Fortress Malta: An Island Under Siege 1940-1943 (CASSELL MILITARY PAPERBACKS) by James Holland

Author:James Holland [Holland, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780225975
Publisher: Orion
Published: 2013-01-31T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Death’s Door

APRIL 1942 – PART I

The March convoy proved to be the last operation to take place under ABC’s direction. The First Sea Lord had decided to give him a rest and send him to Washington as head of the Admiralty delegation there. He was not best pleased, reluctant to leave the fleet at a time when it was at its lowest ebb, and hardly thrilled by the prospect of a desk job. Despite these reservations, he had always made a point of not questioning appointments, and did not do so now. On 1 April he lowered his flag, but not before concurring with Vice-Admiral Leatham, Wilbraham Ford’s replacement at Malta, that all remaining surface vessels should leave the Island. It was a sad note on which to end his time in the Mediterranean. The victories – the opening salvoes in the summer of 1940, the Battle of Matapan, the successes of his submariners and Force K – must have seemed like distant memories. His appointment was kept secret until he had left, so as not to give the enemy forewarning – something he took as a great compliment – but he did write a message for the Maltese, faithfully published in the Times of Malta:

‘The record has been magnificent, and I heartily thank every officer and man who has taken part, not forgetting those who have had the less spectacular, but none the less exacting, task of maintaining and bringing back into action our ships and aircraft to the discomfiture of the enemy . . . The very extent of the success of the forces based on Malta has led to a ceaseless battering of the fortress, but one has only to think of the air effort the enemy is diverting to this purpose to realize that this is but another of the services that Malta is rendering to the Empire.’1

And so Malta had to face the beginning of April without one of her staunchest champions. By this time, the Island had suffered 117 days of continuous attacks, double anything suffered by London during the height of the Blitz. There had been 275 air raid alerts in March alone, an average of nearly ten a day. Governor Dobbie had broadcast to the people at the end of the month, admitting they had all been undergoing a ‘pretty stiff time’ – a considerable understatement. The loss of three merchant ships in harbour was, he said, ‘a grievous disappointment’, and, he added, ‘we could not watch the burning of one of the ships without the deepest emotion.’ He tried hard to look on the bright side, but there was nothing very encouraging to be said, except that Malta was at least playing a positive role in the Allies’ fight against Nazism: the Axis air armada assembled against them in Sicily was substantial – aircraft that could not be used elsewhere, such as Russia or Libya; and many enemy planes had already been destroyed by the Island’s gunners and fighter pilots.

But this was small comfort, and Dobbie could not hide the bleak outlook.

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