‘Malta was essentially a friendly place, with close links through marriage between the many families on the island,’ recalls Queenie Lee. ‘As for the English families, they drew together in the way that the English do when away from home.’53
This was essentially true before, during and after the war, but wartime put some aspects of the relationship under extreme pressure. This was not because the Maltese showed any resentment about being involved in the war, since they never forgave Mussolini for bombing Malta, but because of other pressures; being under constant enemy air attack, with interrupted sleep and with little food.
Not surprisingly, morale was crumbling, but it was not just because of the poor food situation and the constant attacks. Many Maltese felt that their own acts of gallantry were often overlooked while those of the British were exaggerated, typified by the saying, ‘If a Britisher sneezes, he gets a medal for it’. It is tempting to suggest that this was rather akin to the widespread British belief that American servicemen were awarded the Purple Heart for simply being in an air raid, but there do seem to be some grounds for this resentment. A Maltese gunner hit between the shoulders by a shell splinter during a raid remained at his post, firing his gun, even though he was in great pain and unable to move his neck, had his heroism and devotion to duty simply recorded and did not receive any award. By contrast, a British warrant officer received an MBE for saving pots and pans from a bombed out kitchen so that he could make his men a meal. Then, inevitably, there was the story of a British major receiving the Military Cross for swimming across the harbour to reach the batteries on the other side, yet those who knew him maintained that he couldn’t even swim!
These problems apart, relations between the British forces on the island and the Maltese were for the most part very good. There was mutual respect on both sides.
‘ . . . I think the Maltese stuck it out very well, especially the gun crews, the Maltese gun crews,’ recalls Francis Smith, a Fleet Air Arm telegraphist/air gunner based at Hal Far.
Of course, the airfield got bombed, bombed out completely, and we moved down to the seashore, place called Birzebbugia, and we lived in a little hotel down there, for the sergeants’ mess. And we had a gun-pit next door to the mess, and that got a direct hit one night, in August, and they . . . were in a shocking state, the gun crew. But they bore up very well. And so did the women. I had tons of time for the way they stuck it out, the Maltese . . .54
Gort did his best to establish good relations with the Maltese, not waiting for air raids to visit the towns and villages, but instead embarking on a programme of visits. At first he was hesitant about meeting the Bishop of Gozo, who was suspected of nursing anti-British sentiments. It soon became clear that the suspicions were ill-founded, especially after the Bishop accompanied the Archbishop of Malta to the George Cross award ceremony, and asked for a repeat performance for his people in Gozo.
Relationships with the Maltese were also often very good on another level. Young men, far away from home, were very susceptible to the charms of young Maltese girls. Any Maltese girl ‘walking out’ with a boyfriend or even a fiancé would be chaperoned, but often more serious relationships developed. The prospect of marriage must have seemed attractive to both sides, but there were important problems to be overcome, and the chances of the marriage lasting were not good. One estimate was that, in 1940, there were some 2,000 abandoned Maltese women who had been ‘navy wives’. Martin Hastings recalls attempts by the British Army to try to put a stop to the practice, not by banning it, which would have been unacceptable, but by making the young soldiers think ahead, and consider the differences. For a start, the order was made that anyone wanting to marry a Maltese would have to become a Roman Catholic, and undergo a course of instruction from their unit’s Roman Catholic padre, so that the soldiers understood the Roman Catholic faith and accepted that any children would be brought up as Roman Catholics.
‘So the policy was if possible delay and make the soldier think twice about how the Maltese girl, who was used to sun and quite a different way of life, being of a different religious faith, would get on in the grey skies of an English small town or village,’ Hastings explained. ‘But of course the soldier was free to do what he wanted to do basically.’55
There were, inevitably, those Maltese who saw their closest neighbour Italy as their natural partner. The fact that there were not more, despite the differences in language and ancestry, nevertheless speaks volumes. After all, many Maltese priests were trained in Italy, and that country provided the closest and least expensive location for much academic and professional training. The one thing that both Italians and Maltese had in common was their Roman Catholic faith, even more of a unifying factor then than now because services at the time were conducted in Latin rather than in the vernacular.
As mentioned earlier, the one prominent Maltese who was known to hold pro-Italian sympathies was the Chief Justice, Sir Arturo Mercieca. On the first morning of war, he was summoned to see the new Governor, the newly-promoted Lieutenant General William Dobbie and the Lieutenant Governor, Sir Edward Jackson. He arrived late because of the air raids. On entering the office he was immediately invited to resign from his position as Chief Justice and President of the Court of Appeal because of his Italian sympathies and the state of war that existed with Italy. General Dobbie continued to tell him that if he did not resign voluntarily, he would be removed from office without further delay since the King had signed an Order in Council on the 5 June authorizing his removal from office. Mercieca asked to see the Order and was promptly shown it. He told those present that he felt that his impartiality as a judge had been compromised by the Order and agreed to resign, on condition that he could make his resignation public and refer to the Order in the letter.
Initially, Mercieca was told that he and his family would face restrictions on their activities, but could stay in the family’s summer home at Naxxar, near Mosta in the centre of Malta. Later he and others with pro-Italian sympathies were arrested and interned. Their internment, initially under the benevolent protection of the Maltese Major Walter Bonello, was initially fairly relaxed, and contact was maintained with their families. Early in 1942, most of the internees were moved to Kenya, and not allowed back until late 1944 and early 1945. Internment was undoubtedly essential, to avoid information being transmitted to the enemy or any acts of protest, but it may even have saved their lives as the full horror of the war developed. No charges were ever brought against them, and no one has ever suggested that they were criminals or spies, but the risk was enough, and they were probably some of the best treated internees in any of the combatant territories.