Field Marshal Albert Kesselring planned a full invasion of Malta using parachute troops and beach landings.

A full-blown invasion of Malta by the Nazis in the early stages of World War II was put on hold because of an “unsuccessful campaign” in North Africa, according to a declassified war document.

The 1945 US military intelligence file gives a detailed account of the planned invasion of Malta as recounted by the head of the Nazi forces in Sicily, Field Marshall Albert Kesselring.

In what the US interrogators describe as a “willing but bitter” account of events, the Nazi general explained how an Italian parachute rifle division was being prepared to be dropped into Malta.

Meanwhile, German paratroopers were being given instructions on how to conduct a second assault to take final control of the island.

The aerial invasion, meant to be held “sometime between the middle and end of summer 1942”, was expected to overwhelm the Allied defences in just a few days and would have followed a similar successful invasion of Crete the previous year.

Nazi infantry would land at Marsaxlokk bay while paratroopers were dropped

The German paratroopers, known as Fallschirmjäger, were to be supported by “heavy bombing” of the island’s main defences as Nazi infantry landed on beaches using amphibious craft.

Code-named Operation Her­kules, the invasion would have seen Nazi troops land at Marsaxlokk while a decoy offensive kept Allied forces busy in St Paul’s Bay and Mellieħa bay.

The declassified 1945 war document was made public on the CIA website.

The first proposal to take the island was “put on hold” for Operation Tobruk, a bloody 241-day siege of North Africa. The infamous Luftwaffe commander said that, although the assault on North Africa was meant to precede the Malta attack, “it had such a rapid and smashing effect that General Rommel [head of the Nazi forces in North Africa] requested and received, against my objection, permission for the continuation of the North African campaign”.

A second attempt at gaining permission to raid the island the next year was put on hold to accommodate the African campaign.

“In view of necessary replacements and weather conditions, a new operation in Malta was out of the question before spring 1943. By that time, the forces meant for Malta were in part used up [euphemism for killed] and in part tied down by this unsuccessful offensive,” Gen. Kesselring said.

Historian Henry Frendo said such a wide-ranging assault on the island would have sustained heavy Nazi casualties but could have been successful.

“The island was fitted out with anti-aircraft guns that would have torn parachutes to shreds. However, that said, the Nazi’s could have taken the island,” he said.

An expert in Malta’s WWII history, Prof. Frendo said the main question surrounding the planned invasion was why this was not carried out sooner.

“What I can’t understand is why an invasion wasn’t carried out at the beginning of the war, when the Allies were busy defending their own shores during the battle of Britain,” he said adding that such an invasion would have taken Malta in less than two days.

Prof. Frendo said the declassified war document gave an indication of the level of Italian military disorganisation at the time.

In fact, the document says that at the beginning of the war, the Nazis had left the Mediterranean to the Italians before feeling the need to intervene.

“There was a lot of disorganisation between the Italian navy, army and air force and the German forces.

“I suspect this is the main reason why a successful offensive was never carried out on Malta in the beginning of the war,” he said.

Ultimately, General Kesselring described this inability to take Malta as “the leading factor for the loss of the Italian colonies”.