Part 8 of our fascinating story of Vicky Rylance’s childhood experiences in Malta during WWII.
The raids on the Grand Harbour by the enemy in an effort to finish off the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, continued almost continuously, hitting the ship, Valletta and the Three Cities, leaving behind them utter destruction with not single building intact for miles. Despite this, the ‘Illustrious’ was saved. Maltese dockworkers by the thousands worked on the ship day and night till she was ready to sail again. After fourteen days she left the Harbour in the dead of night to arrive safely in Alexandra two days later. Winston Churchill said later in a broadcast that in their effort to beat the Harbour to pieces, the enemy had lost ninety airplanes.
This triumph sustained the population, and in July of the same year, another episode once more helped to lift their spirits. On the 26th of July 1941, the Italians decided to try and destroy a convoy of six supply ships, bringing desperately needed supplies to Malta. Just before dawn an Italian ‘Mother’ ship brought eighteen small motor launches, nicknames ‘pigs’, to a point nine miles north of the Island. These boats had a torpedo head as a bow and were virtually suicide boats. The mother ship launched them and turned back home, leaving them to steer towards Malta and to try to enter the virtually impregnable harbour. They were too small to be picked out by radar but an ‘eagle-eyed’ Maltese gunner stationed at Fort St Elmo heard their engines and spotted them. He raised the alarm and all hell was let loose.
They never reached their targets and were picked off one by one by the Coastal Gunners, with the last four finished off by airplanes. Three prisoners were taken, one of whom was a Maltese national. This young man had been studying in Italy when the war started and had decided to side with the enemy. In his distorted thinking, he saw his part in this raid as a courageous effort to save his homeland from the British enemy. He was seen as a traitor both by the British authorities and the Maltese population and was later tried and hanged.
In April 1942, King George VI awarded the George Cross to the Island of Malta with the following citation: “To honour her brave people I award the George Cross to the island fortress of Malta, to bear witness to a heroism that will long be famous in history”. The Russians sent their congratulations at the same time as did President Roosevelt of the United States. The British and American citations are to be seen engraved on the wall on each side of the main entrance of the old Governor’s Palace in Valletta, previously the Palace of the Grandmasters and now the official Residence of the President of Malta.
After the raids lifted, King George VI visited Malta to pay tribute to the people of the Island and the uniformed professionals, both Maltese and British, who together had defended the Island by land, sea and air. I remember this visit very well, it was incredibly exciting. My parents dressed us in our best clothes, and together with other relatives we all went to see the King when he toured Valletta and later when he passed through Birkirkara where we were then living. We walked all the way to Valletta together with thousands of people from all over the Island. People climbed on every vantage point on the ruined buildings for a better view and the excitement was palpable. When the police outriders arrived indicating that the King was approaching, great cheers and clapping broke out from the crowd. He was in an open car, in his naval uniform and I thought he looked very drawn and haggard. He was clearly moved by the terrible destruction all around and the obvious affection and warmth coming from the ragged population. The King’s visit was a great morale booster for the people of Malta and was a further bond between the Maltese nation and the British Crown.
To be continued . . . . . . .
Written by Vicky Rylance, Hon. Secretary Mellieha Group
