After Malta was awarded the George Cross on April 15, 1942, the country saw Spitfire reinforcements, the targeting of anti-aircraft batteries, the bombing of the Floriana parish church, naval losses in Maltese waters and the final Axis preparations for the invasion of Malta.

By mid-April 1942, Malta had been awarded the George Cross by King George VI. However, the situation was going from bad to worse. 

That month, Malta became the most bombed place on earth. It is calculated that the tonnage of bombs dropped during the same month amounted to 6,727. This exceeded any monthly tonnage of bombs dropped over Britain during the height of the Battle of Britain. According to local records, 339 civilian and 208 servicemen were killed in April through enemy action.

The number of Spitfires and Hurricanes defending Malta had by now dwindled to a mere handful. The two initial batches of Spitfires sent to Malta in March 1942 brought some respite but they could not operate for a long time. It was for this reason that, on April 1, 1942, Churchill cabled US President Franklin D. Roosevelt appealing to him to let a US carrier be used to deliver Spitfires to Malta. 

The USS Wasp was sent and the two RAF squadrons selected to go aboard the aircraft carrier were both from the Auxiliary Air Force. These were the No. 601 County of London and No. 603 City of Edinburgh. Both squadrons included pilots from Britain, the Commonwealth and North America. The aircraft were to be Spitfire Mk.VCs armed with four 20mm Hispano cannon and four 0.303-inch Browning machine guns and fitted with a 90-gallon overload fuel tank.

A 4.5-inch anti-aircraft gun at Spinola of the 222nd Battery, 10 Regiment (Royal Artillery) destroyed by a direct hit on April 1942.

The delivery of new Spitfires to Malta was code-named ‘Operation Calendar’ and they were to be roughly divided into four groups, led by Squadron Leader Gracie, Squadron Leader Bisdee, Squadron Leader Douglas-Hamilton and Flight-Lieutenant Douglas. 

The delivery was made on April 20, 1942. At 5.45am, the Spitfire of Squadron Leader Gracie took off from USS Wasp and, within 61 minutes, 47 aircraft were in the air. However, at 11.17am, a message was received from Malta that 46 aircraft had arrived safely and one was missing. The latter was the one piloted by No. 603 Squadron’s US pilot Sergeant Walcott, who defected and crash-landed in an area south of the Atlas mountains in Algeria. The two squadrons landed at Luqa and Ta’ Qali airfields. 

Anti-aircraft gun batteries were also the target of the Luftwaffe and at least 100 gunners lost their life, of whom 22 were members of the Royal Malta Artillery (RMA). Anti-aircraft batteries hit by enemy bombers included those of Ta’ Giorni (St Julian’s), Tal-Qroqq, St Rocco, Salina, Ta’ Ċejlu, Hompesch, Marsa, Marnisi, Ta’ Karach, San Leonardo, Manoel Island, Spinola and St Peter’s.

The American aircraft carrier USS Wasp.

When Spinola Battery was hit on April 25, 12 Royal Artillery gunners and Signalman Richard Mifsud of the Royal Corps of Signals lost their life. At St Peter’s Battery, which was hit on April 27, 1942, four Royal Malta Artillery gunners were killed and another five wounded. Both these batteries were mounted with 4.5-inch Heavy Anti-Aircraft Guns. 

The first scrambles of the day came early on Tuesday, April 28: two Spitfires of No. 126 Squadron and one of No. 601 Squadron went off at 7.40am. They were followed 10 minutes later by four Hurricanes of No. 185 Squadron to counter an estimated 43 Junkers Ju88s, 20 Junkers Ju87s and a large fighter escort. Three bombers were seen to detach themselves from the last wave, dive low over Floriana and release their bombs. One struck the dome of the church of St Publius. The miracle of Mosta of April 9 was not to be repeated for the bomb penetrated into the crypt and exploded, killing about a dozen people taking shelter, including Rev. Pawlu Portelli. Two other bombs also hit the church, which was severely damaged. 

“By the end of the month, the Germans hardly knew where to drop their bombs”

By April 29, Malta had become too precarious a base even for its successful submarine unit, 10th Submarine Flotilla, which was ordered to withdraw to Alexandria. HMS P31 had already departed on April 26, followed by HMS Urge (N17) and HMS P34 the next day, while HMS Una (N87) and HMS P35 were to leave within a week. Lieutenant-Commander E.P. Tomkinson’s HMS Urge left Malta on April 27 but it struck a German mine when leaving the Lazzaretto submarine base. There were no survivors. The HMS Urge wreck was found in 2019. By the end of the month, the Germans hardly knew where to drop their bombs. As far as could be judged from the air, every military target had been either destroyed or badly damaged. According to Fliegerkorps II, General Loerzer recorded that in the course of the offensive against Malta between March 20 and April 27 there had been 5,807 missions by the bombers, 5,667 by the fighters and 345 reconnaissance flights while 6,557 tons of bombs had been dropped. 

HMS Upholder (right) and HMS Urge (left). HMS Urge left Malta on April 27, 1942 but struck a German mine when leaving the Lazzaretto submarine base. There were no survivors. Its wreck was discovered in 2019.

The naval and air bases of Malta were put completely out of action. Ships lost in Grand Harbour during April 1942 included: HMS P36, which sunk at Lazzaretto Creek, and HMS Pandora (N42) in Hamilton Wharf, Grand Harbour, and the minesweeping drifter HMS Sunset, all of them on April 1. The minesweeper HMS Abingdon sunk at Kalkara Creek and the Royal Hellenic Navy submarine Glaucos at French Creek, both sunk on April 4. The destroyer HMS Lance sunk in No. 2 Dock on April 9 while the destroyer HMS Kingston, bombed and sunk in No. 4 Dock on April 11, the anti-submarine trawler HMS Jade at Dockyard Creek on April 21 and minesweeping tug Andromeda at Grand Harbour on April 18. 

An array of aircraft, including gliders, at Castel Vetrano airfield in Sicily in 1942.

During this month, apart from the bombing, the authorities were also preoccupied with photographs taken on April 21 by a PR Spitfire, revealing a large rectangular area near Gerbini airfield. Two more such areas were discovered in the same vicinity, parallel to the main runway, each within reach of a railway station. These areas were suspected to be glider airfields, to be used for the planned invasion of Malta. 

General Cavallero said that, as a result of this report, he had decided that the preparations for the surprise attack on Malta should be made with a view to carrying out the attack as from the end of May. As only two to three Italian parachute battalions could be ready by that time, Cavallero wished to know whether German parachute troops could be made available then. He would have also liked to have a staff officer with experience of the combined air and sea landing operations at Crete placed at his disposal for the Malta planning staff (Arbeitstab) under the direction of Major General Gandin. 

Mussolini decided that all preparations for the capture of Malta should be hastened. He asked for German help and proposed the assault for the end of May. The operation was called ‘Operation Herkules’ and it figures prominently in all the later April telegrams. 

Cavallero offered the Italian Parachute Division of two regiments, a battalion of engineers and five batteries. Hitler gave orders that Germans should cooperate with two parachute battalions, an engineer battalion, transport aircraft for a lift of one battalion and by the German navy, an unspecified number of barges.

Soldiers posing with German bombs underneath trees in Sicily. The message on the bomb in the foreground reads: ‘Iron greetings for Malta’.

Operationally, Operazione C3 (Herkules), as the Germans named it on April 14, was taking shape. A planning staff had been formed under General Gandin on April 12. When two German general staff officers joined it, it became the very first joint Axis planning group. Among the most ardent supporters of immediate action against Malta were Grand-Admiral Erich Raeder, chief of the Kriegsmarine, and Field Marshall Albert Kesselring, owing to the threat Malta posed to Axis convoys and warships. 

At the end of April, Kesselring believed Malta was ripe for an invasion. However, Hitler was not so convinced and made it clear that the command of such an operation would be left to the Italians. At the end of April, Mussolini announced that it would take the Italians another three months to complete their invasion plans. Hitler agreed that he would offer his full support but first he would focus on Rommel’s drive in North Africa, where Tobruk was to be taken by June, then perhaps Malta in July.

Charles Debono is curator at the National War Museum.