The Malta Independent on Sunday
Malta’s strong resolve in the face of war
As Malta and the world struggle with the mounting pressures of the surging daily record cases of COVID-19, the Maltese should reflect on and emulate the same bold and generous spirit of their forefathers, who in the face of adversity against all odds managed to see things through, even after days and nights of continuous airraids during which whole towns and villages were blitzed beyond recognition. This feature explores the memoirs (abridged and adapted) of a Maltese officer (author’s name unknown) writing in his diary the daily occurrences of his war experiences
During wartime Malta, the resolve to see things through was shared, indeed, by the whole population of the island. In fact, during 1942, after two years of struggle, it had become ever-increasingly evident that this spirit was no less present than it was during June 1940 when hostilities broke out.
As the war years rolled on, determination in the face of adversity shone ever more with a sustaining glory. Young people of every class were flocking to the colours. When the Governor founded the Special Constabulary, volunteers were so numerous that the desired number was reached in a week or less. There were many who were infirm, some lame and physically weak, yet they were all eager to join and play their part. The Air Raid Precautions Department was fully staffed.
Nursing services
Nursing services which had to recruit volunteers to increase the normal staff found all they needed. A number of nursing volunteers was called up and were asked if they would be willing to service in the high risk Dockyard area which was under the constant threat of bombardment and hence a favourite target for the bombers. All nurses expressed their willingness to serve anywhere they were asked to.
What is more, the girls chosen did not fail at their task. Many were girls, whom some might have feared they might not stand the test as they were young and inexperienced. Yet throughout the heaviest bombardments or when dealing with the heaviest risk of casualties, one did not see any one of them faint or weaken at her task. The difficulty was to dissuade the “night shifts” from doing day work too. Perhaps the severest test to which a tenderfoot in surgical matters can be subjected to is to be made to hold the patient’s leg while the surgeon is sawing through the thigh bone. The sensation felt when the bone is sawn through and the leg becomes separate in the holder’s hands is positively sickening even to hard-bitten medical students. Yet when one of the girls was given this task, she carried out the rest of her job as had been previously arranged.
Home Guard volunteers
One army which cropped up in Malta almost unofficially was “the volunteers” – regiments of sportsmen who were training themselves to use their guns on bigger game than sparrows.
Some days before the outbreak of war with Italy, just as their ancestors had done in the days of Napoleon’s occupation of Malta, when the call for such volunteers did come; it was answered very abundantly with many regiments being formed. These volunteers were analogous to Britain’s Home Guard.
The reaction of the people was positive in that glorious June of 1940 when France was prostrate and Italy had just thrown off the mask and Britain standing alone. But never since Malta had joined the Empire in 1814 was confidence in Britain stronger and certainty in victory more secure.
Brassards everywhere
Brassards were the wear of the moment. In every street, every man not in uniform wore a brassard and there was almost an appearance of gaiety with the red “Medical” for doctors, pharmacists, nurses, etc., the red and white “Malta Auxiliaries”, the Special Constables, the Dockyard, the R.N., R.A.F and others.
Many felt sure that come what may, the war would not be lost through lack of faith or unwillingness to put shoulder to the wheel.
Evacuation schemes
The reaction of the majority of the people of Malta to the risks of aerial bombardments were little different from those of other people elsewhere. The government had before the war started to make many neat evacuation schemes which possessed every virtue but unfortunately would not work. It requires something more than Christian charity to
agree when risk is remote, that you will receive strangers in your home and that you will accept them as lodgers indefinitely. So the government’s arrangements were commented upon, criticised severely and to a large extent abandoned.
All this was not in the least alarming to those who had knowledge of how the people’s minds worked. When the bombs began to drop, evacuation was prompt, spontaneous and successful. The strain on the government’s arrangements was great; they had to function not as planned beforehand, but as the people’s inclinations demanded. Taken all round these inclinations were neither unwise nor capricious, and it was interesting to see how, under the emergency of war, the needs of the moment caused the people to become the law-makers of the land. Once more, as in the old Greek democracies, what the people did became law and not the other way about.
It had long been expected that the Dockyard areas would have to be evacuated. Few people had left them up to the 10 of June. Few people remained there within two days after the area had been bombed on the first day of the war. The instinct of self-preservation is as potent in Malta as elsewhere and whatever may be said in favour of “sticking it out” there is no running away from the fact that a dead worker is of no more use to his country than a dead soldier, and a wounded one is just a nuisance. Moreover at that moment, there was no military necessity for civilians to “stay put”.
Here as elsewhere, evacuation provided an opportunity for the reappearance of the ancient virtue of hospitality. Thousands of men, women and children left their homes and all found some place wherein to lay their heads. Malta is a remarkably small place. The villages in the centre of the Island already had their full quota of inhabitants and yet somehow space was found for relatives and friends and nobody was denied shelter.
Relief Fund
From the first days of the beginning of the war, the Governor launched the Malta Relief Fund, nearly 2,000 pounds sterling being raised in the very first day. What was also encouraging to the Maltese was the money contributed by Maltese who had emigrated to many parts of the world, but who still remembered their mother country. From Cyprus, Alexandria, Cairo, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and every spot where Maltese had settled came messages of sympathy and contributions to the Relief Fund.
The above explains just a few examples of the all-round Maltese courage, hospitality, solidarity and generosity in times of war and strife.
May the examples of our forefathers continue to shine in inspiring our generation of workers in all the sectors combating the unseen enemy of COVID-19.