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The Upper Northwest Front: Trekking Along the Victoria Lines (Part Two) – Joseph Galea Debono
from Vigilo 57 July 2022
by dinlarthelwa
THE UPPER NORTHWEST FRONT
Trekking along the Victoria Lines (Part Two)
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by Joseph Galea Debono
In this second article about the Victoria Lines (the first one appeared in Vigilo 56), I capture some of the impressions from walks which, for the past years, Professor Anthony Bonanno and I have experienced in our surveys of the historical, military and archaeological features which are encountered in the area along the Great Fault. We had occasion to recount these in joint lectures that we had delivered at Din l-Art Ħelwa’s Maurice Caruana Curran Hall some years back but more recent walks along the North West Front have yielded yet more sites of interest.
Top right: The start of the trek at Tarġa Gap
Right: Tarġa Battery mostly hidden by overgrown trees The previous article included an overview of the historical context in which this formidable defensive line was built by the British during the last three decades of the nineteenth century, when the need was felt to protect the harbours around Valletta and the urban conurbations around them from a possible invading enemy force landing on the beaches in the north of Malta. It then covered the fortifications spanning the sector between Madliena on the north-east coast to the centre of the island north of Mosta, stopping at Tarġa Gap. This feature deals with the Upper North West Front from Tarġa Gap to Fomm ir-Riħ Bay on the west coast.
Tarġa Battery
On the Mosta–Burmarrad road, by the commemorative plaque marking the silver jubilee of Queen Victoria, who gave her name to this feat of military engineering, and opposite a World War II machine-gun pillbox, which now serves as a bus-stop shelter, the defensive wall branches off to the left of the main thoroughfare. It then winds for about one kilometer, passing by Tarġa Battery built in 1887, which was intended to cover the stretch between Fort Mosta and the Dwejra Lines. However, it was never armed. Most of the site of the battery, except for the barrack rooms fronting
the entrance, is now hidden by overgrown trees. After the last war and up to the early 1970s it was used as a Civil Defence rescue training site. Recently it has been assigned to the Mosta Scouts Group and it is hoped that this will spare it from further use by squatters and vandalism. The site provides excellent vantage points over Wied ta’ Ghajn Rihana extending all the way up to Bahrija Ridge and its hamlet across the valley.
From this location, one can also admire an impressively well-preserved segment of the Infantry wall with its scarped rock face beneath it and deblais from the excavation work being used as a further obstacle for an enemy approaching the wall from below.
The Falka Entrenchment
The next defence complex in this segment was constructed to the rear of the earlier entrenchment built by the Order of St John in the eighteenth century, of which only what appears to be the salient point of a spur of a redoubt is still extant. In recent months this has been used to form the corner of a high boundary wall of a considerable extensive garden to a newly built villa. The only trace of the British entrenchment is the ditch scarped in the rock as the firing platform was buried under a previous dirt track servicing the enormous quarry on the other side of the passage. In recent months this road has been given a tarmac surface. The entrenchment ends close to the main road leading from Mosta to Mgarr at Falka Gap at the foot of Dwejra Ridge.
The Upper North West Front
For the faint-hearted an easier, if slightly longer way, up to Dwejra Ridge is along the road built by the War Department a couple of 100 metres down the road towards Mosta at Falka Gap. Otherwise, one can follow the infantry wall directly across the road at Falka Gap where it starts a steady climb over a rough pathway which presents magnificent views of the surrounding countryside. In places the wall is intact with its inner and outer faces of ashlar blocks of Coralline limestone with rubble infill. A coping, sloping outwards tops the wall, which is bound together on the outer face by a sort of mortar composed of a mixture of lime and coal dust (xebha). This eliminated handholds and footholds for scaling by the enemy. On the inner face, this binder is only found in the upper course of masonry. In other places the wall has unfortunately crumbled either owing to part demolition to provide access to the fields below or to natural subsidence. Halfway up the climb there are two adjacent World War II sites; one termed a sound locator and the other a searchlight emplacement, the former with its unusual, curved batter at the base typical of similar sound locators found elsewhere on the island. It is a rectangular enclosure with a room with a large door which was used to hide the equipment from the eyes of enemy reconnaissance aircraft when not in use.
Top left: Old photo showing works in progress on the Falka entrenchment
Above: The only trace left of the Falka entrenchment - the ditch
Left: The infantry wall bound together by xebha on its outer face
Below: WWII sound locator at Dwejra
The Dwejra Lines
At the top of the ridge, one comes upon the right flank of the Dwejra Lines with its scarped ditch below the redan with its serrated profile. The ditch features a caponier and scarp galleries to provide en filade fire against an enemy which has gained access to the ditch. The latter are situated at each of the serrations. Though it is possible to
Top: WWII searchlight emplacement
Above: One of the concrete gun emplacements on Dwejra Lines
Right: Tunnel leading down to scarp gallery with loopholes covering the ditch
Below: sketch plan of Dwejra Lines (courtesy of Dr Stephen Spiteri) walk in the ditch for some distance, it is better to veer left to the old War Department built road and cross over a short bridge spanning it, entering between the partly below ground level defence electric light generating station on the left and the eastern flank of the Dwejra Lines. A short ramp on the right leads to what was a searchlight position of which only the foundations survive. At this point one can take the somewhat precarious path on the glacis between a low redan and the ditch which offers splendid views over the Mgarr valley, or else follow the parallel wide track to the rear which is safer but lacking views. The entire length of Dwejra Lines, just over two kilometres, is now mostly covered with pine trees, presumably planted by hunters. On the inner side of the redan one comes across sally ports or entrances to tunnels leading down to the scarp galleries and the caponier in the ditch under the serrations in the wall of the entrenchment. Some of these have very recently had their wooden doors broken into and are now accessible with some difficulty though they are very clean inside. Permanent concrete gun emplacements and flat gun platforms with ramps for field guns were ranged to fire across the valley below.
At the western end of Dwejra Lines one comes upon perhaps the most picturesque and photographed part of the Victoria Lines, namely Bingemma Gap. Here the restored wall, perforated by eighteen musketry loopholes, zigzags down to the valley. It then crosses over a narrow masonry fortified bridge or stopwall. The parapet of the bridge was also pierced by musketry loopholes. The wall then rises up the hill on the opposite side close by the quaint chapel of the Madonna tal-Ittra. This word is a typical local corruption of the correct Greek name which is ‘Hodegitria’, that is, the Madonna showing Baby Jesus as the road to a Christian way of life. The chapel was built in 1680 by the Noble Stanislaw Xara instead of a previous one built by his uncle in 1600. The titular painting on the altar is by the famous painter Stefano Erardi, who also painted the nave of Our Lady of Victory in Valletta. Another interesting feature of this site is a series of tombs dug into the vertical cliff face on the eastern side of the valley, which are reputed to date back to the late Roman and Byzantine paleo-Christian periods.
1. Main gate 2. Underground engine room for searchlight 3. Artillery platform for field gun 4. Caponier 5. Scarp flanking gallery 6. Indented parapet for battery of field guns 7. Ramp leading down to scarp gallery 8. Protective emplacements for 64-pd RML guns on disappearing mounts 9. Battery for three 5-inch BL guns on barbette mountings 10. Searchlight emplacement 11. Sally port leading down into ditch
Nadur Tower and the heavy anti-aircraft battery
The Infantry Line continues on the hill across the road from the chapel. In parts this was restored some years back. It stops where the sheer cliff face makes access impossible. It is here better to retrace one’s steps to the asphalted road leading up to Nadur Tower. The garigue terrain on either side of the road rising to Nadur Tower is characterised by a number of cart ruts and tombs on the slope in the direction of Gomerino. The tower was built in 1637 during the magistracy of the French Grand Master Lascaris Castellar and provided a visual link between Mdina and the coastal watch towers of Lippija atop Gnejna Bay and Ghajn Tuffieha. Next to the tower are two underground water tanks which, being sited at the highest point at 815 ft above sea level, could supply the various gun positions and military installations on this sector.
During the Second World War the tower was used as an observation post for the nearby troop of four 3.7” anti-aircraft guns known as NEDDY Battery which was manned by officers and men of the
2nd Regiment, Royal Malta Artillery. Regrettably, like other gun positions, it was partly taken over by farmers and two of the gun pits have been incorporated into ramshackle structures. The other two are still intact but the command post and predictor and height finder posts have seen better days. On the night of 14th April 1942— the day before Malta was awarded the George Cross by King George VI—the site was raided by enemy aircraft and a bomb crashed through the roof of one of the officers’ accommodation huts. Luckily its occupier Lt Maurice Agius (now retired Major) was in the command post at the time standing in for a fellow officer that night. The bomb landed on his bed and went right through his best service dress trousers which was neatly folded on it without exploding. It only went off some hours later injuring two gunners.
Left: Nadur Tower and underground water tanks in foreground
Below: The restored loophole wall at Bingemma Gap with the chapel in the background
Above: The semiunderground command post where Major Agius was sleeping when a German bomb landed on his bed
Fort Bingemma
By far the largest and most imposing military establishment in the upper part of the Victoria Lines, is Fort Bingemma. Work on the fort began in 1875 and was completed three years later. It had a diamond-shaped keep on its eastern end, detached from the rest of the fort by a ditch. The keep was approached across a chain-counterpose lifting bridge spanning the outer ditch along its land front. On either side of the bridge there is a short, covered way accessible from a stepped platform to enable riflemen to fire on the approach to the main gate.
Initially, the fort was to be armed by three 64-pounder rifled muzzle loading guns mounted in open en barbette emplacements. In 1904 these were replaced by one, more modern 9.2” Mark X, breach-loading gun and two 6” Mark VII breach-loading guns. In 1939 the two 6” guns were removed and only the bigger gun remained positioned on the second emplacement on the western side of the fort facing the sea. It had a range of 20,800 yards or just under 12 miles. In addition, according to Dr Stephen Spiteri, the leading authority on Malta’s fortifications, four twin Lewis light machine guns for anti-aircraft defence were mounted on the fort’s keep.
There was a battery command post. A unique feature of Fort Bingemma are the two serrated casemates at each of its western and eastern salients, which were intended for the mounting of an 8” smooth bore gun in each one of them. However, these were never installed. During the war the fort had a garrison of seventy-five men armed with rifles and two Tommy Guns for use by the parachutist hunting squad. Eventually a new entrance was constructed and was accessible from a bridge traversing the ditch on its south-western extremity, allowing heavier vehicles to access the outer parts of the fort. Access to the fort is barred by a padlocked gate behind which a pack of baying dogs deter anyone who ventures too close to it.
Left: Aerial view of Fort Bingemma (courtesy of Dr Stephen Spiteri)
Left: One of the two serrated casements on the western salient of Fort Bingemma
Below: Typical layout of one of the Howitzer batteries (courtesy of Dr Stephen Spiteri)
The fort was placed ‘Out of action’ and into ‘Care and Maintenance’ in 1943 and in the early 1960s was handed over to the Maltese authorities. Since then it has been occupied by persons who flatly refuse to let anyone inside. It is indeed a pity that such a gem of Victorian military architecture is the preserve of these individuals.
The Howitzer batteries
To the rear of the central and western segments of the Victoria Lines there were seven Howitzer batteries and the map shows the siting of numbers 4, 5, 6 and 7 batteries. Each battery housed four mobile Howitzer guns and their respective positions were separated by earthen traverses ending in a masonry revetment fitted with a small ammunition cubicle made of concrete and iron. They were intended to lob shells over the infantry line onto the low ground below the Great Fault. These four batteries have all but disappeared as the earthen traverses were reclaimed to replenish the topsoil of nearby fields. Only the uppermost layers of the revetments of no. 4 Battery can be seen by peering over a high wall constructed recently to enclose private property. No. 5 is along the left side of the road leading from Nadur Tower to Fort Bingemma. Only the stone facings survive in batteries no. 5 and no. 7. This last one is about 100 metres away from Kuncizzjoni chapel hidden in a copse of trees in an enclosed field. The stone facings in battery no. 6, close by the road leading down to Santi Gap, have been incorporated into a field retaining wall. It was only after many attempts that we managed to locate these batteries.
Far right: Kuncizzjoni ta' Calumia fortified position
Right: Infantry wall leading down to Fomm ir-Riħ Bay redoubt Past Santi Gap, the wall then follows the edge of the heights to Kuncizzjoni where close to the western extremity of the Great Fault, overlooking the picturesque Fomm ir-Riħ Bay stands the Kuncizzjoni ta’ Calumia Fortified Electric Light engine room. This has been recently restored by the Mgarr Local Council and an Institute of the University of Malta. The perimeter of this outpost has a rubble wall with loopholes for rifle fire. The complex is topped by a light directing station and on the north-west side it is flanked by a rifle gallery with thirty-three loopholes for small arms fire in the direction of Fomm ir-Riħ Bay. Behind this gallery is a flight of rock-hewn steps leading down to the electric light engine room, magazines and the accommodation block below ground level, with their windows all protected by armoured shutters, each with a single loophole for small arms fire.
The Fomm ir-Riħ Redoubt
The infantry wall then extends down the escarpment towards the bay where it ended in a redoubt which was intended to be armed with a number of Maxim machine guns. This last outpost has deteriorated considerably and only parts of it seem to have survived as a retaining wall for an improvised rainwater reservoir at the bottom of the hill.
The Second World War
With some 30,000 men under arms deployed all over the Maltese countryside, it was to be expected that the defences along the Victoria Lines were also heavily manned as a second line of defence. We have it on record that the chief of the Imperial General Staff, Sir John Dill (while in transit from Cairo to London in the company of the War Cabinet minister, Sir Anthony Eden) inspected a company of the 4th Battalion of the Royal East Kent Regiment (The Buffs) at Falka Gap and the 8th Battalion of the Manchester Regiment on the Victoria Lines on 27th March 1941. It is also recorded that the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Irish Fusiliers was responsible for the Madliena, Gharghur and Naxxar sectors of the Lines.
Besides infantry units, along the Great Fault there were anti-aircraft batteries at Nadur Tower, Bisbizija and Naxxar together with mobile field gun positions and searchlight emplacements in addition to fixed defences described in these two articles and the pill boxes built just before or during the war. Whereas the anti-aircraft batteries sited along the Great Fault were very active throughout the entire three-year aerial siege, the anticipated airborne and seaborne invasion by the Axis forces, planned for high summer 1942, never materialised and so the Infantry Line was never tested in battle.
Left: Map showing location of 4,5,6 and 7 Howitzer batteries and Fomm ir-Riħ redoubt
Sporadic restorations
In 1995 the local councils of Mosta, Mgarr, Rabat, St Paul’s Bay, Naxxar, Gharghur, Swieqi and Pembroke had teamed up in a very laudable European Union Med Urbs project with a view to developing a heritage trail along the Victoria Lines. This project, which started with a great deal of good will and enthusiasm has fizzled out over the years. Apart from some initial clean-ups of sections of the miles of patrol paths and some sporadic restorations here and there, very little was done for many years. Only recently has some restoration started at ‘Top of the World’ at Gharghur by the Restoration Directorate and Ambjent Malta. The Friends of the Victoria Lines, spearheaded by Ray Cachia Zammit, have a very active website updating information and urging the creation of a heritage trail along the Lines. Meanwhile natural decay and vandalism continue to take their toll on this remarkable military project that must have provided a regular source of employment to Maltese craftsmen in the last three decades of the nineteenth century. n
SOURCES: Maurice G. Agius, Recollections of a Malta HAA Gunner (Malta: Allied Publications, 2008); Ray Cachia Zammit, The Victoria Lines, Malta (Malta: Midsea Books, 2021); Ray Cachia Zammit, ed., Malta’s Heritage: The Victoria Lines (Malta: Progress Press, 1996); Ray Cachia Zammit, ed., The Victoria Lines: New Edition with a Fold Out Map (2003); Denis Rollo, The Guns and Gunners of Malta (Mondial, 1999); Stephen C. Spiteri, The Knights’ Fortifications (1989); Stephen C. Spiteri, The British Fortifications (1991); Stephen C. Spiteri, British Military Architecture in Malta (1996); Stephen C. Spiteri, The Fortifications of Malta (Malta: BDL, 2017).
