The Siege of Malta

Malta was the most heavily bombed country in the Second World War. The history of Malta is fascinating and the struggles the island and its people went through during the Second World War were massive. Malta had been a British colony since the early 1800s and until the start of the War, home for the British Mediterranean fleet. Malta’s proximity to Sicily (60 miles) made the fleet very vulnerable, so the main base was moved to Alexandria, Egypt. Some ships and the submarine fleet were still based out of Malta. It was generally decided by the British that Malta was undefendable, so they had basically no Airforce, meagre air defences, one battalion (2nd Devonshires) of infantry as well as the local Kings Own Malta Regiment. It was reasonable to assume Malta could not be defended as it was surrounded by Axis powers. The nearest Allies were 1000 miles away at Gibraltar and 1,100 miles from Alexandria. The British seriously considered giving Italy Malta as a bribe to keep them out of the war, but fortunately Churchill intervened.

Mussolini did not originally declare war as he wanted to be on the winning side and hedged his bets. After the British retreat at Dunkirk and just before the Fall of France, he decided Germany was going to win, so on 10 June 1940 Italy declared war on France and Britain. His first action was to bomb Malta on 11 June, concentrating on the Grand Harbour at Valletta, airfields and military installations. The Italians continued sporadic attacks until the end of the year.

Once Churchill came to power, he declared Malta as a critical resource and started to bolster Malta defences. Anyone trying to transit the Med had to pass by Malta, the Unsinkable Aircraft Carrier.

The army added the 1st Dorset Regiment in 1939 followed by the 1st Hampshire Regiment in February 1940, as well as substantial Air Defence, Engineering and Medical assets. An Air Defence installation at the Upper Barrakka Gardens overlooking the Grand Harbour.

A shot of the present-day harbour from a similar view.

The only aircraft on Malta at the start of the bombing were Gloster Gladiators, obsolete biplanes that had been shipped to Malta in Crates and cobbled together to provide a meagre defence. Three Gladiators, nicknamed Faith, Hope and Charity provided the only defence, but when they shot down an Italian aircraft, the action gave hope to the Maltese population. Faith is shown here.

In June 1940, 12 Hurricane Fighters originally destined for Alexandria, stopped in Malta. Five were allowed to remain and additional deliveries of Hurricanes resulted in 16 Hurricanes available at the end of 1940.

In addition to the Hurricane Fighters, Malta had Wellington and Blenhiem Bombers as well as Beaufighter and Swordfish Torpedo planes that attacked enemy installations and convoys. Reduced pressure on the airfields allowed these aircraft to be much more effective. The threat to Axis shipping, particularly impacting Rommel’s logistics in North Africa was the main reasons the German Luftwaffe returned to Sicily in late 1941.

Germans Arrive in Med

By the end of 1940 the Italians were being defeated in North Africa, and the Ships and Aircraft of Malta were impacting shipping in the Med, so Rommel was sent to North Africa with 680,000 troops and more than 200 German aircraft to Sicily to counter Allied shipping and to attack Malta. The arrival of the Luftwaffe dramatically increased the assault on Malta.

HMS Illustrious

The British Aircraft Carrier Illustrious was heavily damaged by bombing and torpedo attacks and limped into Malta for emergency repairs before it could be sailed to Alexandria for major work. The Germans were determined to sink the carrier and launched the first major assault on the Harbour. The Illustrious was in desperate shape when it entered the Harbour on 11 January, it had to be towed in and was still burning.

The repair crews worked desperately to make the ship seaworthy enough to be sailed to Alexandria. On 16 January the Germans launched an attack with 60 bombers to try to finish off the Illustrious. There were several near misses, but remarkably, no direct hits. The rest of the Three Cities did not fare as well as 200 buildings were destroyed and an additional 300 severely damaged. The towns were evacuated but the ship workers were forced to stay. More than 95 separate bombing raids were suffered in January, a foreshadowing of things to come.

The Illustrious was able to sneak out under the cover of darkness on 23 January and make its way to Alexandria. Remarkably, it was repaired and survived the war, fighting with distinction in a number of maritime theatres.

The bombing of the harbours, airfields and military installations carried on at a fearsome rate. In February 1941, the Germans introduced the BF109F, the latest German fighter. The 109 outclassed the Hurricane and led to heavy aircraft losses. The Germans attacked convoys and focussed on ships in the harbour leading to great loss of supplies.

This continued until April 1941 when the Luftwaffe was withdrawn to participate in Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on Russia. More than 3,000 buildings had been destroyed, and 70% of the island churches were heavily damaged or destroyed. The withdrawal of the Germans led to a temporary reprieve and the island worked to improve their defences.

A collection of bomb types.

Air Raid Shelters

Most of Malta is built on a limestone layer up to 100m thick. From the time of the Knights of St John, a great number of tunnels existed underground. In the time of the knights, they were narrow escape routes, but by June 1941 the underground workforce had increased to 5,500, nearly 500 public rock shelters had been finished and another 400 were in progress.  In all they could house 138,000 people. Another 90,000 had access to alternative shelters. The groove in the roof in the picture represents the width of the tunnels dug by the Knights. The tunnels were expanded, and individual shelters were dug under the buildings for the residents.

Many of the shelters were dug under churches. One of the complete shelter complexes is under the Malta At War Museum, at Birgu, one of the Three Cities on the Grand Harbour. The museum is well worth visiting, be sure to plan your visit to correspond with an underground tour, the guides do an excellent job of describing life in Malta during the siege. The complex is huge and contained an infirmary, birthing room, private spaces paid for by wealthy families and common dormitories.

This shelter was built facing an existing dry moat, so casualties could be brought directly into the infirmary.

The work was all done by hand, using rudimentary tools. Due to unique characteristics of the Malta limestone, the rock absorbed the shockwaves of the blast, so it made for an effective shelter but made it inefficient to blast tunnels. A skilled miner could dig a section 3 feet by 6 feet, 3 feet deep in a day. Amazingly, this shelter, which regularly held more than 500 people was dug in 3 weeks.

The private cubicles were 6x8 by 6 feet high. Not luxurious, but much better than the communal dormitories.

The commoners were piled up 3 deep in the dormitories. The top bunk was the favourite, due to leakage.

The tunnels were crowded enough during the tour, with no sanitary facilities, being underground for hours at a time with candlelight and incessant bombing made for a miserable experience. The people had less than 15 minutes warning before the next bombing attack, so at the height of the war there was a shelter on almost every street in Valletta and the Three Cities.

Safety first underground and above.

Air Defences

The relative lull after the Germans departed was used to build a number of radar sites and observer stations to improve the early warning. The airfields were bombed on a regular basis, and the army was pressed into service to repair the grass runways.

We visited the Radar site at Dingli Cliffs, the highest point on Malta. A radar is still located on the cliffs looking to the south and west.

The cliffs are about 220m above sea level and provide a panoramic view of the area.

St Mary Magdalen church has been on this site since the 15th century. The current tiny church dated from 1646.

As with every church we visited, and likely every church on Malta, it had multiple Nativity scenes representing what Jesus would have been wearing if his birth had have occurred in their hood.

The cliffs are located in a very wind-blown, rugged area perfect for hair styling.

After the Germans left in April, the Italians continued bombing. They were not as intense and bombed from much higher altitudes to avoid ground fire. They also had a tendency to drop their bombs in the Med if the Hurricanes came up to greet them, so this was a time of relative calm on Malta.

Malta Force Submarines, later to become the 10th Submarine Flotilla, was given orders to stop all supplies from Italy to Tripoli, and the submarine offensive began in earnest. Over the next few months, these submarines would wreak havoc and destruction among enemy shipping in the Mediterranean, though not without cost, as a number of them perished on patrol. The submarines operated from Manoel Island, an ancient fort in the Marsamxett Harbour.

The submarines were regularly attacked, and their base suffered heavy damage. The subs used to dive to the bottom of the harbour during attacks to minimize damage.

The present-day facilities have been mostly restored.

Malta also hosted a Naval surface fleet called Force K that worked with the submarines and aircraft to disrupt Axis shipping, particularly the resupply of Rommel in Africa, causing up to 60% losses. The Allied had access to Axis communication traffic through the Ultra program, so they knew where the convoys were. As Rommel became more desperate for supplies, he asked for more frequent updates, so the Allies always had up to date locations for the convoys, resulting in even greater losses. Starved of fuel, food, arms and ammunition, Rommel retreated 500 miles in just six weeks.

Malta Under Siege

The impact Malta was having on the North Africa campaign was so dramatic that Hitler ordered the Luftwaffe back to Sicily and half of the Atlantic U-Boat fleet to the Mediterranean to counter the Allies. The Axis plan was to bomb and blockade Malta, then eliminate the problem completely by invading the islands. On 01 January 1942, Germany launched the 1,175th raid on Malta a foreshadowing of the upcoming onslaught.

Germany had moved 200 aircraft back to Sicily from the Russian front including 80 BF109F fighters and 100 bombers (Ju 97 Stuka Dive Bombers, Ju 88 Medium bombers and Heinkel He 111 medium bombers).

Immediately the BF109F fighters started devastating the Hurricanes. In January alone, 58 Hurricanes had been shot down or destroyed on the ground, leaving only 28 of the 340 Hurricanes that had been delivered to Malta.

Malta had few natural resources, so relied heavily on the resupply convoys. The bombings had destroyed infrastructure, forced the population underground and the implementation of rationing of food, fuel and ammunition. The situation got much worse with 432 enemy raids in December and January alone. The island was facing up to 9 air raids a day, so lack of sleep furthered their problems. Rommel had taken back lost ground in North Africa and deprived the convoys from Alexandria of air cover from Libya.

An attempted resupply in February was halted by Axis bombing, and rations, fuel and fodder for livestock were further cut. Herds of goats and sheep were driven around the streets to be milked on people’s doorsteps. These wore cotton brassieres to prevent their udders dragging in the dust, and the animals were milked into jugs and bowls, while the rest of the herd milled about scrounging for discarded fruit peel, empty cigarette cartons and other waste that added grist to their diet. But with the new restrictions, this everyday sight would become increasingly rare.

Maybe the sheep we saw were descendants of the war time heroes.

Spitfires to Malta

In early March 1942, the first 15 Spitfires landed in Malta to replace the outclassed Hurricane. The problem with the Hurricane was its slow climb rate. The pilots typically got 15 minutes warning of an attack, but even with the pilots sitting in the aircraft, the Hurricane couldn’t climb fast enough to be above the enemy bombers and fighters before the attack commenced, so they would fly south of Malta and only engage the enemy after they had dropped their bombs. The Spitfire was a match for the BF109F and quickly made their first kills, despite being vastly outnumbered.

The Spitfires were delivered by Aircraft Carriers. The carrier sailed from Gibraltar and once it got within 700 miles of Malta, the Spits took off and hopefully made it to Malta before running out of fuel. Spitfires were not designed to take off from carriers, so they had wooden wedges placed in their flaps for optimum short take off, then the pilot would change the flap settings to release the wedges. The carriers headed into the wind and went at maximum speed to help the aircraft get off the deck. Despite the makeshift techniques, very few Spitfires crashed on takeoff.

In late March, the Germans launched an all-out attack with 200 aircraft focusing on the Fighter Base at Takali. The army and ground crew had built blast enclosures for the aircraft, but the dropping of over 1000 bombs destroyed most of the enclosures and severely damaged the airfield so only 5 fighters were available to fend of over 200 opponents.

The next convoy arrived with 2 of the 4 merchant ships making to the Grand Harbour, but the docks and storage facilities were so heavily damaged that the ships were moored in the middle of the harbour and unloaded by barges a very slow and laborious process. The two ships had offloaded 10% of their cargo before incessant bombing eliminated the ships. MV Pampas half submerged after heavy bombing. Mismanagement and lack of resources had severely impacted the offloading.

Rations got cut once again, and the lack of flour, ammunition and fuel threatened Malta’s survival.

The Axis stepped up their attacks in April, with the intent to force Malta out of the war. As well as incessantly bombing the airfields and harbour, multiple strikes on Valletta and several churches were aimed at breaking the will of the population.

On 09 April, about 1640 the Rotunda church at Mosta, near the Takali airfield was hit. The church features the second largest suspended dome in Europe and was one of Malta’s most treasured buildings. A service was in progress with 300 people worshipping. A bomb pierced the dome, bounced twice off the wall, skidded the length of the nave and came to a halt without exploding. Not a single person was injured, and the act was immediately hailed as the Mosta Miracle.

The church is a magnificent structure that we visited. The church was built between 1830 and 1863. The priest who initiated the build was sent from Rome and the existing church was not grand enough for him. A Maltese architect did the design based on the Pantheon in Rome. His first design was vetoed by the pope since it featured a Dome bigger than the one at the Vatican. Third time was the charm, and he built this magnificent structure constructed largely by the town residents using volunteer labour.

The interior of the church is as spectacular as the exterior.

On the side of the dome, there is a small patch that is a different colour, indicating the area where the bomb pierced the dome.

They have a replica of the bomb in the back of the church to remind the faithful of the Hand of God.

The bombing was destroying around 800 houses per month and devastating the water and electrical infrastructure. Shortages of water led to recycling of bandages, orders not to wash which of course caused rampant bouts of dysentery known as Malta Dog, because once you got it, it followed you around for an extended period of time.

George Cross

On 17 April 1942, the entire Island of Malta was awarded the George Cross, the highest civilian award for gallantry.

The George Cross was not handed out lightly, and the importance of the award was appreciated by the population as it was unprecedented in British History. This well-timed morale boost led to Malta being known as the George Cross Island, and they proudly display the cross on their flag to this day.

Despite the award, Malta was in desperate shape. The submarines were barely operating, the bombers had been largely destroyed, and the Force K had left the island. Only a handful of fighters remained, kept operational despite constant airfield repairs and a complete absence of spare parts. No convoys were scheduled until June and the island was predicted to be out of flour by the end of May, Ammunition by July and aviation fuel by August.

The lack of Spitfires was severely impacting the defence of the Island, so Churchill asked President Roosevelt for the loan of the aircraft Carrier USS Wasp to deliver aircraft to Malta. On April 20, 47 Spitfires took off from the Wasp and landed in Malta. They landed in the midst of yet another raid, and within 48 hours only 7 of the 47 Spitfires remained serviceable. Despite the limited number fighters, the Gunners claimed 102 bombers shot down during the month. 6,700 tons of bombs had been dropped on Malta in April and thousands of buildings had been destroyed and Rommel was receiving all the supplies he needed for an assault on Egypt and the middle East oil fields. An invasion of the islands weas expected at any time. Fortunately, Hitler prioritized Egypt, and the plan was to invade Malta in July after Egypt had been taken.

More Spitfires

Churchill got a second loan of USS Wasp and along with the Carrier HMS Eagle was set to deliver 64 Spitfires to Malta on 09 May. They had learned their lesson from the last delivery, the planes were to be sent in waves to 3 different airfields, so the first wave could cover the subsequent flights. Each aircraft was numbered, and was led to their blast enclosure, refuelled and rearmed and immediately sent back up with experienced Malta pilots. The planes were back in the air in 10 minutes. The plan worked perfectly, and for the first time the air battle was an even fight.

On 10 May, 65 Axis aircraft were lost or damaged, a heavy loss from an inventory of 200 aircraft and the tide of the air war had turned.

Malta Starves

The air battle had improved but the islanders were desperately short of food and kerosene for cooking. The rationing had increased and all of the livestock long consumed, so everyone was hungry all of the time. A soldier’s ration had dwindled to just two Number Nine biscuits – dry hard tack – and a meagre piece of bacon for breakfast; a thin piece of corned beef for lunch; and for tea he’d have the remaining part of his biscuit and a bit of jam, and the civilians were worse off.

Victory Kitchens

Due to the lack of cooking fuel, the large number of homeless people and to fairly distribute the meagre food, Victory Kitchens were set up to feed the population. The daily hot meal was meat or vegetable stew, very often no more than coloured water with bits floating in it. The people complained about the food and the long lines but as the siege wore on, they had no alternatives.

On Republic street, the main street in Valletta, everyone we talked to told us that the local Victory Kitchen was located in the current day Clark Shoes Outlet.

More Convoys

In order to alleviate the starvation, in mid June two convoys were mounted, one from Gibraltar and the second from Alexandria. Although the air picture had improved, the Med Fleet was quite depleted, and the Axis had many bases to attack both convoys. Both convoys were mauled so only 2 of 17 merchant ships made it to Malta with 25,000 tons of supplies not nearly enough to sustain the island.

Operation Pedestal

By August, Malta was on the brink of collapse, starving and almost out of aviation fuel. Unless resupplied, Malta would be forced to surrender in early September. The Allies needed Malta operational to cut Rommel’s supply lines in North Africa, so plans were developed for a massive resupply mission. Thirteen fast supply ships and the American Tanker SS Ohio were collected, along with the largest protection fleet ever assembled. Accompanying the merchant ships were 4 aircraft carriers, 2 battleships, 7 light cruisers, 32 destroyers, 4 corvettes, 4 minesweepers, 11 submarines and various support vessels.

A small portion of the fleet at sea.

This massive fleet did not remain hidden long and was harassed along their entire voyage. They were attacked shortly after passing by Gibraltar and as they sailed past Axis occupied North Africa were targeted relentlessly as the Germans knew a resupplied Malta would severely impact their operations.

The aircraft Carrier HMS Eagle was the first casualty as the Axis knew the carriers were the biggest threat to their air assault. A German U Boat got through the ship screen and sunk HMS Eagle with 4 torpedoes. The carrier was on its side and sunk within 8 minutes, the first of many blows to the convoy.

The tanker SS Ohio was hit by torpedoes that ripped a huge 27 by 24-foot hole in the ship and set fuel on fire. The captain halted the ship and the sea water that flowed into the gaping hole help quench the flames. The critical tanker was also hit by dive bombers and eventually lost its engine and appeared dead in the water. In a last-ditch attempt to save the tankers, two ships straddled the Ohio and a third ship leading to act as rudder, the Ohio was underway again, at a walking pace.

Four merchant ships limped into the Grand Harbour on 13 August with all of Malta lining the harbour to greet them. They were rapidly unloaded, then the wait to see if the Ohio could make it began. The Brisbane Star made it to Malta despite having its bow blown off by an air launched torpedo.

Finally on 15 August, the Feast of Santa Maria, the Ohio limped into the Harbour. The Feast of Santa Maria was the island’s most important feast days and a clear indication of the divine intervention that saved Malta. The Maltese had been living on little but their faith for so long that this was taken as another miracle that saved the island.

The SS Ohio was only kept afloat by the attached destroyers and was guided to the dock by a fleet of tugs. With its decks barely above water, the Ohio had bought Malta two more months of survival.

Nine merchant ships and 4 Royal Navy ships had been sunk, more than 350 sailors killed, and virtually every other ship damaged but Malta was saved, and ready to go on the offensive once again.

This was not the end of the struggles for Malta. Since their population had been malnourished for so long, disease ran rampant, and the bombing attacks continued. However, the Allies now had a potent fighter fleet, and Malta was never seriously threatened again. Malta became the operational centre for Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily and the subject of the next blog.

Malta By the Numbers

Malta was the most bombed site in the world. It suffered 3,343 air raids, 60% occurring in 1942. The worst month was April 1942 when the islands suffered 282 attacks, an average of 9 a day. They had 154 consecutive days and nights under attack in 1942, an had a total of 15,000 tons of bombs dropped on the tiny islands. The Maltese spent the equivalent of 98 days under air raids, with 1,500 civilians killed and 3,800 wounded. More than 10,700 buildings were destroyed and an additional 20,000 building damaged leaving more than 50,000 homeless.

Children playing on the remains of a crashed Stuka.

More than 7,500 service men and merchant seamen were killed in the operations in support of Malta. 369 British fighters were shot down and 532 Axis aircraft confirmed destroyed.

Spitfire Pilots

George Beurling

George Beurling was the most successful Canadian Fighter Pilot of the war. He was born in Verdun in 1921 and had his pilot’s licence by the age of 16. He tried to join the RCAF at the outbreak of the war, but was rejected because he did not meet the academic requirements. He worked on a merchant ship to England in order to try to join the RAF, but neglected to bring his birth certificate, so he sailed home to retrieve it and sailed back to join the RAF. He had exceptional eyesight and immersed himself in gunnery to become an outstanding shot. After several months as a Spitfire pilot, he landed in Malta on 09 June 1942, flying off the HMS Eagle. He was an exceptional pilot but also a loner who was a massive discipline problem. On Malta talent ruled and George ended up winning the Distinguished Service Order, Distinguished Flying Cross, and Distinguished Flying Medal plus bar.

His excellent shooting accounted for 27 victories on Malta, and he was known as the Falcon of Malta. He was also shot down four times, the last time on 14 October when his injuries forced him to return to England. On the way home the B-24 transport he was on crashed off Gibraltar and George was one of only three survivors. George was only 21 when he got his 27 victories, more than twice as many as the next most successful pilot.

He was sent home to Canada as a hero to join the War Bond Drive, but his comments that he liked killing people shortened his tour. He returned to England as a gunnery instructor, then transferred to the RCAF but his continuing disciplinary problems led to his discharge in October 1944. He ended up with 31 victories. After the war, he joined the Israeli Air Force and was killed in a plane crash in 1948.

Jimmy Ballantyne

While Rachel and I were planning the trip to Malta, my buddy Dave Harvie mentioned his cousin Jimmy Ballantyne served there, so I took a look at him. Jimmy enlisted in December 1940, worked his way through the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan, completing his Spitfire training in December 1941 and joined 222 Squadron in January 1942 in Essex. After a few months he was sent to Malta. On 03 June 1942, during Operation Style, 31 Supermarine Spitfires including Flight Sergeant Jimmy Ballantyne, were launched from the Royal Navy aircraft carrier HMS Eagle en route to Malta. Of these, 27 successfully reached the island, while four were lost during the journey. The carrier was positioned approximately 700 miles (about 1,127 kilometers) from the island at the time of the launch.

The Eagle was originally designed as a Battleship in WWI and was converted to an aircraft carrier after the war, explaining the unusual look.

During a hectic six months on the beleaguered Island, flying with 229 and 603 squadrons,  Ballantyne scored 5 1/4 aerial victories, was shot down twice and had only four days leave. He left Malta at the end of October 1942. Jimmy described the operations in Malta:

Fighting over Malta is surely more interesting than anywhere else, he declared. First, because the are always some enemy aircraft in the neighborhood. Second, because the weather is simply marvellous, and third, the interception there is quite easy due to the fact that all the enemy machines concentrate in a small area.

He described one of his impromptu swimming exercises in a letter to his family.

Eight of us scrambled for our kites and the ground crews strapped us in and started us up in seconds we were tearing down the drome and in the air. Ground operations telephoned up to tell us that our party consisted of 15 big jobs and quite a few small jobs, and to climb fast.

We did just that, for we knew from experience that it is a lot better to do the bouncing then to be bounced. I rather thought this would be a good show, as the few kites jerry had sent over during the night had come to grief from our night fighter boys’ guns and he was sure to try to get us with a stronger mob.

So we scooted up to 27,000 feet and tore right into their little jobs (the fighter escorts) and boy what fun! The air was filled with a million kites, it seemed, everyone buzzing around like bees. I got two and was just getting a sight on a third when I noticed a big yellow-nosed 109 coming down. I figured it was no place for me to be hanging around, so I intended to give my “friend” in front of me a good burst, then beat it.

I pressed the firing button, but nothing happened. My guns had jammed, so I did a sharp break away and my aileron turned down as fast as the old kite could go - and that's fast, believe me.

Old Jerry's tracery was sliding past me and I was doing all the things one is taught not to do at elementary - slipping, skidding, etc. I called up on my radio and had just given my section the details of my most lovely predicament when my engine started running unusually rough and pearly-gray smoke plus oil and stuff started to come up from the bottom of the cockpit.

I kept looking behind and saw old Jerry break away with one of our boys pumping slugs at him. I also saw a nice trail of glycol smoke in a spiral trail behind me. That dear dad, was my glycol and even a Merlin won’t last long without some kind of coolant, so I pointed the old nose for home and started to glide for the island, hoping that thing might hold together long enough to land.

Seven miles from Malta the engine, which was still ticking over, started to vibrate and black smoke and flames spurted out from the sides of the cowlings. I gave the ground station a call for a “fix”, undid my helmet, trimmed the kite for a dive, held back on the stick, undid my harness, opened the hood and as soon as I let go of the stick the kite dove smartly down and I popped out like a cork. Some way to pass the time!

I pulled the rip cord and in a matter of seconds her was a jerk then just a peaceful swinging up in the blue. It didn’t take long to come down and as soon as I hit the water, I disengaged myself from the chute and inflated my dinghy. I crawled in and just lay there, looking for some signs of an aircraft. Funny enough though, just a few minutes before the sky was filled with them, I couldn’t see one now.

Finally, one of our boys spotted me and directed the air-sea rescue launch in my direction. It wasn’t long before I had refreshments, smokes and good warm clothes. I didn’t fly again that day but was up and at them the day after. So now you will see why I haven’t written as often as I should.

Jimmy was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal on 01 December. The citation reads:

"Since June 1942, this airman pilot has destroyed at least five enemy aircraft and damaged others. One day in July 1942, he became separated from his section but with courage and determination attacked three Messerschmitt 109s, destroying one. Some days later Flight Sergeant Ballantyne was leading his section when the squadron attacked a formation of enemy heavy bombers. The bombers were successfully intercepted and pursued to within ten miles of the Sicilian coast. On yet another occasion this pilot attacked two Junkers 88(s) and then while separated from his squadron was attacked by four enemy fighters. By skillful maneuvering and great tenacity, he fought off the enemy fighters and landed his aircraft safely. Flight Sergeant Ballantyne is a most courageous and brave fighter pilot, who has played a worthy part in the defense of Malta."

Jimmy received his commission on 29 October 1942. He served at No 59 Operational Training Unit, then joined RCAF 403 Squadron in January 1944. On 08 March 1944,  eight of Kenley’s Spitfires from 403 squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force, set off in the afternoon from Friston looking for ‘targets of opportunity’ across the Channel (Ranger 127/23). They swept the areas of Evereux, Paris, Melun and Creil, before encountering accurate light flak coming from a wood near St. Andre de L’Eure at approximately 1645. Three aircraft were hit. Flight Lieutenant Goldberg had to make a forced landing and Flying Officer Preston’s aircraft was also damaged. Jimmy Ballantyne’s Spitfire IX (MJ876) was hit by flak and seen to hit the ground and explode.

Front Row Seat

Many of the fighter pilots were housed in the Xara Palace in the ancient capital of Mdina. The Takali airfield was only a few miles away, and the balcony of the palace was a perfect viewing area for the daily air battle. Before the Spitfires arrived the German BF109F would strafe the airfield before doing a low pass in front of the balcony.

The palace is now a 5-star hotel that overlooks the former airfield.

A view of Mdina from the former airfield location.

An aerial photo of the Takali Airfield in 1942. The cratering of the airfield is very evident. It was yet another miracle that Mdina was not hit by the relentless bombing.

Lascaris War Rooms

Located 150 feet under the Upper Barrakka Gardens and the Saluting Battery in Valletta, the Lascaris War Rooms represent one of Malta’s best kept secrets from World War Two. 

The War Rooms consist of a network of underground tunnels and chambers that housed Britain’s War HQ in Malta from where the defence of the island against Axis aggression was waged and all offensive operations in the Mediterranean were directed.

The War rooms and the Operation Husky Museum were fascinating (at least to me) and well worth a tour. If you go, be sure to arrange your visit to get a guided tour of the War Room, the guide explains the operation of the Control Room extremely well.

We spent most of the tour in the RAF sector Fighter Control Room where all air and sea operations were observed and controlled. The Filter room channeled all Radar and Observer information. The Filter room analyzed the quality of the information and provided an integrated picture to the plotters. In the UK all of the plotters and Filter Room personnel were part of the Women’s Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), but there were no WAAFs on Malta, so local women were trained to carry out these vital tasks.

In order to tell the good guys from the bad guys, the aircraft had automated transmissions that were tracked by Direction Finding stations around the island. The table had holes at the receiving locations, and the reported bearing was laid out with string. The point where the 3 strings intersected represented the aircraft location so they could be vectored to the enemy positions. A very ingenious method of pinpointing the friendlies.

 Once the Filter Room had distilled the information, the locations of the active aircraft and ships were plotted on the big board. Rachel observing the point but do not touch rule.

Each of the blocks represented a number of ships or aircraft, indicating the hostility, number, type, direction and altitude. The track of each formation was also shown by the coloured arrows that indicated the direction and age of the track report.

The controller had access to other required information. The big board showed the status of each squadron, Air Sea Rescue Boats and amphibious aircraft, weather and the all-important scoreboard of number of aircraft shot down.

The Air Sea Rescue teams rescued a total of 369 airmen, 123 Allied, 34 Germans and 212 Italians.

Lascaris War Room in action.

Once the Siege of Malta was over, Operation Husky, the Invasion of Sicily was operated and controlled from the War Room next door. There will be a separate post on Operation Husky.

Air Force Memorial

The Malta Memorial is a war monument to the 2,298 Commonwealth aircrew who lost their lives in various Second World War engagements around the Mediterranean while serving with Commonwealth Forces in Austria, Italy, Sicily, Malta, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, West Africa, Yugoslavia and Gibraltar, and who have no known grave. The memorial was dedicated by Queen Elizabeth II on 03 May 1954.

The monument is topped by a gilded golden eagle atop a 15 m column. The names are inscribed on brass panels around the base of the memorial.

At the base of the column itself, a bronze panel bears the following inscription:

OVER THESE AND NEIGHBOURING LANDS AND SEAS THE AIRMEN WHOSE NAMES ARE RECORDED HERE FELL IN RAID OR SORTIE AND HAVE NO KNOWN GRAVE MALTA GIBRALTAR MEDITERRANEAN ADRIATIC TUNISIA SICILY ITALY YUGOSLAVIA AUSTRIA PROPOSITI INSULA TENAX TENACES VIROS COMMEMORAT*

There are 285 RCAF members commemorated on the Memorial. Another 52 Canadians are buried in the Malta (Capuccini) Naval Cemetery.

The plaques for missing RCAF members are shown.

Apparently I missed 1941. The names are listed below.

Surname	First Name	Rank
TOSHACK	ROBERT HOLLIS	Flight Sergeant
LOWE	GORDON ALBERT	Flight Sergeant
NEWSOME	CHESTER DOUGLAS	Flight Sergeant
CHABOT	MARC ROGER	Flight Sergeant
BLANCHARD	MERTON CAMPBELL	Pilot Officer
JAMIESON	JAMES EDWARD	Sergeant
LASSNER	ARTHUR JOSEPH	Sergeant
SHERIDAN	JAMES CHRISTOPHER	Sergeant
HENDERSON	JAMES IRWIN	Sergeant
MACAULAY	HAROLD	Sergeant

Malta Then And Now

I was hoping someone had done a then and now photo essay of Malta as I really like them but am not keen eyed enough to do a decent job. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find one so here is my take.

All of Malta was relentlessly bombed during the Second World War and over 70 percent of the buildings in Malta were damaged or destroyed. Entire blocks of the city, including historic structures and residential areas, were reduced to rubble.

The prewar view of the Opera House.

Many of the Knight’s palaces were damaged or destroyed, and the famous opera house was left in ruins. Damage at the Opera House.

The site now contains outdoor seating, and the Opera House was not rebuilt to act as a reminder of the destruction. A few of the columns remain.

Admiralty House was originally built as a private home for one of the Knights in 1579 and later served as the official residence of the British Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet. The building was heavily damaged during the war.

The building was restored and for a time hosted the museum of Fine Arts. It is now being converted to a Government Office.

A street in the heavily bombed Senglea (one of the Three Cities on the Grand Harbour) after the raids.

A typical (but not the same) street in Senglea today, you would never know that complete destruction had occurred in the three cities.

The dock yards near fort St Angelo.

The same port now home to Malta’s massive recreational vessel fleets. Malta has the largest number of ships registered under her flag in the EU.

Bomb damage on Fort St Angelo.

This is the reverse view of Fort St Angelo from Valletta. Damage is still visible on the fort. I said I wasn’t good at this, and it doesn’t help I didn’t look at all the damage photos before taking my pictures.

Massive Destruction on a Valletta Street.

Not the same location at all, just a great shot of a building with the typical Maltese balconies. The balcony was a tradition started by the Ottomans because the women were not allowed outside unescorted, and the balcony allowed them to see who was on the street without being seen.

This building was opposite the old Opera house, so no doubt was heavily damaged in the war. I looked for signs of war damage but could see very few instances. Fortunately, limestone is one of the few natural resources on Malta, so the beautiful buildings from the time of the Knights were rebuilt using the same limestone and attention to detail.

Damage to the Malta War HQ and Operation Centre, but the Centre kept on working.

Again, not quite, as this shows the alternate entrance into the Lascaris War Rooms.

One last shot, I have no idea where this is but is representative of the damage to the island and the massive rebuilding effort required.

Immediately following the end of hostilities, Malta was faced with several new challenges, the most obvious of which was the need for urgent reconstruction, following the devastation caused by aerial bombardment. The British Government allocated £30 million for this purpose, and work started in earnest, but recovery would be a slow progress.

Another challenge that Malta faced was the danger of mass unemployment, resulting from the release from service of thousands of men. The rehabilitation of ex-servicemen, especially conscripts, was no easy task for both the government and the individuals themselves. Some of them had been specially released from service for reconstruction work and other essential industries, while the Department of Labour and Social Welfare set up a demobilisation centre, to advise and help every man return to civilian life and a new job. Training centres were set up, covering 23 different skilled trades. Notwithstanding this, the lack of job opportunities, coupled with the sudden growth in population, resulted in mass migration in the years immediately following the end of the war, particularly to Australia, Britain, Canada and the USA.

Malta was the most heavily bombed country in the Second World War and the citizens and military members suffered in appalling conditions. This blog is longer than most because I was fascinated with the Malta story, and every time I started to write went down a rabbit hole of more details. Malta was a fascinating place, and we could have easily spent several more weeks there and not see all of its treasures.