Former Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British Conservative politician and statesman best known for his leadership during World War II, died 47 years ago today, aged 90.
Regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders ever, he was the man credited with stopping Nazi advancement in Europe.
The short, stout Briton, the scion of one of England’s most important families, was already famous when he entered politics.
Churchill’s strongest weapons were his words. He gave magnificent speeches, and even the Nazis were impressed by his eloquence.
“In his crudeness, he does command a certain amount of respect,” Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Paul Joseph Goebbels wrote.
In June of 1940, he uttered the following famous words in the House of Commons:
“We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender.”
But what was his relationship with Malta? He once wrote:
“Malta is a little island with a great history. The record of the Maltese people throughout that long history is a record of constancy and fortitude.
“It is with those qualities, matchlessly displayed, that they are now con-fronting the dark power of the Axis.”
This was his foreword to The Epic of Malta, in 1942.
It was a remarkable collection of war photos of the island that was published in England to raise cash for the Malta Relief Fund.
Churchill’s minitues to Chiefs of Staff in 1942 read: “The fate of the island is at stake, and if the effort to relieve it is worth making, it is worth making on a great scale... the Navy will never abandon Malta”.
Churchill had a special affinity with Malta. In fact, he visited the island on six separate occasions spanning a 40-year period which included two world wars.
Due to these visits, he came to understand and appreciate Malta and the aspirations of its people more.
In 1907, he sought to create a greater awareness of what the country stood for and what Malta wished to achieve for itself as an independent state.
Many years later, as Prime Minister, the bond grew ever stronger as he sought to supply and defend the island against the overwhelming Axis forces.
It was on October 2, 1907 that he set foot on Malta for the first time.
He was on his way to a private hunting expedition in East Africa, which became the subject of his book, My African Journey.
But his visit to Malta was undertaken in his capacity as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies of Great Britain.
He was immediately impressed by the natural charm the islands possess.
He wrote: “You should see the hot stones of Malta, baking and glistening on a steel-blue Mediterranean.”
Churchill’s second coming to Malta was different from the first. In 1907, he disembarked late at night from the Syracuse ferry, but five years later, he sailed into the Grand Harbour early in the morning on May 29, 1912 as First Lord of the Admiralty.
He arrived standing on the bridge of the 3,500-ton Admiralty yacht, HMS Eschantress, with his wife Clementine, Britain’s Prime Minister, Herbert Asquith and his daughter Violet.
He described his entry into the Grand Harbour as a most wonderful exper-ience in the most wonderful harbour.
“We sailed into the most wonderful harbour I could have imagined or dreamt of, harbour of harbours,” he said.
On his third visit in May 1913, Churchill found a different mood with different surroundings.
This was his last Mediterranean cruise before World War I broke out.
He immediately noticed a significant difference since his prior visit. Moored in the Grand Harbour were four powerful dreadnought battle-cruisers each mounted with 12-inch guns.
At that time, Churchill was striving to meet the demands of the Cabinet that the security of the island and the Mediterranean required a modern force of capital ships based in Malta.
He was reassured to see the new battle-cruisers in the Grand Harbour and they were often reinforced by visiting battleships from England.
Within 15 months of his third visit in Malta, Britain was at war.
On January 8, 1927 Churchill at the age of 52, set foot again in Malta and on this occasion he was Chancellor of the Exchequer. It was for personal reasons rather than affairs of state that brought him to Malta for the fourth time.
He was having a rough time when there were widespread strikes by unions in England. His efforts to find a negotiable settlement with the unions failed and he felt the need of a winter holiday in warmer climates. The Mediterranean beckoned and Malta seemed the obvious destination since a couple of old friends also lived on the island.
The opportunity Churchill had long sought to re-visit Malta came in November 17, 1943.
He was on his way to Teheran for a conference with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt and their Soviet Union counterpart, Joseph Stalin.
The Teheran Conference was the first of the World War II conferences held between all of the “Big Three” Allies leaders.
But on entering the Grand Harbour Churchill had a feverish cold and was compelled to spend much of the three days he stayed on the island, in bed.
On his last day in Malta, he felt well enough to visit the dockyard where extensive war damage was still all too evident. As he walked into the docks he received a vociferous welcome.
The people were quite thrilled to see him, he was completely mobbed. Many of the Maltese police forgot that they were supposed to be there to protect him and simply joined the crowd’s frenzy.
The reception he received in Malta had an uplifting effect on Churchill when he thanked the then Governor, Lord Gort for his hospitality writing: “I shall always have the pleasant memories of my visit to Malta and in particular the moving welcome I received from the brave people of the island”.
Churchill’s sixth visit to Malta came on January 29, 1945. He spent several days on the island with Roosevelt and their advisers to consider in detail their approach to their next meeting with Stalin.
As with the first conference between the Allies leaders, Churchill again chose Malta ahead of an important conference.
The second of three war-time conferences was called The Yalta Conference.
The meeting was intended mainly to discuss the re-establishment of the nations of war-torn Europe.
In persuading Roosevelt to join him in Malta he wrote to him: “No more let us falter! From Malta to Yalta! Let nobody alter!”