War. There’s a word associated with bombs and soldiers. But what about those women who played a key role during those difficult times? Actress and writer Kim Dalli has been collecting the stories of these unsung wartime heroines to share them in a new, upcoming docudrama.

Ella Zammit Cutajar joined an underground resistance network sending information from Tunisia to Malta on enemy troop movements by radio– something she was jailed for.

Mary Ellul was an air-raid warden who rescued people from beneath the rubble following bombings. Irene Condachi was a doctor who single-handedly inoculated and examined at least 20,000 schoolchildren under war conditions.

These are amongst the many women who played key roles during World War II, but whose contribution remained unknown - until now.

They will be amongst the women featuring in a new docudrama called The Women of George Cross Island that attempts to chronicle the personal experiences of how individual women laughed, suffered, grieved, dared and loved.

“Most importantly, it strives to act as a tribute to a generation of brave, determined and uncomplaining women who stood shoulder to shoulder with the men of Malta in the defence of their country and of freedom,” says Kim Dalli, the docudrama’s lead researcher, writer and presenter.

The idea of the docudrama came during a dinner conversation with friends Angelle and Justin Farrugia. Kim sang the praises of a book she had just finished reading - Paul McDonald’s Ladies of Lascaris: Christina Ratcliffe and the Forgotten Heroes of Malta’s War. A couple of weeks later, Kim received a phone call from Justin, one of the managing directors at Sharp Shoot Media, asking her to work on the docudrama. Her response was a resounding: “Yes!”

As Kim delved into the subject, she soon learnt that very little was recorded about women during the war.

“There is an extreme dearth of literature that explores World War II and Malta from a female perspective – surprisingly so, given that women made up half the population,” she says.

Despite this, Kim found ample fertile ground to unearth fascinating and untold stories that celebrate Malta’s unsung heroines and offer a uniquely female perspective at the heart of military conflict. Once the women were identified, she combed through published and unpublished memoirs and autobiographies, spent hours at the National Archives poring over archival documents, as well as scouring the archives of newspapers such as Times of Malta.

Kim built on the research of Simon Cusens who unearthed the contribution of most of these women during the war.

She also conducted various interviews with elderly women with a first-hand recollection of the war, as well as the relatives of particular women identified who have long passed away.

“I must say that I have found incredible support and assistance from everyone I approached, with families giving me unique access to private collections, letters and other documents. This allowed me to chart the work, lives, relationships and emotions of plotters, spies, air raid wardens, nurses, doctors, journalists and housewives.

“Some women stood above the rest, sometimes in Malta or in friendly territories abroad, going well above and beyond the call of duty. Others risked their very lives working discreetly in hostile lands,” she said.

Kim believes that examining women’s experiences against the backdrop of the social and political happenings of the time is of particular significance. “I see a clear link to one of the most seminal moments in Malta’s political history: the acquisition of women's voting rights a short time later in 1947,” she says.

The experiences and contributions of women have, historically, been chronically underrepresented in studies focusing on the second World War.

During World War II, the fate of the Mediterranean depended on beleaguered Malta, famously having earned itself the epithet of the “most bombed place on earth”. Featuring brave seamen, soldiers and gunners against the dramatic backdrop of sea and air battles around the island, the period is commonly thought of as a man's war.

Yet in conditions of “total war”, and especially when the conscription of 1941 led to a dearth of male resources, Malta’swomen demonstrated that they were cleverer, more broad-minded and altogether more complex than anyone had ever surmised, she explains.

“They provided the social, administrative, operational and logistical platforms for the island’s civil and military administrations. Women were effectively the engine keeping the country running during this most trying of times,” she says.

The docudrama will take the format of an eight-episode series to be aired on local TV during 2022.  The executive production is by Sharp Shoot Media Limited. The producers are Justin Farrugia and Steven Dalli, and the series is directed by Justin Farrugia and edited by Angelle Farrugia.

THE WOMEN

Mary Christina Ratcliffe

She was an English cabaret dancer who helped form a troupe called the Whizz-Bangs which set out to entertain the Army, Navy and RAF personnel. She then volunteered to work with the RAF as a telephonist and later as a plotter at the underground War Headquarters in Valletta.

She was awarded the British Empire Medal in 1943 in recognition of her work. She fell in love with Adrian Warburton, the most decorated RAF pilot on the island. Their love story tragically came to an abrupt end when on April 12, 1944, Warburton was sent on a reconnaissance mission during which he was supposed to take some photos over Germany, but never returned. Christina never married, remaining in Malta until her death in 1988. Warburton’s remains were finally found in August 2002.

Henrietta ‘Chetta’ Chevalier, née Scerri

After marrying her husband Thomas and accompanying him to Rome, in 1940 Chetta found herself a widow stuck in Mussolini’s fascist state and responsible for the welfare of her eight children. She put her life on the line after joining Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty’s Rome Escape Line network operating in the Vatican, which is credited with directly offering assistance to 4,000 Jews and escaped Allied prisoners during the war.

Her third-floor apartment on Via Dell’Imperio was used as a depot for supplies and to lodge several prisoners of war. She had several close shaves with the Nazi SS officers, who raided her apartment several times. In 1945, she was awarded a British Empire Medal for her extraordinary efforts to offer sanctuary to those in need. She sadly paid a high price for her gallant work, suffering from PTSD for the rest of her life.

Carmela ‘Meme’ Turner, née Cortis

Meme served as a nurse at the Mtarfa General Hospital, being one of 12 to join the Voluntary Aid Detachment when war broke out in 1939. She was standing by at the hospital, when the HMS Illustrious sailed into the Grand Harbour, with her crew still trying to extinguish some of the fires.

Most of the crew was suffering from horrible burns and despite it being the worst series of casualties in Malta, the recovery of so many men stands as testimony to the skill and dedication of Meme and her colleagues. Meme was also on duty in June 1942, when the Germans bombed the hospital, in spite of there being a big Red Cross on the sports ground. She was injured by shrapnel, which pierced her arm. In later years, Meme considered her resulting scar “as good as being decorated”.

Ella Attias, née Zammit Cutajar

She first married a Frenchman, and accompanied him to Tunisia. There she joined an underground resistance network, collaborating with the British intelligence services, and sending information to Malta by radio on Axis troop movements and ships entering and leaving Tunis.

In 1941, several members of the network were denounced. Ella was arrested and spent nearly a year and a half in prison before being liberated during the first bombing of the area by the RAF.  She returned to Malta for a while before being recruited by the British secret services. She was invested Member of the British Empire and some time later, she obtained a divorce and married a fellow member of the secret network, with whom she had worked closely.

Irene Condachi

Irene was one of the few female doctors on the island at the time. This incredible woman single-handedly inoculated and examined at least 20,000 school children under war conditions and without any means of transportation.

She walked long distances from one government school to another to examine between 10,000 and 15,000 children a year, as well as prescribing anointment for children with scabies. She was credited with eradicating this condition from government schools.

Mary Ellul

Mary was an air-raid warden and was popularly known as ‘MaryMan’, due to her pronounced masculinity and phenomenal strength.

She rescued people from beneath the rubble and was reputed to deal with rowdy sailors by chucking them into the Sliema sea when she worked as a bouncer before the war.

Mabel Strickland

Mabel was an Anglo-Maltese newspaper publisher and political figure who was regarded as one of the most powerful women in the Mediterranean region. She was bent on keeping the people of Malta properly informed and uplifted while ensuring that then newspaper maintained their morale – vitally important to people undergoing such difficult times.

At considerable risk to herself, she often ignored air raid sirens, in order to get her papers out on time. She never missed an issue. In 1944 she was awarded the Order of the British Empire for her wartime devotion to duty.

 

This story was first published in Sunday Circle, a Times of Malta publication. Read the full issue here: http://sundaycircle.tom-mag.com/38/index.html#issue/1