Ex TIGER TEMPLAR

DEMS Training Regiment broke the mould of the battlefield study with Sgt Baylis of CMD Trg Sqn excellently planning and executing a bespoke package to study the effects of the Third Siege of Malta 1940-1942.

More specifically the actions of the early bomb disposal teams, and characters such as Lt Carol RE famously revered in the book Malta UXB - and Lt Talbot RE. During this period, Malta was a vitally strategic location for the Allies during the WW2 North African Campaign. Owned by the British since 1800, the Axis also recognised the island’s strategic importance and set out to bomb Malta into surrender or render it useless to the British. Due to these actions Malta gained the name as “the most bombed place on earth” and survived the “Illustrious Blitz”. Some 3,000 bombing raids were carried out by the Italian Regina Aeronautica and the German Luftwaffe over the two years of the siege, in addition to attacks from naval weapons such as kamikaze unmanned submarines and remote-controlled boat bombs. One of the boat bombs was defused by a Bomb Disposal Officer and used as his personal vessel.

The study took the team from DEMS - the School of EOD&S around high-profile unexploded bomb (UXB) locations such as the Malta Opera House where after a bombing raid, 19 Italian “Thermos” incendiary bombs were collected by the ARP and stored in the basement. This provided a somewhat tricky task for the EOD Operators of the day, who had to remove the items via a precarious block and tackle pulley system over a seven-day period. The participants studied the Mosta Dome incident where during one raid a German SD50 Bomb was dropped and crashed through the dome of the church scattering circa. 300 parishioner’s, mid-sermon, into the air raid tunnels below. The bomb entered through the dome, bounced off a fresco of Jesus and skidded across the floor without detonating. Simultaneously, multiple SD2 butterfly bombs were dropped and caught in the surrounding trees outside, and a German, Herman SC1000, a 1,000kg bomb landed 20m away and also failed to detonate. These scenarios were then viewed through the lens of a contemporary EOD Operator to conceptualised a render safe procedure and prioritise the disposal of each task within resource constraints.

To fully appreciate the severity of the siege, the team visited the Malta War Rooms where the fight against the Axis forces was orchestrated from. Buried deep underground in the oppressive and claustrophobic limestone rock, chiseled out by the Sappers and a mining company on the island. The team also paid a visit to the National War Museum in Fort St. Elmo, the sight of the Great Siege of Malta where c.40,000 soldiers of the Ottoman Empire attacked the c.700 Knights of St John in 1565 (and lost). It was a privilege to visit the currently closed Fort Rinella, a key defensive location on the island, which housed one of two 100-ton guns. Originally designed to protect against attacks from the Italians, the guns could fire projectiles the size of 1,000lb bombs up to eight miles.

While on the study, the opportunity was taken to pay respects to the fallen Service Personnel on Malta in both the Kalkara Naval Cemetery and at the Pietra RE Graves. Here participants held an Act of Remembrance and laid wreaths to our fallen comrades.

A word of thanks and acknowledgement must be given to Capt Phil Brazier of the RE Historical Society, who researched the Malta study and produced an excellent historical booklet, scenarios, and a walking tour of the sights which educated and engaged all in attendance. If anyone is planning a battlefield study to Malta, please contact the Royal Engineer Historical Society at: secretary@rehs.org.uk

Battlefield Study Malta 3-7 Oct 22

8 German Butterfly Bombs 8 The Malta Bomb Disposal Memorial