Eighty years ago, Malta was awarded the George Cross for heroism as its people were forced underground under the fierce bombardment of its Fascist and Nazi enemies. LORD ASHCROFT pays tribute.

At the age of 90, Laurence Mizzi still has a cheerful demeanour and a spring in his step after a distinguished career as a teacher and, later, a broadcaster.

However, the grey-haired great-grandfather also has painful boyhood memories of when Malta became the most bombed place on earth.

Eighty years later, he easily recalls how for day after day hundreds of enemy bombs fell close to his family home. Yet, the traumatic events of World War II caused even greater hardships for him because the besieged island had so little food and other key supplies.

Mizzi, who was aged 10 at the height of the bombings, told me: “As a boy, I suffered more from hunger than from bombs. I remember feeling hungry a lot of the time because there was so little to eat. Sometimes, I used to cry from hunger and I didn’t want to go to school because my stomach ached so much.”

Mizzi compared the plight of the Maltese in 1942 with the world’s current crisis point. “What is happening in Ukraine reminds me of what happened to us,” he said. “We suffered but, fortunately, we survived because I cannot imagine what life would have been like if we had been occupied by the Germans.”

During the war, Mizzi, the second eldest of six children, along with his parents and siblings, lived close to the docks in Grand Harbour, which became the main target for the enemy’s bombing campaign. Today,  Mizzi, who has lived on the island all his life, is long retired after finishing his career in broadcasting. He is married with two children, two grandchildren and a great grandchild.

It was for the bravery of people like the Mizzi family that Malta became the recipient of the first collective George Cross (GC), Britain and the Commonwealth’s most prestigious medal awarded for gallantry not in the presence of the enemy.

The GC is usually awarded to individuals, both civilians and those in the armed forces, particularly bomb disposal experts. In the case of Malta, however, there was a very noticeable enemy in the form of Italian and German military aggression from 1940 to 1942.

April 15 marked the 80th anniversary of the award of the GC to Malta in 1942, as the nation commemorates the occasion by remembering those who gave their lives so the island would not fall under the yoke of Fascists and Nazis.

Struggle for survival

World War II, which had broken out in September 1939, was almost a year old when Malta’s struggle for survival began in the late spring of 1940.

On June 10 of that year, Italy entered the war on Germany’s side. The fall of Paris four days later and the collapse of French resistance later that month added to Malta’s woes.

As early as June 11, eight Italian aircraft took part in raids on Malta and, soon, the bombings intensified. At the time, the island had a civilian population of just over 250,000 and a garrison of around 18,000 troops.

But why was it deemed so important to the Allied and Axis powers alike?

Although small in size, the-then British fortress island of Malta had huge strategic importance as a route to North Africa and the Middle East. Its splendid natural harbour provided a safe haven for ships and ship repairs.

Malta also provided a valuable springboard for Allied forces, notably by sea and air, seeking to attack the enemy forces of Germany and Italy. However, Britain, which was fighting the war on other fronts, struggled to release the resources needed to protect the island.

By the New Year of 1941, the attacks on Malta involved the German Luftwaffe too. On January 16, 1941, more than 70 enemy aircraft bombed the island, destroying 200 homes and damaging 500 more. Soon, more than 100 enemy aircraft were involved in a single raid.

More than 80 years on, Mizzi was able to recall January 16, 1941 and the impact it had on the island: “The explosions were strong and lengthy. As time passed, they continued to increase. We had never experienced such an intense attack. It was, in fact, the first attack by the Luftwaffe which had set up a base in Sicily.

“When the air raid was sounded, some passers-by sought refuge in the church of St Laurence since there were not shelters everywhere. When the explosions increased, my grandfather left the place and went to shelters which served as temporary houses for a number of the families who did not want to be far away from their homes.

“My grandfather’s decision saved his life; after he walked for a while, the crypt of St Laurence was hit by bombs and totally demolished, no one survived. I remember that I burst into tears while listening to the story of destruction and death.” In fact, more than 30 men, women and children died under the rubble.

After the fall of Crete in June 1941, Malta found itself more than 1,000 miles from its nearest help. Then, early in 1942, Hitler decided it was time to end Malta’s resistance once and for all, using the Luftwaffe even more extensively to try to bomb the island into submission.

By this point, attempts by the British to reinforce the island with significant supplies had failed, leaving the Maltese inhabitants and the garrison close to starvation and with ammunition and fuel supplies badly depleted.

With Malta heavily dependent on imported food, ration cards were issued to everybody for basic supplies such as lard, margarine, oil, tea, coffee, corned beef and tinned sardines. There was a thriving black market for basic supplies, especially kerosene.

The health of the Maltese population deteriorated too: scabies was endemic, as were diseases such as typhoid and tuberculosis. Yet, Malta’s determination not to surrender never flinched.

‘To honour her brave people’

As the crisis worsened, and more people were forced to live underground or in makeshift shelters for safety, King George VI bestowed the GC on the island, a collective award of the medal which had only been instituted nearly two years earlier.

Addressed to the island’s Governor Sir William Dobbie, a letter from the king read: “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 governor’s reply to the king was full of loyalty towards the crown and defiance towards the enemy: “The people and garrison of Malta are deeply touched by Your Majesty’s kind thoughts for them in conferring on the fortress this signal honour. It has greatly encouraged everyone and all are determined that, by God’s help, Malta will not weaken but will endure until victory is won. All in Malta desire to express, once again, their devotion to Your Majesty and their resolve to prove worthy of the high honour conferred.”

There was no doubt that Dobbie’s respect for the Maltese people was immense. Joseph Attard, a historian who served in the RAF during the war, summed this up perfectly when he wrote in his book, The Battle of Malta, that the fate of Malta’s population was “daily in his [Dobbie’s] thoughts and prayers”.

He added: “There was a time in the beginning when he was haunted by the possible reaction to the severe bombing but the Maltese had risen higher than his expectations and stuck to it admirably. There had also been the fear of invasion and the first shortages in food which had also been somehow surmounted.

“He had nothing but admiration for them. Their simple gestures whenever he talked to them after some raid, like kissing or wetting his hands with their tears or even patting him on the back, left him moved beyond description.”

By the summer of 1942, nearly three years into World War II, the result of the greatest conflict the world has ever seen hung in the balance.

Winston Churchill, the British prime minister, then ordered ‘Operation Pedestal’, effectively a huge convoy of ships, to save Malta at all costs. The result was one of the bloodiest sea battles of the entire war which, eventually, saw five of the 13 British merchant ships reach Valletta.

The US tanker loaned to Britain, Ohio, which had been severely damaged by enemy bombs, also limped into Grand Harbour as islanders lined the quayside to welcome the survivors of the convoy. The ship was able to unload its much-needed oil and kerosene before it broke in two.

Malta was resupplied and the island survived to fight on. The GC, awarded five months earlier, was officially presented to Malta on September 13, 1942, and it toured the island soon afterwards for the local population to admire and enjoy.

By November, the “Siege of Malta” was over after more than 3,000 bombing raids during which some 17,000 tons of bombs had been dropped on the island.

To put the bombing into perspective, Malta received roughly three times as many bombs per square mile as London during the Blitz. The Grand Harbour area suffered worst, leaving vast areas of buildings as rubble.

Some 7,000 military personnel and civilians gave their lives during the Siege of Malta and connected fighting and it was an event which changed the course of World War II.

Comparisons to Ukraine

It is unsurprising that many islanders are comparing their suffering 80 years ago to that of Ukrainians today. Both nations suffered relentless attacks from a far superior military power and their only means of “victory” was to survive and not surrender. Whereas Ukraine has the might of Russia to contend with, Malta faced the combined strength of two of the then strongest military powers in Europe: Germany and Italy.

Soon, however, midway through the war, the tide was turning and, in December 1942, air and sea forces operating from Malta switched to the offensive. By May 1943, they had sunk 230 Axis ships in 164 days, the highest Allied sinking rate of the war. By May 8, 1945, the war in Europe was over after the surrender of Germany.

During my recent visit to Malta, I met Charles Debono, the curator of the National War Museum and the author of the book Malta During World War II. He even allowed me to become one of the privileged few who has handled the island’s much-treasured GC and to study a precise replica of the famous letter from George VI awarding the GC to the island in 1942.

While the rest of the island was rebuilt, the Royal Opera House at the entrance to Valletta was left derelict. It acts as a reminder of the island’s suffering and the sheer scale of the bombing.

During my visit, I saw the scenes of devastation at the Royal Opera House from eight decades ago when, all too often, searchlights, flares and tracer fire lit up the night skies.

Today, Malta, a strong, proud, vibrant nation which gained its independence from the UK in 1964, is one of three recipients of a “collective” George Cross.

The second such award was to the Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) in 1999 after more than 300 officers were killed in the line of duty during “the Troubles”. According to the citation, the decoration was “to recognise the collective courage and dedication to duty” of those who had served in the RUC.

The third collective award was to the National Health Service and its staff in July last year in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic – a move that I actively campaigned for. The citation stated: “Over more than seven decades, and especially in recent times, you have supported the people of our country with courage, compassion and dedication, demonstrating the highest standards of public service.”

I have long had a soft spot for Malta. My respect for the courage of the islanders 80 years ago is immense and Malta’s rich history is one of the main reasons that I am such a frequent visitor to the island.

The gritty resistance of the islanders, when they were war-weary, near starvation and, in many cases, sick, was incredible. Fortunately, partly due to their rare collective award of the GC, this courage will never be forgotten.

Before I left Malta, I wanted to visit one more location: the War Memorial in Valletta – the equivalent of the UK’s Cenotaph – which commemorates the island’s dead from two world wars.

I stood head bowed in front of the obelisk in the shape of a Latin cross made from limestone and then studied the four plaques on each side of the monument, one of which reproduces the letter sent by the king to the island on April 15, 1942.

It was a fitting way for me to pay my silent respects to the bravery of those who contributed to making Malta the world’s first and only “George Cross Island”.

Lord Ashcroft KCMG PC is a businessman, philanthropist, author and pollster. For information on his work, visit www.lordashcroft.com. Follow him on Twitter and/or Facebook @LordAshcroft. He is the author of George Cross Heroes: visit www.georgecrossheroes.com.