World War II in Malta

      by Emily Agius

      Primary 7F

      George Heriot's School

      Introduction

      Malta is in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. If you know where Italy is then you may know that an island called ‘Sicily’ is to the South of that. To the South of ‘Sicily’ is Malta. There are a few different land masses in the Maltese Isles. First, there is Malta which is the biggest and most popular. Gozo is second biggest. Comino is smaller and in Maltese its is called Kemmuna. There are also two smaller islands called ‘Kemmunett and Filfa. Malta is very small, only about 15 miles long. There are no mountains in Malta, only some steep hills and cliffs, all close to the sea.

      Malta was a British colony when the Second World War started.

      Anyway, I hope I have given you enough information for you to follow through my project on The Second World War in Malta.
       

      Malta and the enemy

      The map (not yet on this page) shows  the places where the enemy surrounded Malta. The enemy was in Italy and Sicily to the North, and then in North Africa to the South. The enemy had also conquered Greece, Cyprus and other islands to the East.

       

      The War in the Air

      Malta wasn’t at all prepared for the Second World War. She had no aircraft but Neville Chamberlain (the British prime–minister at the beginning of the war) said, “this is a time to show strength, not weakness.” Aircraft pilots were not trained or ready for battle.

      In January 1941, the Luftwaffe (the German air force) came to Malta from Sicily and then in November they started using Stukas (dive bombers).  In order to win the air battle, Malta needed Spitfires. Forty-seven had flown in on April 20th but they were monitored on radar and bombed as soon as they landed. In what became known as the “glorious 10th of May,” sixty-three German aircraft were damaged or destroyed.

      My grandpapa was in the Royal Malta Artillery (light anti-aircraft) in a mobile Bofors gun battery.

      Bombing in Malta

      During the Second World War, Malta was the most bombed place on earth. More than 14,000 bombs were dropped, destroying about 30,000 buildings but Malta still fought on. More than 1,500 civilians were killed in Malta during the Second World War, which I find astounding.

      The devout Maltese Catholics, were convinced Malta wouldn’t fall down. In 1942 a bomb fell right down through the roof of Mosta church. This was one of the biggest churches and there were hundreds of people in it. No one was killed and this was considered as a miracle. A replica bomb is now in the church.

      The next page shows my impression of what it was like for a German plane to through bombs on Maltese houses. Houses in Malta have got flat roofs  and do not usually have chimneys.

      German plane bombing houses


      The people in Malta

      The people in Malta went through so much. Like in Britain, people in Malta especially the capital Valletta and “the three cities” had to be evacuated. People had to be evacuated because of danger of the bombing.  Like the British their food was rationed. A lot of them starved. A few, even say that they would have preferred the bombing to the starving. It must have been an awful time for them.

       

      Interview with my Granny

      I asked my granny about the war in Malta because she is Maltese, and she said that she was 15 years old when the war started in 1939.
       
        “One night I was in the shelter,” she said. “A bomb fell over the shelter and my bedroom window fell over the bed. Our house was just damaged, but the house in front of us was badly hit. That night a husband and wife had just had a baby. They both died, and the baby was found dead in pieces. They had another four children who were in the shelter. It was very sad.”

        “The food was scarce and it was bought with ration cards and vouchers.  People used to exchange the vouchers, for example if one has vouchers for cigarettes and they are of no use to them, they would exchange them for food… or else get food on the black market”
         

      I asked my Granny a few more questions:
       
        1) Was there anything you missed that was hard to get in the Second World War?
        I didn’t miss much. Sugar was very rare for us. You could find it on the black market but it was extremely expensive.

        2) Did you ever see any German aeroplanes?
        Yes, a lot. In fact, I liked watching them flying past!

        3) Did you ever see any German or Italian prisoners of war?
         I have got a photo frame, which a German prisoner made although I have never actually seen a prisoner.

        4) Did you have any particular job to do during the Second World War?
        No, I was only 15 but I helped a lot around the house.

        5) When were you most scared?
        I can’t really answer that. I was scared many times.

        6) Did you celebrate Victory day?
        Yes, I did. It was a happy celebration.

        7) Did you ever see the George Cross?
        They took it round all the villages but I never saw it myself.
         

      Thank you, Granny!

      The Sea War

      The “Illustrious” was an aircraft carrier. The German dive–bombers tried to bomb it. Some were misses and some were direct hits. The Illustrious was very heavily attacked by German aeroplanes and was seriously damaged. It only just managed to get to Malta. Phew! On January 16th 1941 about one hundred dive–bombers came from Sicily, with the “Illustrious” as their target. Luckily though, they only hit the “Illustrious” once but they hit almost everything else in the neighbourhood, especially many houses.

      My grandfather’s family was very involved in this. He was serving with the anti–aircraft guns of the Royal Malta Artillery whose job it was to defend the ship from the enemy dive–bombers. His brother worked in the dockyard and was one of the people working very hard to repair the ship. His father (my great grandfather who was called Giuseppe Agius) was responsible for fuelling operations. The photo shows some of the war medals he got.

      G Agius - medals

      The ships like the Illustrious were tied next to the “three cities” such as  Vittoriosa (Birgu) where my grandfather, great grandfather and great great grandfather lived. The women and girls of the family had to be evacuated to the countryside because of the very heavy bombing. A photo shows how close to the sea the houses and churches were. Many ships were alongside and they were targets for the enemy planes.

      A lot of  sailors would have preferred a job in  a submarine because they could get away from the bombing and I can see why too. In July 1941, submarines had an important job to do, which was importing things to other places. Alone, the submarines had to take 160 gallons of fuel, 30 tons of stores and 6 tons of food and so with all the bombing about I imagine this would have been a very hard job!

      Around the middle of 1942, the situation at Malta was very bad.  The commanders of Malta thought they would have to surrender to the Germans unless they got more supplies. A big convoy of ships, escorted by destroyers and other warships left Gibraltar for Malta. It was officially called Operation Pedestal. They were heavily attacked by enemy aeroplanes and submarines. The enemy sank most of the supply ships in the convoy, but a few managed to get to the harbour in Malta with food, ammunition, fuel and other supplies. This was enough to save the island from defeat.

      Because the convoy reached harbour around the feast of Assumption (the feast of when Holy Mary went to heaven) the convoy became called “The Santa Maria Convoy.”  The people thought this was a miracle, and so do I!

      The George Cross

      On April 15th, 1942, King George V1 awarded Malta for bravery during the Second World War. King George wrote a letter saying:
       
          The Governor

          To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the Island Fortress of Malta to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history.


      The George Cross is made of silver and is shaped as a cross. In the centre is a circle with St George riding his horse to find the dragon. Round the circle the words For Gallantry are said. The back of the George Cross, engraved it says “To the Island of Malta, 15 April 1942”

      The George Cross was taken round all the towns and villages of Malta and so everyone got a chance to see it. I think this was a good thing and that all the Maltese people deserved it.

      Until this week Malta used to be the only place where they shared the George Cross. Because of everything happening in Ireland at the moment the police force have been given it for working so hard.


       

      How people remember WW2 now

      Obviously a great deal of people are still sad about the Second World War because it was an unhappy experience and can make you feel depressed. I found it hard to watch a video about the Second World War in Malta because of all the killing. I was even a bit worried about interviewing my Granny about this in case she broke into tears or something! She was alright though.
      In fact, the British armies say they were proud to have served in Malta during the Second World War, and I’m sure they were.
       

      Bibliography

      The following list is the places where I got my information to write about  the Second World War in Malta.
      1) Guns for Malta (a video)
      2) The Unconquered Isle of Malta (book) by Ian Hay
      3) Britannica (Encyclopaedia)
      4) Encarta ‘97’
      5) Malta’s George Cross and War Gallantry Awards (book) by A E Abela

       

       WWW links added later

      • An account by John Agius (not a known relative)