A wartime beach post at Salini has been relocated in one piece, without needing to be demolished, as part of the ongoing Coast Road widening works.
The project, handled by Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna, involved shifting the post backwards until it will eventually be permanently placed a few metres further up from its original position.
The post is of an irregular shape and is built on one level with part of it abutting a rock face. It may have had three to four machine-gun ports, of which only one-and-a-half remain.
Entrance was from the rear on the right and would have been protected by an iron door fitted with small loopholes.
FWA considers this gesture as a clear sign of maturity shown by the authorities
This particular post was covered in rubble stone to help it blend with the rocky surroundings. It also had a small rectangular fighting-light emplacement positioned high above it.
The move was welcomed by the heritage organisation, which said it represented yet another important milestone in the evolution of cultural heritage appreciation, protection and management in Malta.
“FWA considers this gesture as a clear sign of maturity shown by the authorities that now consider Maltese heritage, irrespective of the period it represents, as equal in importance.”
This move, it noted, sharply contrasted the past destructive norm where anything British or from World War II was too modern to keep. Since it was founded in 1987, the heritage organisation has made reversing this “inane mentality” one of its fundamental principles.
Throughout the years it has undertaken many initiatives to study, document and, in certain cases, restore and open to the public different examples of wartime defence posts such as R15 Reserve Post at T’Alla w Ommu in Naxxar.
With the successful relocation of the Salini beach post, FWA “feels it has been entirely vindicated” and hoped that this practice would be maintained in the future.
The group is calling for the rebuilding of the missing front of the post, which was removed in the 1950s when the Coast Road was first built.
FWA has been monitoring the works on a regular basis and offered to help out with the interpretation of the post, and to take it under its long-term care once fully relocated and re-erected.
The beach post at Salini was originally known as SB3 (c) – Salina Bay no. 3 (c) – and was armed with a Lewis machine-gun and a Vickers machine-gun apart from the stand-ard personal equipment of its seven-man section consisting of one .303 SMLE rifle and bayonet. The section commander would have been armed with a Thompson machine-gun and a revolver. In addition, the garrison would have had a supply of hand grenades and a signal pistol.
The post was equipped with a Lyon searchlight complete with its own generator, and night glasses for use by its operator against the effects of glare.
In 1942 it formed part of the ‘D’ Madalena Company within the Northern Infantry Brigade, consisting of the whole portion of the northwest of Valletta.