Siege of Malta (1940–1942): The George Cross Island Under Fire

The Siege of Malta was a campaign of bombing and blockade waged by Italy and Germany against the British-held island of Malta from June 1940 to November 1942. The island, only about 27 km long, lay across the Axis supply route to North Africa, and its survival under some of the heaviest bombing of the Second World War shaped the desert war. In April 1942 King George VI awarded the whole island the George Cross.

Background: an island in the way

Malta had been a British colony since the early nineteenth century and was the main base of the Royal Navy’s Mediterranean Fleet. Before the war, many British planners believed it could not be defended against air attack from Sicily, only about 100 km away, and the fleet moved its main base to Alexandria in Egypt.

When Italy declared war on 10 June 1940, Malta’s air defence was very weak. Yet its position was too valuable to abandon. Ships and aircraft based there could strike the convoys carrying troops, fuel and ammunition from Italy to Libya, where Italian and later German forces fought the British in the Western Desert.

The first phase, 1940–1941

Italian bombers attacked on 11 June 1940, the day after the declaration of war. In the first weeks the island was defended by a handful of Gloster Gladiator biplanes, joined by Hawker Hurricanes from August 1940. Italian raids caused damage but did not stop Malta’s growing offensive role.

In January 1941 the German air force arrived in Sicily. Its dive-bombers attacked the damaged carrier HMS Illustrious in Grand Harbour, wrecking much of the dockyard area around it, though the ship escaped to Alexandria. German attention then shifted to Greece, the Balkans and the Soviet Union, and pressure on Malta eased during much of 1941.

That pause allowed Malta’s strike forces to do serious damage. The submarines of the 10th Flotilla, including HMS Upholder under Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm Wanklyn, a winner of the Victoria Cross, and a cruiser group called Force K sank many Axis supply ships. By late 1941 the losses on the route to Libya were hurting the Axis armies badly.

The 1942 blitz

Germany responded by returning to Sicily in strength. Under Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the Luftwaffe launched a sustained assault from January 1942 aimed at neutralising the island. March and April 1942 were the worst months. The tonnage of bombs dropped on Malta in those weeks is often said to have exceeded what fell on London in the worst period of the Blitz, though exact comparisons vary between sources.

Valletta, the Three Cities around the dockyard and the airfields were heavily damaged. The Royal Opera House in Valletta was destroyed in April 1942. In one well-known incident on 9 April 1942, a bomb pierced the dome of the Rotunda of Mosta during a service and failed to explode.

People survived in shelters cut into Malta’s soft limestone, some of them old tunnels and some newly dug. Food, fuel and ammunition ran desperately short because convoys were being sunk or turned back. Rations were cut, communal “Victory Kitchens” fed much of the population, and the authorities calculated a “target date” after which the island would have to surrender for lack of supplies.

The George Cross and the turn of the tide

On 15 April 1942 King George VI awarded the George Cross to Malta, “to bear witness to a heroism and devotion that will long be famous in history”, in the words of his message to the governor. It was the first time the decoration had been given to a whole community.

Air reinforcement came from Spitfires flown off aircraft carriers, including the American carrier USS Wasp, in April and May 1942. The second large delivery, in early May, was organised so that the fighters could be refuelled and back in the air within minutes, and the German air offensive began to lose its edge. Lord Gort replaced Sir William Dobbie as governor in May, and Air Vice-Marshal Keith Park, a veteran of the Battle of Britain, took over the island’s air defence in July.

Meanwhile, the Axis had prepared an invasion plan, Operation Herkules. It was postponed in June 1942 when Rommel’s victories in Libya made a drive into Egypt seem the greater prize, and it was never revived.

Operation Pedestal

By the summer of 1942 Malta was close to starvation. A June convoy operation had largely failed. In August the British sent Operation Pedestal: 14 merchant ships escorted by battleships, aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers, sailing from Gibraltar.

From 11 to 15 August the convoy was attacked by submarines, aircraft and motor torpedo boats. The carrier HMS Eagle, two cruisers and a destroyer were sunk, and nine of the merchant ships were lost. Five reached Grand Harbour. The last was the American-built tanker Ohio, crewed by the British, which arrived on 15 August with her deck almost awash, held up by destroyers lashed to her sides. The date was the Catholic feast of the Assumption, and many Maltese still call Pedestal the Santa Marija convoy.

Consequences and the end of the siege

Pedestal’s fuel and food bought Malta time. Its submarines and aircraft resumed heavy attacks on Axis shipping in the autumn of 1942, contributing to the fuel shortages that hampered Rommel before and during the Second Battle of El Alamein.

After the Allied victory at El Alamein and the Operation Torch landings in November 1942, a convoy known as Operation Stoneage reached Malta on 20 November with little loss. That arrival is usually treated as the end of the siege. In 1943 Malta served as a base for the Allied invasion of Sicily, and the surrender of the Italian fleet took place off its shores in September 1943.

Myths and facts

Faith, Hope and Charity. A popular story holds that Malta was defended in 1940 by just three Gladiator biplanes with these names. In reality, several Gladiators taken from crates left by an aircraft carrier were assembled, and more than three flew at different times. The names appear to have been given afterwards, and Hurricanes began arriving in August 1940.

The island was never close to falling. In fact, by the summer of 1942 the authorities expected supplies of food and fuel to run out within weeks. The governor’s staff worked out how long the island could last, and without Pedestal a surrender was a real possibility.

Only the military suffered. Malta’s civilians bore much of the cost. Homes in the crowded harbour towns were destroyed, many families moved to villages in the countryside, and hunger and disease, including outbreaks of polio and tuberculosis, added to the toll of the bombing. The George Cross was explicitly awarded to the people of Malta, not only its garrison.

By the numbers

Timeline

• 1940, 11 June: First Italian air raids on Malta, the day after Italy enters the war.
• 1941, 10–16 January: German dive-bombers attack HMS Illustrious and Grand Harbour.
• 1942, January–April: Sustained German air offensive reaches its peak.
• 1942, 15 April: King George VI awards the George Cross to Malta.
• 1942, 9 May: A large delivery of Spitfires strengthens the island’s air defence.
• 1942, 11–15 August: Operation Pedestal; the tanker Ohio reaches Grand Harbour on 15 August.
• 1942, 20 November: The Stoneage convoy arrives, effectively ending the siege.

Why it matters

Malta’s survival kept a dagger pointed at the Axis supply line to Africa and helped decide the desert war. The siege also became one of the defining shared experiences of modern Maltese history: the George Cross on the national flag is a direct reminder of it.