Luftwaffe attacks on Malta 80 years ago saw the destruction of the Royal Opera House, heavy bombing on Luqa, many casualties and the miracle of the Mosta Rotunda

During April 1942, Malta experienced the worst attacks ever carried out by the Luftwaffe on the islands. This assault, which became known as the April Blitz 1942, was part of Albert Kesselring’s plan to neutralise Malta’s ability to interfere in the central Mediterranean against Axis convoys to North Africa.

During this month, the Luftwaffe caused widespread destruction in Malta.

Meanwhile, the field marshal visited Cyrenaica, Libya, in early April 1942 and afterwards reported to Hitler and Mussolini. On April 11 and 12, Kesselring submitted a report to Il Duce and General Ugo Cavallero on the success obtained until then by the air attacks on Malta.

According to this report, the heavy air attacks had eliminated Malta as a naval base. The shipyards and dock installations had been so badly damaged that there could be no question of using Malta as a base for a very long time; the last surface forces had left Malta and the British submarine base had been transferred to Alexandria. The airfields and their equipment had suffered heavy damage but it could not be expected that Malta could be completely disposed of as an air base. The attack would continue until April 20 by continuous harassing raids to prevent the enemy from repairing the damage.

Much of the interior structure of the opera house remained after the bombing.

Kesselring also reported that Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was planning to attack in June, with the aim of destroying the British forces and capturing Tobruk. This could be achieved with the additional replenishments, which would be able to reach him while Malta was virtually crippled.

The 2,000th alert since June 11, 1940, was sounded on April 6, 1942, at 3.45pm as enemy aircraft approached the island. However, they did not cross the coast until 5.35pm, when bombs were dropped in various areas of Valletta, Tarxien, with tragic consequences, Floriana, Marsa, Cospicua, Senglea, Ħamrun, Msida, Sliema and Comino.

There had been 1,000 alerts since December 2, 1941, when the Luftwaffe started to return to Sicily, and there was only one consecutive day and night when no alert was raised since December 4. In all, Malta was on alert for 1,115 hours and the civilian casualties totalled 932.

On April 7, Easter Sunday, the Luftwaffe carried out 10 air raids on Malta, with an attack resulting in the destruction of one of Malta’s architectural jewels. During the fifth air raid alert of the day, Air Raid No. 2013, which lasted from 5.55pm to 7.18pm, an aerial bomb hit the Royal Opera House, partially demolishing it, with debris blocking the railway tunnel shelter close by. The entrance to this shelter from near the statue of Christ the King, outside Kingsgate had collapsed.

The Auberge de France in South Street was destroyed and the Francia Buildings were extensively damaged. Bombs also hit the museum at the Auberge d’Italie, the market in Merchants Street, the Palace and various shops and residences in Old Bakery Street. Buildings were demolished in St Paul’s Street, where several persons were believed to have been trapped inside a shelter, and in St Ursula Street. Bombs fell in the Main Ditch.

In all, Malta was on alert for 1,115 hours and the civilian casualties totalled 932

The police fire engine had to intervene to put out fires in the Royal Opera House and the Auberge de France.

Initial incursions on April 9 were only small and not until after midday did a large raid approach the coast, the airfields being the target on this occasion for 40 plus Ju88s, 16 Ju87s and almost 40 Bf109s. However, just before 1pm, 20 Junkers Ju88 and 16 Junkers Ju87 Stukas, escorted by some 40 Messerschmitt Bf109 Fs, crossed the coast and made for Luqa airfield.

What was left of the premises no. 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 in Pope Innocent Street and the back part of premises No. 87, 88, 89, 90 in Britannia Street, Luqa. Note one of the apertures of the shelter.

The blitzed Luqa parish church and the huge amount of debris that remained of the nearby houses.

A woman wearing the Maltese traditional dress għonnella is seen in Luqa with the badly damaged church in the background.

Nine of the Stukas detached from the formation and bombed the village of Luqa. A large part of the parish church of St Andrew collapsed, side chapels were shattered and the walls cracked. A wide area around the church, virtually the centre of the village, was devastated, with heavy casualties. Twenty-three out of the 32 persons inside a shelter in Pope Innocent III Street died, many of them children. Other public and private shelters were buried under the rubble and those inside had to grope in the darkness to get out when the blast blew out the oil lamps and the candles.

After this devastation and on the same day, over 60 Junkers Ju88s and a dozen Junkers Ju87 Stukas resumed the attacks at 4.30pm on Ta’ Qali airfield. With the bombers were two Jabo Messerschmitt Bf109 Fs of 10/JG53, each carrying a number of small SD50 bombs. One of the Junkers Ju88s from 3/KuFlGr606 and one of the fighter bombers were to create the legend of the miracle of the Mosta Rotunda.

At the height of the attack at 4.40pm, an SC500 bomb went through the dome and bounced on the floor below without exploding and missing the worshippers attending the hour of adoration in the chapel of the Holy Eucharist.

The bomb penetrated the roof of the Mosta Rotunda without exploding. Here one can see the hole left by the bomb.

Other smaller calibre bombs fell at the front and at the side of the church, one of these close to the altar of St Philomena, without exploding. Another unexploded bomb fell in the nearby garden of the residence of the sacristan, Carmelo Dimech.

It is interesting to note that a Luftwaffe pilot, Felix Sauer, visited the Mosta Rotunda later. In 1988 and 1990, he was interviewed by two local newspapers  and recalled that he and a fellow pilot, Franz Scheffl, both flying Messerschmitt Bf109 Fs, flew to Malta on April 9 and, while flying over Mosta, saw his partner drop his bomb, then he saw what he described as a jet of flame and dust coming from the dome.

He said that Scheffl failed to return to Sicily.

After the bomb that hit the Mosta dome and others were neutralised, they were dumped. The bomb that is inside the church is not the actual one that fell without exploding. Photo: Charles Debono

However, in April 1994, Anthony Camilleri was able to trace Scheffl, who wrote to Camilleri that, on April 9, he was involved in an air battle over Malta with two Spitfires but was able to reach Comiso. Therefore, Sauer’s testimony was wrong.

The aerial bomb recovered from the Mosta dome was actually larger than those normally carried by the Messerschmitt Bf109 Fs. An SC500 bomb was carried by bombers such as the Junkers Ju88 while smaller ones, like the SD50 bombs, were carried by the Messerschmitt Bf109 Fs.

Charles Debono is the curator of the National War Museum.