me,

and my socks smelled. "

So, stripping off, he

jumped into the cool water.

It was, he says, "Quite

unutterably glorious. "

But even here, with spent

cannon shells lying all around,

what should have been a respite

came to a dramatic halt

with the arrival of yet

more enemy aircraft.

Pilot Officer Herbert Mitchell

summed it up perfectly.

"The tempo of life here is indescribable.

"It all makes the Battle of

Britain seem like child's play. "

The scars of that air battle remain.

You can still find evidence of

the war all over the island,

even in a tiny field like this.

How about this?

This may look like a rusty fence post,

but in actual fact, it's

a 20mm Oerlikon cannon.

And look over there. There's the other one.

15 feet apart, exactly the spacing

they would have been on a Spitfire.

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