Two special curator tours of the Lascaris War Rooms will take place in Valletta on Sunday at 10:30am and 11:30am to mark the 80th anniversary of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily during World War II. 

It was from there that the first large-scale thrust into Italy was directed, led by US General and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force in Europe, Dwight Eisenhower. 

The event is being organised by heritage NGO Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna (FWA).

According to FWA chairman and CEO Mario Farrugia, the Lascaris War Rooms’ relationship to the invasion had previously been underestimated.  

“We originally assumed that they were built specifically to defend Malta during the war,” he said.  

“Although they were briefly used for that reason after being opened in May 1943, we discovered with further research that the very reason they were constructed was for Operation Husky,” he explained.  

Built 150 feet under Valletta’s Upper Barrakka Gardens at the back of the Lascaris Battery, the war rooms are a network of underground tunnels and chambers used to host Allied command operations during the Second World War.  

After the war, the rooms became the headquarters for Britain’s Mediterranean Fleet before being taken over by NATO in 1967. They closed a decade later.  

After being reopened as a visitor attraction by the government in 1986 and later briefly by the public sector, the war rooms remained sealed until the beginning of restoration work in 2009.  

A room used to direct aircraft in Operation Husky. Photo: FAW.

Allied nerve centre and legacy 

While Malta’s naval significance has been prized throughout the centuries, its proximity to Sicily and value as a communications hub made it ideal for directing the invasion, Farrugia said.  

“All the international cables were passing through Malta, so for communications purposes it was ideal,” he said, adding that the island’s short flying time to Sicily also proved important for supporting aircraft, who were stationed in the country in significant numbers.  

“On the day of the invasion, Malta was jam-packed with aircraft... about 600 on the island. They had to rebuild the airfields [following Axis bombing raids] in Ta’ Qali, Luqa, Qrendi and Ħal Far, as well as constructing an airstrip in Ħal Safi,” Farrugia said.  

“In fact, the present-day airport is located on part of that site,” he noted.  

Describing the preparations for the invasion as “probably the largest infrastructure project in Malta’s history,” Farrugia explained how water access was improved and docks and airfields across the country were repaired and extended. 

Is any of that infrastructure still in use today?  

“Yes, the water storage facilities, for example,” Farrugia said.   

“In the months before the invasion, the Royal Engineers had brought specialists to drill deep galleries to be able to pump even more water. In fact, they managed to triple the supply of water and we still use those systems to this day.” 

Many roads, initially built to link munitions dumps and troop camps also remain in use, he said. 

Operation and historical significance 

Planned at the Casablance Conference some six months earlier in meetings between British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, the operation was seen as vital to retaking Europe from Nazi control.

Described by Churchill as the “soft underbelly of Europe,” Italy was seen as a weak point in Axis defences and an important step in the liberation of the continent.  

An aerial view of the invasion armada. Photo: FWA.

Operation Husky took place just over two months after the Allies’ ejection of Axis forces from North Africa and was preceded by successful assaults on the Italian-controlled Mediterranean islands of Pantelleria, Lampedusa and Linosa. 

The Allied operation involved some 450,000 troops, 14,000 vehicles and 600 tanks, outnumbering their Axis opponents almost two to one.  

Comprising over 2,500 ships and landing craft, the invasion of Sicily was the largest seaborne armada ever assembled until the D-Day landings in June the following year and remains one of the largest in history. 

Operation Husky would prove to be a vital campaign of the war, securing the Mediterranean for Allied shipping and directly leading to the downfall of Italy’s facist leader Benito Mussolini a month later. 

In September, FWA will officially open the Operation Husky Museum Exhibition in an occasion marking 80 years since the historic second signing of the Italian Armistice onboard HMS Nelson in the Grand Harbour.   

A special preview of this exhibition will take place on Sunday, with the main opening due to take place on September 11.

To learn more about the war rooms, visit www.lascariswarrooms.com.