The 75th anniversary of the bombing of the HMS Illustrious is a stark reminder of Malta’s suffering during World War II, says Jennifer Grech.

For civilians – especially when divided by the distance of decades – it is difficult to understand what members of the Royal Navy, or any other navy, went through on their war ships during hostile action.

War ships have always been built to withstand and inflict punishment. However, as soon as a new ship was launched, boasting a certain amount of armour protection, sometimes several inches thick, the enemy would develop all sorts of penetrating ordinance. This would be launched either from ships, submarines or aeroplanes with different detonating techniques, at times retarding, blasting or igniting on explosion.

Records at the Malta Maritime Museum in Vittoriosa tell how the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious received constant and almost uninterrupted punishment in the Mediterranean Sea from the beginning of 1941 and in Malta from January 10 to January 19, 1941, with some lulls in between.

“Of all my memories of this gallant island of ours, the strongest and the one that stands out indelibly in my mind and has left the deepest and longest impression are those fearful days in 1941 with the German air assault on the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious,” says Lino Bugeja, while recalling that fateful day.

The story began in January of that year.

At the time, some seven months after Italy had entered the war and some two months after the successful attack on the Italian fleet at Taranto by planes launched from the aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, air attacks on Malta had somewhat eased up.

There were even strong rumours that the war was over or would soon be.

“That Christmas, Valletta was full of shoppers. Ships of the Royal Navy were back in harbour and there was a general feeling of euphoria. The nightmare was over, or so we thought,” he adds.

“As a result, people who used to live in the vicinity of the Dockyard and had left the area in the early days of the war felt it was safe enough to return to their homes. Many did, with fateful consequences.”

People who used to live in the vicinity of the Dockyard and had left the area in the early days of the war felt it was safe enough to return to their homes. Many did, with fateful consequences

Some time in early January the word quickly spread throughout the Dockyard that while escorting a convoy to Malta, a big aircraft carrier had been savagely attacked at sea by enemy aircraft and had suffered severe damage and loss of life. The aircraft carrier was hit six times while escorting the convoy in the Sicily channel and was hit a seventh time in another attack as it approached Malta.

Despite the savage attack it suffered, and having been hit by more bombs than any other carrier, HMS Illustrious managed to contain its fires, stem the flooding and limp into the relative safety of the Grand Harbour on January 10, 1941. The loss, however, was tragic: 126 crew members had been killed and 91 injured.

Writing in his second volume of Strickland House – Times of Malta at War and Labour Party’s Sweeping Victory, Victor Aquilina chronicles the atmosphere at the building in Valletta.

“Right across the harbour, Times of Malta workers, huddled together in a damp rock shelter under the press building, prayed and hoped that Strickland House would escape the Luftwaffe’s fury. They knew that soon after the ship made it to Malta, the Stukas would be screaming down Grand Harbour to attack the carrier again, as they did on January 16, and twice three days later.”

The casualties put a strain on the services and civilian hospitals, especially Bighi Naval Hospital. No other action in and around Malta had resulted in this amount of casualties during World War II. The wounded also had to be treated in Malta.

Dr Keevil, HMS Illustrious’s principal medical officer noted that the severity of the wounds was complicated by blast from detonating bombs. Protective clothing, however, had greatly minimised burns.

The great majority of the casualties from the HMS Illustrious were rushed to Bighi Naval Hospital by boats and ambulances and to Mtarfa as soon as the ship reached the quay. HMS Illustrious had berthed at Parlatorio Wharf in French Creek, beneath Corradino Heights, for emergency repairs. Ambulances had already taken away the dead and wounded and some were buried at sea.

Dockyard workers rushed aboard, bringing with them breathing and firefighting equipment to tackle the blaze still burning in the aft of the hangar. They only managed to put out the fires at 3am the following morning.

Massey Anderson, a Reuters correspondent aboard the HMS Illustrious, cabled his newsroom: “The HMS Illustrious, battle scarred but triumphant, made port today after fighting off waves of German dive-bombers for seven hours in the Straits of Sicily. Goering’s Luftwaffe had swooped out of the sky in this first Mediterranean action and had given her one of the severest poundings ever delivered from the air against a single ship.”

In January, the first dive-bombing raids by the German Luftwaffe with their menacing Junkers 88 and 89 were so brutal and devastating that they reduced the inner harbour area, particularly Senglea and Vittoriosa, to a vast heap of ruins.

The heavy loss of life in Vittoriosa, when 33 civilians were buried under the St Lawrence Church sacristy, sent shockwaves to the returned evacuees who hastily returned to safety. The second Cottonera exodus had begun.

Such was the bitter situation that Cottonera was declared a no-go area and nobody was allowed to enter unless with special permission from the Lt Governor. The rescue party worked hard all day and finally managed to force an opening in the debris from where food and water could be lowered. However, heavy rain soon brought down huge masonry and after more attempts, the rescue attempts had to be abandoned.

Against a backdrop of destruction, there were also acts of great heroism.

Could Paul Galea, the newly appointed Vicar Curate of the parish, not have had a more tragic start to his ministry? From under the belfry tower where he was taking shelter, dazed and badly shaken, he rushed to the site, giving the last rites and at great risk helping in the rescue efforts.

From under the debris he pulled out the only survivor, a young baby. He then rushed to the Dominican Priory soliciting assistance, which was readily given.

The bodies were subsequently recovered from underneath the debris of the sacristy, on orders from Governor Lord Gort, by the BUFFS Regiment stationed in Balzan.

Bugeja still remembers that day clearly.

“The macabre scene of death and destruction, which I witnessed as an 11-year-old child, has haunted me all my life”.

Ferocious Luftwaffe attack

A huge prototype German armour-piercing incendiary and blasting bomb, designed to be used against capital ships such as the HMS Illustrious, was dropped during that air raid. It was probably dropped off course by the German bomber crew to escape the box barrage defence over the aircraft carrier. It literally destroyed a nunnery at Cospicua with its own weight and mass without actually detonating.

It was miraculously brought down hundreds of steps down Steeple Street.

The bomb was then taken away from the Cottonera area and proved to be the first such massive bomb to be captured and defused by the Allied powers.

The Germans became aware that the ‘usual’ 500kg bombs dropped over HMS Illustrious were not enough. Possibly this particular bomb and other similar bombs which might have exploded in the Grand Harbour and in Senglea were deemed fit for the job by German officials after the failure of previous attacks to sink the carrier.

HMS Illustrious was repaired at the Dockyard by deeply shocked Dockyard workers, who had to start work while the dead and wounded were being removed from the ship as air raids were still in course.

The aircraft carrier slipped unnoticed out of Malta with repair stages still slung over its sides under its own power in the cover of darkness on January 23, 1941. Heading for Alexandria on course to the US, it underwent full repairs there, which put her out of action for the best part of the war, returning to Malta in 1943 for the invasion of Sicily.