Seventy years ago, Malta was facing the most crucial period in its history. March, April and May 1942 were the worst months of World War II. During those three months the air raid siren sounded no fewer than 803 times, while over 6,700 tonnes of bombs were dropped on the island in April alone.
This information was later used as evidence against him- Laurence Mizzi
The food situation was getting worse. Plans for the invasion of the island by the German and Italian forces were still under way.
During the evening of May 17, two high-speed motorboats escorted by a torpedo boat left Porto Palo in Sicily for Malta. One of the boats, MTSM 218, made for St Thomas Bay near Marsaxlokk, while the other, MTSM 214, headed for the north west of the island.
The first carried an Italian, Giuseppe Guglielmo, and the second, Carmelo Borg Pisani, a Maltese national of strong pro-Italian sentiments who had been studying art in Rome when war broke out.
Guglielmo managed to set foot ashore without being detected but was later spotted by a Żejtun fisherman who handed him over to the military authorities. Borg Pisani was picked by a RAF rescue boat from a cave beneath Dingli Cliffs – a site he himself had chosen as he thought it was less guarded by the defenders and hence quite safe.
He was taken to Mtarfa military hospital, where he was immediately recognised by the doctor on duty, Captain (later) Colonel Tommy Warrington, who knew Borg Pisani personally as they both hailed from the same town, Senglea. After he was given some food and a hot drink, Borg Pisani revealed, quite voluntarily, the purpose of his mission. He told Dr Warrington, among many other things, that he had been hearing of the constant bombardment of the island.
“I thought of my family... my nerves couldn’t stand it... I thought of ways and means to get here, joined the Battaglione di Sbarco, then volunteered to do espionage work in Malta... Had about two-and-a-half months training for the job... Having been shown a map of Malta marked with gun positions and defence posts, it was decided I should land in a small bay near Irdum...
“Got to Malta about 2 a.m. ...searchlight opened up round Marsaxlokk... we slowed down... beam grazed our boat but we were not detected and we proceeded... I left in a rubber dinghy and had four haversacks... They contained 22 days’ ration, water, medicine, bread which never goes stale, concentrated fruit, transmitter and code written on celluloid group of letters, 12 grenades and an automatic revolver.”
When asked what special information he was asked to supply, Borg Pisani replied: “When the ‘ghost ship’ comes into harbour” (HMS Welshman which used to bring much needed supplies during the night and left harbour before dawn), “what are the military objectives in Gozo... the food situation and the morale of the troops and the population.”
He also stated when questioned by Dr Warrington that he was trusted in spite of being Maltese because he had proved he was loyal to Italy and “that I am willing to do anything to stop the constant bombings of the island by helping them take it.”
After obtaining further information, willingly given by Borg Pisani, Dr Warrington prepared a written statement which he immediately passed on to the Intelligence Department.
Soon after, the British Intelligence officer and Police Commissioner Jospeh Axisa went to Mtarfa and after further interrogations, took the prisoner first to a house in St Julian’s and then to another at Għar id-Dud, Sliema, where he was kept for over two months, until August 7 when he was transferred to the civil prisons in Paola.
During his detention Borg Pisani was questioned regularly and intensely by Intelligence officers Colonel Ede, Major Morris, Captain Churchill and Captain Cooper as well as by Police Commissioner Axisa. The prisoner more than co-operated with his interrogators and provided a great deal of information, more so as Col Ede, the chief Intelligence Officer had told him that “it would be in his interest if he co-operated and told the truth”. This information was later used as evidence against him...
Borg Pisani’s trial was held behind closed doors at the Lija primary school where the courts had moved from the Archbishop’s Seminary in Floriana after it was hit during an air raid. (It had been transferred there when the Valletta courts were destroyed by enemy action.)
As the jury system had been suspended during the war the accused appeared before three judges: Sir George Borg, president of the Court of Appeal, Prof. Edgar Ganado and Dr William Harding. Defence counsel was Dr Alberto Magri, who was assisted by Dr Paul Borg Grech. The first sitting was held on November 12, 1942.
Borg Pisani was accused with having taken part in a conspiracy against the King and the Government. This was based on the fact the Borg Pisani was a member of the Comitato d’Azione Maltese, which had been formed on June 7, 1940, with the aim of seeing Malta annexed to Italy.
He was also charged with enlisting in the San Marco Regiment and with having taken part in the invasion of Corfu and its occupation by enemy forces when Greece was an ally of Britain.
He was finally charged with having landed in Malta on a spying mission with the aim of collecting information meant to help the enemy in their plans for the invasion of the island.
The defence did all that was legally possible to clear their client – a huge, insurmountable task considering that most of the charges were based on the material which the accused himself had freely given after he was rescued from the sea. So the result was a foregone conclusion.
On November 19 the court found Borg Pisani guilty on all counts and sentenced him to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out nine days later. “He died for his ideals, such as they were,” former Police Commissioner Vivian de Gray told me when I had interviewed him on the topic. It was a view shared by many.
In his introduction to the book by Stefano Fabei, Carmelo Borg Pisani, eroe o traditore (Lo Scarabeo, Bologna), which was published in 2007, the late President Emeritus Guido de Marco stated that even after more than 60 years it is difficult to pass judgment on the man and his actions.
For those whose dream was to see Malta ‘redeemed’ and annexed to Italy he was a hero. On the other hand, those who during the early 1940s had to endure sufferings and hardships inflicted by heavy and incessant bombardments cannot but consider him a traitor.
For many, De Marco adds, Borg Pisani is an enigmatic figure who deserves neither the adulation of the former nor the contempt of the latter. He should be given the respect which is due to those who are prepared to sacrifice themselves for their ideals, the former President concludes.