Today, Malta commemorates Santa Marija and the arrival of the US convoy from Britain in the Second World War that broke the Nazi blockade and gave a renewed lifelien to the Islands.
Malta, then the most bombed-placed on Earth, was teetering with starvation. Having been bombed on a daily basis by the Nazis, the Maltese fought back heroically with their Bofors as British pilots struggled to have some control of the sky. More than 4,000 Maltese died with the bombings, and another 35,000 displaced mostly in other people’s homes, while others lived in shelters or refugee camps. Most of these displaced people where from the Kottonera.
At the height of the bombing campaign in Summer 1942, the Maltese faced their limits. The average calorie intake was just 1450 calories per day, less than half as prescribed by the League of Nations. The quantity of rations was miserable. A single adult person was entitled to only 396 grams of rice and 680 grams of tinned meat per month in June 1942. Bread, which was the staple food for the Maltese, was rationed to the amount of 294 grams per adult male per day from May to June 1942, but the full amount was not necessarily always available.
Lack of hygiene caused outbreaks of typhus and scabies. Typhoid broke out because there was a lack of clean water. Infantile paralysis increased but so did deaths by diarrhea, endocarditis and valvular diseases. Plague made a comeback in 1945. At the end of the War, the Maltese were fatigued but also relieved. With a people more resilient than ever, a new era broke out, new leaders came along and the rest is history.
The sacrifices of the Maltese in the Second World War ensured our future freedoms and democracy, apart from inscribing our name in the history of heroes. The George Cross for which Malta was awarded for its resistance in the Second World War lies still in our flag. Today, there are politicians who want to abuse of this history and cancel its legacy. They do this to echo distorted populist legacies that serve only themselves – we should not allow them to do this. In World War II, Malta was on the right side of history and played a crucial role in ensuring the defeat of the Nazis in the Mediterranean Sea. Its victory in the war also paved the way for Malta to become a new, fledgling, and independent nation.
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Historian and Publisher
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