AXIS FORCES IN TUNISIA

Surrendered To Allies

13TH MAY 1943

As above 4th

As above 5th

As above 6th

7th

8th

9th

Feeling much better. Pain almost gone.

Started work. Did a few light jobs. A.A guns over G.H. now.

21.00. It is even heavier than during the blitz.

19th

103 The Axis Forces in Tunisia surrendered to the Allies on 13 May 1943, bringing to an end the North African campaign. 267,000 German and Italian soldiers became prisoners of war.

104 ‘Ambush’ is a 1939 American drama

20th no raid materialized. During evening we swim after tea.

06.30 we had

21st

A.A guns gave them a warm welcome. I saw E/A was seen coming down. Several warnings

Neumann and written by Laura Perelman and S. J. Perelman. Its plot involves a daring daylight robbery and hostage taking, with a spice of romance. ‘Riders of the Purple Sage’ is a 1941 American Western by James Tinling.

105 Neutral Port’ is a 1940 directed by Marcel Varnel

Entertaining National Service Association

22nd dinner hour and in evening. this morning, in which we had to take cover. to cinema in evening.

Leslie Banks, Yvonne Arnaud, and Phyllis Calvert, with a supporting role for Wally Patch. A British merchant ship is torpedoed by a German U-boat and takes shelter in a neutral port. The Captain then strikes back at the German enemy.

106 Bahama Passage’ is a 1941 American drama

Madeleine Carroll and Sterling Hayden, set in the Bahamas (where else!).

26th swimming.

107 ‘Hellzapoppin’ is a of Hellzapoppin, the humorous Broadway musical that ran from 1938 to 1941. It was produced by Universal Pictures and directed by H. C. Potter.

27th 05:30

28th 05:30 not do that.

07:30 hour, and again in evening. Never went to instead.

29th 05:30 were in action. Bombs in sea.

30th 05:30 Swim. 10:30 bit scorched. before.

31st 05:30 Swim. 07.00 now derationed. 07.15 ceased sweating once.

With supplies constantly running low, convoys entering the harbour attracted crowds, like this one at the bastion opposite a ravaged Sacra Infermeria in Valletta watching the remnants of Operation PEDESTAL limping into the Grand Harbour, NWM.HMC

1943

1st two occasions. A.A guns active. Swim.

Swim.

2nd Swim.

3rd

4th bad.

Swim. Some invasion barges came as if we shall be seeing some action

6th 7th

8th 9th

Pantelleria surrenders. 10th

11th

12th interesting. She was in Gib when I was last there. No cinema at night.

13th

14th 15th

17th

God Bless Her.

18th

A.A guns in action.

20th

21st

27th weather continues to be glorious. and in afternoon. Did not do much work. Ack.

1943

1st

Invasion Of Sicily

10TH JULY 1943 good.

Olive has not wrote.

2nd night. 9 till 1 shift.

3rd 4th

108

Source: Air Historical Branch: RAF Narrative (First Draft) The Middle East Campaigns Volume XI Malta June 1940May 1945 (op cit) wife.

109 Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily on 10 July 1943, was coordinated from the War Rooms beneath Lascaris Bastion, Valletta. The Lascaris War Rooms, and the adjacent War HQ for the Malta Defences in the siege of 1940-1943, have been restored and are under the care of Fondazzjoni Wirt Artna.

110 By the eve of the invasion of Sicily on 10 July, no fewer than were based in Malta and Gozo (where a temporary airstrip had been constructed to house three suadrons of USAAF reconnaissance units, in all totalling some 400

Frederick Galea. over Sicily – The crucial in the Battle of Sicily, January – August 1943, London: Grub Street, 2000.

111 feverish and debilitating illness, accompanied by headache, lasting around four days, transmitted in abundance in the rocky dusty conditions of summertime Malta.

112 The last bombs to fall on the Maltese Islands were on the night of 26-27 July attempt to disrupt the invasion. They were too late, the tide of war had turned.

Special Order of the Day, dated 17 July 1943: General Eisenhower’s message for a successful invasion, BJb.NWM.HMC

113 Extract from front page Times of Malta, 5 August, 1943

NWM.HMC

EISENHOWER TO GORT’S MALTA 113

The following historic statement was made in Malta on August 1, 1943, by General Eisenhower, the Allied Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean, when he arrived here for talks with Field Marshal The Viscount Gort V.C., and Admiral of the Fleet Sir Andrew Cunningham.

John Gunther’s exclusive story of the historic occasion upon which this statement was made appears on page 4 of this issue [Times of Malta, 5 August 1943].

Eisenhower’s Statement: through the stages of woeful unpreparedness, tenacious endurance, intensive preparation, and the initiation of a of attack until the whole task is complete. For this inspiring Field Marshal Lord Gort, the Fighting Services under his much.

How I love her. She will never know how much.

5th hangar.

Malta. 114

12th and several more small craft have arrived. If 1942 we should have had to surrender. leave. Swam and 13th

As above. 14th 15th

114 For detail, see Joseph Caruana, Destination Malta – The Surrender of the Italian Fleet

September 1943, Malta: Wise Owl Publications, and The Heritage Malta

National War Museum, Heritage Malta, 2022, pp.72-73.

With supplies constantly running low during the war, convoys entering the harbour always attracted crowds, like this one at the bastion opposite a ravaged Sacra Infermeria in Valletta watching the remnants of the iconic Operation PEDESTAL limping into the Grand Harbour, NWM.HMC

The original RAF Luqa ensign used between 1940St Paul’s Pro-Cathedral, Valletta

Donation record of Ben Jinks, 1994