Operation Husky - How Malta helped turn the Tide of World War II
- Spunt Malta
- Aug 28
- 5 min read
It was June 1942. Axis forces were celebrating the takeover of Libya, and with Rommel’s Afrika Korps pressing toward Egypt, the Mediterranean looked firmly under Axis control. Malta was the only speck in its way to control the seas.
This article is part of an ongoing collaboration with Lovin Malta
From Malta, Allied submarines and aircraft could strike Axis shipping routes to North Africa, cutting Rommel’s lifeline of fuel, weapons, and reinforcements. But geography also meant vulnerability. The Axis understood that controlling Malta would secure their supply routes and potentially open the way to Egypt and the Suez Canal. From 1940 to 1942, the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica attempted to bomb Malta into submission. By mid-1942, the island was the most heavily bombed place on earth.
Famished and surrounded on all sides, it seemed only a matter of time before Malta was starved into surrender. However, the success of Operation Pedestal turned the tide. Malta not only endured but went on the offensive. Between August 1942 and early 1943, Malta-based forces sank hundreds of thousands of tonnes of Axis shipping. Rommel’s Afrika Korps, starved of supplies, stalled at El Alamein. From that point onward, the strategic initiative shifted to the Allies.
The question became not whether Malta would survive, but how it could be used. The answer came in 1943 when Malta would become the springboard for an invasion of Europe in an initiative that became known as Operation Husky.
Preparations for Husky
By early 1943, Malta began its preparations to act as the main staging base for an amphibious assault on Sicily. The scale of preparations was unprecedented for the tiny island. The months leading up to July 1943 saw a vast influx of men and equipment. Merchant ships and warships crowded the Grand Harbour, unloading day and night. Valletta’s waterfront, was buzzing with the noise of military buildup.
Every airfield across Malta, including key bases like RAF Luqa and RAF Ta’ Qali, filled to capacity. RAF Luqa had long been integral to Malta’s air defence, while Ta’ Qali had been extensively developed into a fighter operations base by mid‑1943, hosting squadrons such as No. 81, No. 152, No. 154, and No. 232, all operating Spitfires and Hurricanes as preparations intensified. The total number of squadrons reached 35 when one includes the night-fighter squadrons, reconnaissance squadrons and air-sea rescue aircraft.
The harbours of Valletta and Marsamxett were filled with destroyers, landing craft, and support vessels. At times the naval presence was so dense that some ships had to queue outside the harbour, waiting for space. On land, soldiers camped in every available corner of Malta. Parade grounds, football fields, and stretches of open countryside were turned into temporary barracks, crowded with tents, trucks, tanks, and artillery.
Many Maltese locals do not know that an airfield was also built on Gozo by the Americans for these preparations as there was not enough room in the existing Maltese infrastructure. It has been forgotten by many. The airfield was built between Nadur and Xewkija and was called Ta’ Lambert and as only used for a few weeks for this operation.
Lascaris War Rooms
Beneath Valletta’s streets lies a warren of tunnels and chambers that once formed the nerve centre of Malta’s defence. The Lascaris War Rooms, carved painstakingly into the rock over three years, were in constant use and continual improvement during the island’s darkest hours. From here, the course of air battles was decided in real time.
At the heart of the complex were three key chambers. The fighter control room scrambled aircraft to meet incoming raids, the filter room processed radar signals picked up across the island, and the anti-aircraft operations room directed the guns that ringed Malta. Messages, often encrypted, pulsed through cables to ships, squadrons, and batteries, all coordinated from this underground hub.
The system was modelled on the Dowding system used so effectively in the Battle of Britain. Radar stations positioned around Malta fed information to the filter room, which then relayed the data to the operations team. A giant map dominated the plotting table, showing the Maltese islands surrounded by the central Mediterranean. To simplify tracking, the map was divided into numbered and lettered grid squares. Counters were moved across the board to show the progress of enemy raids and the movement of defending fighters.
From the commander’s vantage point, the entire aerial battle could be read at a glance. Information boards displayed the status of each squadron – whether airborne, refuelling, or already engaged.
By 1943, the Lascaris War Rooms had taken on an even greater role. They were transformed into the Allied advance headquarters for Operation Husky. General Eisenhower, Admiral Cunningham, Air Marshal Tedder, and Field Marshal Montgomery all directed the opening stages of the invasion of Sicily from this subterranean nerve centre. What had begun as Malta’s shield during the blitz became the command post for Europe’s first step towards liberation.
Civilian Contribution
For Maltese civilians, the preparations were unmissable. Ammunition dumps rose along the roads. Military traffic clogged streets that had once carried donkey carts. Farmers saw their fields repurposed as temporary airstrips or staging grounds. Despite the destruction and inconvenience of the preparations they had endured. Civilians rallied to support the Allied presence, providing manual labour, knowledge of terrain, and crucial logistical support.
Infrastructural Upgrades
The most pressing issue was water. Malta’s natural supply was meagre at the best of times, and in the heat of a Mediterranean summer it was dangerously inadequate. On 13 March 1943, Governor Viscount Gort issued a telegram ordering that all ships bound for Malta should use their onboard distillation plants and arrive with their tanks filled to capacity. Every drop was needed to support the swelling garrison.
Fuel reserves were expanded on an unprecedented scale. Bulk storage facilities for petrol were increased fivefold, from 3,500 to 18,000 tons, with new underground tanks cut into the rock. This ensured a steady flow of aviation fuel and naval supplies at a time when the success of the invasion depended on mobility and constant air cover.
The Invasion - Operation Husky is on its way
On the eve of 9 July 1943, after months of preparation, the order was given: Operation Husky was underway. From Malta’s harbours, convoys of barges, landing craft, and merchant ships began to depart, each loaded with troops, vehicles, and supplies. Overhead, the night skies roared with the sound of aircraft streaming north across the Sicilian Channel. The invasion that followed was one of the largest amphibious assaults in history. In its opening wave, some 160,000 troops came ashore, carried by a fleet of 600 ships that transported thousands of vehicles, artillery pieces, and essential matériel. Allied aircraft, flying from both Malta and North Africa, provided the crucial cover, pounding Sicilian airfields and coastal defences in the hours before the landings.
The beaches of Gela and Pachino were heavily bombarded before dawn, and by sunrise Allied soldiers were pouring ashore. In the days that followed, Malta remained indispensable to the operation, acting as the key supply hub. Landing craft and convoys cycled back and forth between Valletta and the Sicilian coastline, ensuring a constant flow of reinforcements and equipment to sustain the push inland.
Within 38 days, Sicily was in Allied hands. The consequences were dramatic. Mussolini was overthrown before the end of July, shattering the Fascist hold on Italy. By September, the country had surrendered, although German forces continued to resist in the peninsula. The Mediterranean was reopened to Allied shipping, making supply routes far shorter and safer, and the stage was set for the liberation of mainland Italy and, ultimately, the advance into Germany.
In the end Malta’s role in this success was indispensable. Without its harbours, airfields, and command rooms, the launch of Operation Husky would have been immeasurably more difficult, if not impossible. The tiny island made the difference in the global stage.
Sources
Aquilina, T. (2023). Operation Husky: Malta’s role and importance (Bachelor's dissertation).
Comments