Images of Malta during World War II generally show devastation, penury, famine, tragedy.

And rightly so. There was little else to record, let alone to celebrate.

Part of the anti-aircraft defence during the Malta siege

Some Monday pictorials have attempted to underscore that obvious facet of the Malta scene.

Today, I will look for the other side of the coin – the Malta that refused, stoically against all odds, to be resigned to downfall, that believed in survival. My collections failed to be very helpful.

Postcard of a German Messerschmitt 109 downed over Malta in 1942.

A postcard recording over 2,000 German and Italian planes shot down over Malta in 1940-43.

A recent spread featured Nazi and Fascist propaganda in the struggle against Malta.

Wartime postcard of the George Cross and King George VI’s handwritten award

A card with a lady advertising Victory Kitchens. Was it the iconic Christina Ratcliffe?

Patriotic WWII Malta postcard

To a certain extent, today’s images are the Malta counterweight to that psychological warfare – efforts to boost the morale of the defenders, to defeat defeatism, to brighten the invisible speck of light at the end of the tunnel. I reject the term propaganda. Hoping against hope is the ultimate triumph of hope.

Manning a Bofors anti-aircraft gun in the countryside.

Consciously or otherwise, the Malta stance mirrored the Churchillian determination ‘We shall never surrender!’ Every resource geared itself to inspire a mirage of victory. Famine alchemised into Victory Kitchens, promoted by pretty ladies.

The British motto ‘Dig for Victory’ to urge people to grow their own food in home patches or gardens, called Victory Gardens, caught on in besieged Malta too, along with ration stamps and cards.

Postcard of a war agricultural fair urging the people to ‘Dig for Victory’.

Malta postcards issued during the siege specifically to enhance the war effort prove quite difficult to find.

A card showing Malta as the unsinkable aircraft carrier.

Those few cards that served this purpose generally follow the same ethos: show downed Nazi and Fascist planes, the George Cross, rejoicing for the safe arrival of the Santa Marija convoy that halted surrender, the unshakeable resolution to fight on, the plucky Bofors anti-aircraft defenders, and the spontaneous Victory demonstrations in Valletta and Sliema the moment the hostilities ended.

Queuing for food at a Victory Kitchen

Spontaneous celebrations at Kingsway, Valletta on the cessation of hostilities

All images from the author’s collection

Victory demonstrators passing through Kingsway, seen through the ruins of the law courts.