Air Fronts: Theaters of Operation - The Mediterranean - HMSO: The Air Battle of Malta - 9.  Climax of Battle : The Defenders' Triumph

THE AIR BATTLE OF MALTA. The Official Account of the R.A.F. in Malta, June 1940 to November 1942; PREPARED FOR THE AIR MINISTRY BY THE MINISTRY OF INFORMATION; London : His Majesty's Stationery Office 1944

IX. Climax of Battle : The Defenders' Triumph
MAY 1942

The relative lull at the end of April was a godsend to the defenders and a blunder by the attackers. By almost neutralising the striking power of Malta, supplies had been pushed through to the Axis armies in the desert without overwhelming loss. But the failure to follow up the air assault gave besieged Malta valuable time. Once again relief was on the way - ammunition for the guns, and more Spitfires. The arrival of this relief was the occasion of the climax in the Battle of Malta.

The information that sixty-four Spitfires were due to land on the airfields from 1 a.m. onwards on Saturday, 9th May, was given to the three Services on Thursday, 7th May. H.M.S. Welshman, a mine-laying cruiser capable of forty knots, was due to berth in Grand Harbour at 6 a.m. on 10th May. The Services had three days in which to work out a combined operational plan to cover these events.

All ammunition and target restrictions were lifted after dawn on 8th May. The system of rest and relief which had been introduced for the gunners under constant bombardment was cancelled. The Royal Artillery and the Royal Air Force agreed that airfields should have priority for barrages during the aircraft deliveries ; and it was arranged that on arrival the Spitfires should orbit Takali airfield at a very low altitude so that the light anti-aircraft could afford them maximum protection.

The welcome for the Spitfires upon the ground was worked out to the last detail. Wing Commander E. J. Gracie, who led a formation of Spitfires which had landed previously, described the preparations for the present operation :

" We went to our pilots and ground crews and administrative staffs and told them we were going to give them, we hoped, an organisation which would enable us to win the Battle of Malta, which at that time we were in grave danger of losing. We then told them it would mean the hardest possible work under very difficult conditions, that we were going to enlist the aid of the Army, both in men and materials, but that the battle was lost unless they all pulled their weight one hundred per cent.

"The response was tremendous. Every man felt himself an important item in the battle and not merely an insignificant unit. So magnificently did the ground staffs work that our half-hour service became an absolutely outside limit, and the official records show that six Spitfires of one squadron took off to engage the enemy within nine minutes of landing on the island. What a change in thirty-six hours ! Within half an hour every serviceable Spitfire was in the air. I shall never forget the remark of one airman who, coming out of a slit trench, and seeing two or three squadrons in the air, said ; ` Heavens, look at the fog : ' "

The turn-round of the Spitfires was accomplished in six minutes in some cases on 9th May, so thoroughly rehearsed were the arrangements. When the enemy came to bomb them on the ground, he was met and attacked by them in the air. The infantry contributed essential manpower to carry out this plan. Each arriving Spitfire was met and directed by a runner to a dispersal pen, which was a self-supporting unit. Owing to the shortage of petrol bowsers and the number of aircraft to be refuelled simultaneously, a supply of petrol was put up in tins for refuelling by hand. These tins, together with oil, glycol, and ammunition, were waiting ready in each pen. Two airmen, assisted by two soldiers, fell upon each Spitfire as it reached the pen. The moment their work was done a Malta pilot took over the machine, though in some cases newly arrived pilots went straight into action. All day long, ground crews, pilots and relief pilots lived in the pens, where food was brought to them. Army wireless sets, dispatch riders and signalmen maintained a communication system between the widely dispersed pens. All day long the repair squads were out filling up craters upon the runways while the bombers which made them were fighting their way back to Sicily.

LINE OF BATTLE. Spitfires flew in to the relief of the defenders at the moment of Malta's crisis - 64 of them on 9th May 1942, another batch nine days later. They got in safely, and they turned the tide of battle.

One of the new pilots described his day in these words :

" Took off from the Wasp at 0645 hrs. Landed at Takali at 1030 hrs. The formation leader flew too fast and got his navigation all to hell, so I left them forty miles west of Bizerta, five miles off the N. African coast, and set course for Malta, avoiding Pantellaria and Bizerta owing to fighters and flak being present there. Jettisoned the long-range tank twenty miles W. of Bizerta and reached Malta with twenty gallons to spare in main tank. Of the forty-seven machines that flew off the Wasp, one crashed into the sea on take-off, one force-landed back on to the deck as he had jettisoned his auxiliary tank in error, one landed in Algeria, one ran out of petrol between Pantellaria and Malta, one crashed on landing at Hal Far, and one crashed off Grand Harbour.

" On landing at Takali I immediately removed my kit, and the machine was rearmed and refuelled. I landed during a raid and four 109s tried to shoot me up. Soon after landing the airfield was bombed but without much damage being done. I was scrambled in a section of four soon after this raid, but we failed to intercept the next one, though we chased several 109s down on the deck.

" Ate lunch in the aircraft, as I was at the ready till dusk. After lunch we were heavily bombed again by eight Ju. 88s.

" Scrambled again in the same section after tea - no luck again. One ` Spit ' was shot down coming in to land and another one at the edge of the airfield. Score for the day, seven confirmed, seven probables and fourteen damaged for the loss of three ` Spits.'

" The tempo of life here is just indescribable. The morale of all is magnificent - pilots, ground crews and army, but it is certainly tough. The bombing is continuous on and off all day. One lives here only to destroy the Hun and hold him at bay ; everything else, living conditions, sleep, food, and all the ordinary standards of life have gone by the board. It all makes the Battle of Britain and fighter sweeps seem like child's play in comparison, but it is certainly history in the making, and nowhere is there aerial warfare to compare with this."

There were nine raids that day. The " fog " of Spitfires was beginning to show results. Eight enemy planes were destroyed and there were many ` probables'. The guns got one and two ` probables'. A shock of confidence and excitement went through flyers and ground crews. The organisation was going well.

EACH TO HIS STATION. Throughout the days of the May battles, airmen and soldiers fought together to keep the Spitfires in action. Left, While the pilot waits, soldiers and airmen refuel and reammunition his Spitfire in its pen.

'Soldiers load and make up cartridge belts for the Spitfires' guns.

Army dispatch riders and signalmen, working together with the R.A.F., maintain a communication system between the dispersed pens.

The climax of the battle was still to come. H.M.S. Welshman, loaded with ammunition for the guns, was due next morning. With bombs falling intermittently, Air Vice-Marshal Lloyd called his fighter pilots together on one of the airfields and told them how vital the morrow's work would be. He mentioned that 9th May was his lucky day, for it was on 9th May 1915, when he was riding a motor cycle as a corporal dispatch rider in France, that he had been knocked out by shelling while travelling fast and had lived to tell the tale. A bomb fell ominously close while he was telling the story, and the party broke up hurriedly while the A.O.C.'s luck still held.

H.M.S. Welshman entered Grand Harbour at 5.25 a.m. At 5.54 an alert sounded. One Ju. 88 with an escort of Messerschmitts was making a reconnaissance. The Luftwaffe stood by in force to destroy the ship and the supplies she carried. There were three surprises for them that morning in Malta - a smoke screen, the most intensive barrage ever developed, and a wealth of Spitfires.

The loss of so much cargo in March through the bombing of the ships while they were being unloaded led to very careful plans being made for the unloading of the Welshman. In order to relieve her crew, four naval working parties went aboard to supervise it. The Royal Artillery provided manpower for most of the work, and the Royal Air Force sent men to unload their own stores. The job was continued throughout alerts, the men taking cover only when the warning of immediate danger was given. The whole of the cargo, most of it ammunition, was unloaded in five hours.

Smoke containers were the first stores to be brought ashore. These augmented the generators which were already in use for the first time in Grand Harbour. The smoke screen was ignited at a signal from the Fighter Operations room. The harbour area had complete priority for the gun barrage which had been specially prepared to cover the Welshman, and the ammunition restrictions were once again lifted. The fighters were told that the barrage would continue regardless of their whereabouts.

The heaviest raid of the day developed at 10.56 a.m. with twenty Stukas and ten Ju. 88s escorted, as was every bomber now, by Me. 109s. They dropped some forty tons of bombs, one of which was a near miss on the Welshman. Thirty-seven Spitfires and thirteen Hurricanes went out to meet them. As the first wave of 88s dived down from the south-east out of the sun, it was seen that the fighters were mixing up with them ; there were fights all over the sky. Then came the 87s from the coast. The harbour barrage went up, and the fighters jumped on them, many Spitfires following the Stukas through the barrage. In the afternoon, by which time the ship had been unloaded, there was another attack. The smoke screen was lit again and the barrage went up. One Ju. 88 was seen to blow into two pieces as it dived. The evening raid came in two waves : first a high-level attack by Cant 1007s, then dive-bombing by heavily escorted Stukas.

The " new " pilot had an exhausting but triumphant second day in Malta :

" We climbed to 4,000 feet, and then the barrage was put up by the harbour defences and the cruiser. The C.O. dived down into it and I followed close on him. We flew three times to and fro in the barrage, trusting to luck to avoid the flak. Then I spotted a Ju. 87 climbing out at the fringe of the barrage and I turned and chased him. I gave him a one sec. burst of cannon and he broke off sharply to the left. At that moment another Ju. 87 came up in front of my nose and I turned into him and I let him have it. His engine started to pour out black smoke and he started weaving. I kept the tit pushed hard, and after a further two to three second burst with the one cannon I had left, the other having jammed, he keeled over at 1,500 feet and went into the drink.

" I then spotted a 109 firing at me from behind and pulled the kite round to port, and after one and a half turns got on his tail. Before I could fire, another 109 cut across my bows from the port side and I turned straight on his tail and fired till my cannon stopped through lack of ` ammo'. He was hit and his engine poured out black smoke, but I had to beat it as I was now defenceless and two more 109s were attacking me. I spiralled straight down to the sea at full throttle, and then weaved violently towards land with the two 109s still firing at me. I went under the fringe of the smoke screen to try to throw them off, but when I came out the other side I found them both sitting up top waiting for me. I therefore kept right down at nought feet and steep-turned towards them, noticing the smoke from their gun ports as I did so. After about five minutes of this I managed to throw them off.

" I landed back at Takali and made out my report, claiming one 87 destroyed and one Me. 109 damaged."

There were 110 Spitfire sorties and fourteen Hurricane sorties that day. Between them they destroyed fifteen of the attackers ; anti-aircraft fire destroyed eight. Many were damaged. Three Spitfires were lost, but two of the pilots were saved.

The combined operation had successfully completed the task of providing reinforcements of Spitfires and of ammunition. The Air Officer Commanding sent this signal in reply to the Commander, Royal Artillery : " We much appreciate your message of congratulations. Spitfires seem to be body-line bowling, and opposition not too anxious to leave the pavilion. We sincerely hope to be able to give you a well-earned rest from your magnificent work of destruction. The Hun thinks that Malta is either too hard to crack or the effort has been miscalculated to break it."

The opposition indeed was disinclined to leave the pavilion in the ensuing days. The effort of 10th May, together with the arrival of a further reinforcement of Spitfires on 18th May, was the turning point of the struggle for local air superiority. During the rest of the month the enemy's activity was reduced to daily bombing by small numbers of German and Italian bombers combined with daily fighter sweeps.

The number of night raiders, however, increased. They aimed mostly at the airfields, but their bombing was inaccurate. The Beaufighters, which had taken over most of the night fighting duties from the Hurricanes, shot down twelve bombers in under three weeks. Malta's own bomber effort recovered gradually. In the period from 26th May to 27th July, Malta-based aircraft made 191 sorties, of which 102 were directed against shipping at sea, and sixty-two against ports and bases. With the aid of air superiority Malta was regaining her position as an air-sea offensive base.