The Malta Force

HMS/M Unrivalled at Malta in 1943

Britain, standing alone after their success in fending off the threat of German invasion in 1940, after they had been driven out of mainland Europe, were able to fight on in only one theatre of war - North Africa.

At this point, Free France had been taken out of the war, Italy had, as expected, fallen in with Germany and the Greek Islands including Crete were in the hands of the Axis powers. The desert armies based in Egypt to defend the Suez Canal, after initial successes against Italian forces, were about to face stiffer opposition in the might of Rommel's Afrika Korps. British reinforcements, fuel, ammunition, and all other support had to travel by sea the full length of the Atlantic, around the Cape of Good Hope, up into the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Suez Canal. The Germans 'merely' had to cross the Mediterranean to Libya and Tunisia, and they had the ports of France, Italy, Greece and the Balkans at their disposal. On 10th January 1941, Commander G.W.G. ('Shrimp') Simpson, RN, arrived in Malta and took up his duties as Commander (Submarines), Malta. His orders from the C-in-C Malta, were simple,

'Stop all supplies from Italy to Tripoli'

Commander G.W.G. (Shrimp) Simpson, RN,
the Commander (Submarines) of the 10th Flotilla. (Later Captain).

The base at Malta was a transit point at best, any ships staying there would be destroyed by the Italian air force, (the 'Regia Aeronautica') but it remained a staging post for convoys moving through the Mediterranean and a viable base to assault the convoy routes between Italy and North Africa. In effect, Malta was an offensive outpost for the Allies (i.e. the Royal Navy and a small number of RAF aircraft). If Malta hadn't been offensive, and a danger to Axis shipping, it would have been of little strategic value, other than as another 'stepping-stone' across a sea which, to all intents, was almost completely in Axis hands except for the ends around Alexandria, in Egypt at the Eastern end and at Gibraltar in the West. Additionally, the cost of invading Crete effectively prevented the Axis forces from ever attempting the same kind of assault against Malta. Sicily, to the north of Malta, had Italian and German dive bombers, fighters and reconnaissance aircraft. Pantelleria, to the North West and between Malta and the Tunisian coast, was an Italian fortress operating E-boats. (See note at end of 'page' - **)

During 1940, several large patrol submarines of the 'T' Class and older 'River', 'O', 'P' and 'R' classes had called at Malta, staging there for anti-shipping patrols in the deeper waters off Italy, but it was gradually realized that the main duels would be fought in the shallower waters around Cape Bon, Taranto, Benghazi and Tripoli. The newer U-class submarines were diverted from the North Sea where they were experiencing a lack of targets once Norway had been overrun. Simpson established a base at Lazaretto, not far from Grand Harbour, and Field Martial Kesselring hurled the Luftwaffe at Malta only a few days after the commander's arrival.

Behind the buildings at Lazaretto, rose a thirty foot thick solid rock wall, which was soon carved out into bombproof shelters. The Maltese people themselves carved out homes in the old half-completed canal between Valletta and Sliema harbours. As the submarines started to arrive, so did the supplies needed to keep them and their crews functioning. Later, the workshops and offices were commissioned as HMS Talbot.

The operations and successes of the 10th Submarine Flotilla would never have been possible without the tireless work of Lt. Cdr. Sam MacGregor and his repair staff, working through the night in April 1942 to repair the submarines, and waiting in the bomb shelters for the Luftwaffe raids to cease during the days.

The Mediterranean is a very difficult hunting ground for submarines, in some places deep and clear, the outline of a submerged craft is visible for miles. In many places where the 10th Flotilla operated, the sea was very shallow and was poorly charted at that time, causing many a submarine to bump along the bottom during an attack. Ultra-shallow seas forced submarines to caution in those areas where the depth was such to allow the laying of mines, and closer to the coast they would be avoiding hordes of small craft housed in many bases to hunt down and attack submarines. The whole operating area for the Malta submarines was within the range of land-based reconnaissance aircraft. Mirages also created confusion as land and other objects appeared to be distant aircraft carriers or enemy ships. Another problem, mainly encountered near the Northern coasts, was that of the many rivers emptying fresh water into the Mediterranean; this would cause serious 'layering', where a submarine might 'drop' 100 feet in seconds in the less buoyant water. Off the Tunisian coast, another problem was encountered, what to do about enemy ships in French territorial waters. With the advance of the enemy along the North African coastline, more ports became available for the handling of the essential supplies, resulting in a greater dispersal of shipping.

The Captain S/M 1st Flotilla wrote, "The German advance in Libya increased the number of terminal ports for Libyan traffic and the consequent dispersal has made the covering of shipping waters more difficult. Considerable traffic in small coastal craft is known to have taken place in the Gulf of Sirte and our submarines have carried out patrols with the object of disrupting this as far as possible. Most of these ships are very small craft, not worth a torpedo, and they stick to the 10-fathom line. Attack with the gun necessitates an approach into shallow water with a sandy bottom in the event of an air attack. As, however, no craft other than submarines are suitable or available for the interception of this traffic, these risks have perforce to be accepted.

Faced with all these problems, Simpson decided to have his submarines lay their trap off Tripoli, where the enemy would be congratulating themselves on a safe arrival. First they had to find out the enemy's route. Upright ruled out the northern route to Tripoli, and Unique went west. Unique found two ships heading for port, firing at the second but missing. The first kill of the Malta Force Submarines went to Lieutenant R.D. Cayley, commanding the Utmost. She damaged a 5,463-ton transport on 12th February 1941 near the Tripolitanian-Tunisian border.

One of the 10th SM Flotilla boats at Lazaretto.

Since 10th June 1940, four submarines had patrolled out of Malta and only one had returned. HMS Upholder arrived in Malta under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Malcolm David Wanklyn. On her first patrol, she sunk an 8,000 ton supply-ship. During the first four months of 1941, the Luftwaffe bombed Malta, but not the actual submarine base itself. Air raids, night attacks, low-level minelaying and dive-bombing were all employed against the island, its defenders and inhabitants. Aircraft defence was negligible, the fighter squadrons soon being eroded, leaving only a handful of Wellington light bombers and Fleet Air Arm Swordfish to carry on the fight. The Wellingtons and Swordfish were able to attack shipping, but were only able to patrol for short durations, and once a Swordfish had dropped its torpedo it had to return to base. The submarines not on patrol laid in a crescent-shaped trough so that a straight stick of bombs could not fall along it, each submarine being connected to the shore by a floating gangway.

HMS/M Porpoise, part of the 'Magic Carpet' arrives in Malta with supplies.

Later in the campaign, the older and bigger Porpoise, River and Oberon-classes were introduced to ferry supplies and passengers to Malta as underwater freighters, creating what was to become known as the 'Magic Carpet'. Two of the most regular 'Magic Carpet' boats were the Clyde and the Porpoise (pictured), but all submarines passing Malta would be loaded up with supplies for the island, and the old light cruiser HMS Breconshire made several trips. (On one trip, the Porpoise suffered attacks with 87 depth charges and a shower of aircraft bombs). This 'Magic Carpet' brought 84,280 gallons of petrol, 83,340 gallons of kerosene, 30 tons of general stores, 12 tons of mail, 6 tons of munitions and 126 essential personnel to Malta.

Among the sinking of enemy ships, the submarines also regularly landed commandos on the enemy coasts for sabotage and to aid partisan groups later in the war.

In September 1941, the submarine force had already lost five boats and Wanklyn started his fourteenth patrol. Along with Unbeaten, Upright and Ursula, Upholder left to a pre-conceived plan to intercept and sink three liners leaving Taranto for Tunisia. The four submarines took up position, three in a line at an angle across the enemy's route to the north of Misurta, on the north-west corner of Sirte. Ursula, having six torpedo tubes, filled the long stop, several miles west of the line.

After reaching their positions, Upholder's gyro compass ceased to function and was forced to rely on the much less accurate magnetic compass. The enemy ships passed Unbeaten, and the submarine was unable to close in time and so took up position to finish off any lame ducks. The three transports had an escort of three transports and Upholder closed at full speed. Upholder went in alone against nine heavily armed enemy ships. With consummate skill, Wanklyn penetrated the destroyer screen and as Upholder swung widely, Wanklyn fired and two more times after that, each was judged entirely by eye, over a distance of five thousand yards.

In these circumstances, with everything stacked against him, Wanklyn scored three hits out of three. Two torpedoes hit Neptunia and one on Oceania. Neptunia was crippled and Oceania's propellers were torn away. The third transport, Vulcania collected one of the destroyers and fled at great speed. Neptunia sank, the destroyers around her collected survivors and swung back to Oceania. Wanklyn surfaced, aimed at the destroyers and fired two torpedoes at one mile. The ship sank in eight minutes after the torpedoes hit. Ursula took out Vulcania at long range. Utmost finished the liner off when she tried to head for Sicily after temporary repairs. The ship had been spotted by RAF reconnaissance planes and Ursula informed of her course. Later, in November, Utmost, having been unsuccessful in trying to catch Vulcania, sighted three Italian cruisers and several destroyers, and damaged the cruiser Trieste.

By 8th February 1942, six submarines, out of twenty, had been lost in fourteen months. On Friday 13th February, the Luftwaffe bombed Lazaretto with ground-mines, two of which landed squarely on Lazaretto, flattening the sick-quarters and mess-decks. New mess-decks were quickly created in the storerooms leading straight to the rock shelters. The raids continued, and on Friday 27th Lazaretto was hit again, armour-piercing bombs striking the submarine base.

Smoke screen being laid by a harbour launch over the submarine base at Malta with an air-raid imminent. The submarine alongside the wall to the right is probably the P36 which was sunk in that position.

Between 17th March and 17th April, the Polish submarine ORP Sokol rested in a berth alongside Lazaretto, where she was bombed, spending time in the dockyard in Grand Harbour exposed to night and day attacks as long as her work took. Several submarines including Pandora and P36 were sunk by air attack in the harbour. The Greek Glavkos was also sunk.

Lt Cdr Wanklyn with some of his crew in 1942.

On 6th April, Wanklyn took Upholder out on her 25th, and last, patrol before returning to England. HMS Urge heard depth-charging around Upholder's position in a line and she never returned. When the Admiralty finally announced the Upholder's loss, they took the extraordinary step of adding a tribute to the submarine and its captain:

"It is seldom proper for Their Lordships to draw distinction between different services rendered in the course of naval duty, but they take this opportunity of singling out those of HMS Upholder, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Wanklyn, for special mention. She was long employed against enemy communications in the Central Mediterranean, and she became noted for the uniformly high quality of her services in that arduous and dangerous duty. Such was the standard of skill and daring, that the ship and her officers and men became an inspiration not only to their own flotilla but to the fleet of which it was a part, and Malta, where for so long HMS Upholder was based. The ship and her company are gone, but the example and the inspiration remain.

(Left)Lt Cdr Wanklyn with some of his crew in 1942.

In the twenty-four successful patrols which this submarine had carried out in these waters she had built up a long record of success against the enemy, and of 36 attacks made, no fewer than 21 were successful. The Upholder sank:
3 U-boats
2 destroyers
1 armed trawler
15 enemy transports and supply-ships".

Lt Cdr David Wanklyn VC

Also operating around Malta had been the British naval 'Force K' - comprising the light cruisers Aurora, Neptune and Penelope and destroyers Lance, Lively, Havelock and Kandahar. After attacking an Italian battle squadron of three battleships, two heavy cruisers and ten destroyers which had been covering a convoy to Tripoli, the Force raced south from Malta to try and catch the convoy before it could enter harbour. About twenty miles east of Tripoli the Force ran into an unknown moored minefield. Neptune was lost, with only one survivor, Aurora and Kandahar were badly damaged, the latter so seriously that she had to be sunk, and Penelope was damaged. Force K was reduced to one cruiser and three destroyers, Malta's three airfield were for long periods out of action through bombing or bad weather which reduced the ground to mud, and Rommel's convoys were getting through regularly with a much heavier escort. With Rommel's ensuing advance eastwards to Tobruk, any reinforcements or supplies heading from Alexandria to Malta would now be subject to attack from enemy airfields on both Crete and North Africa. Malta's position as a naval base was untenable - to hold out longer would mean complete devastation for the local population.

With the loss of Upholder, Simpson was on the verge of quitting, but held on. The first wave of Spitfires arrived, but within 48 hours were reduced to a handful. In April 1942, Lazaretto was ruined by a Luftwaffe attack and all but five submarines had to leave for Gibraltar and then home for a refit. The other five - Una, Urge, P31, P34, P35 - headed for Alexandria in Egypt, to join up with the T-class boats. The Urge, under the command of Lt Cdr EP Tomkinson, DSO and Bar, was lost on its way East, on her 20th patrol.

King George VI visits Malta in the war.

Between 1st January 1941 and 1st May 1942, the fifteen Malta Force Submarines had sunk 75 vessels with a total tonnage of nearly 400,000 tons. Ten submarines had been lost. There can be no doubt that the efforts of these submarines, along with the support afforded by serviceman and civilian alike on the island of Malta, and of the re-supplying convoys and submarines, had slowed down the German advance in Africa, giving the British 8th Army some time to build, but eventually the geography of the Mediterranean had decided the outcome. In time - nearly six more months - the 8th Army won their victory in North Africa and paved the way for the landings in Sicily. There are many 'what-if' questions that can be applied to the Second World War - there is surely no doubt about the answer to this one - If the Malta submarines hadn't slowed down Axis re-supply to Tripoli and Benghazi, there could have been no desert victory. Without that, there would have been no invasion of Southern Europe.

The war in the Mediterranean continued. After a brief sojourn at Alexandria, the 10th Flotilla, comprising Unbroken, Unison, Unbending and United, returned to Marsamuscetto and the new Malta Force. In support of the big, heavily escorted August convoy 'Pedestal', which got five supply ships out of fourteen through to the island, Unbroken attacked two cruisers, damaged the Bolzano and blew the bows off the Muzio Attendolo. Together with the 3rd Flotilla at Alexandria and the 8th Flotilla at Gibraltar, later Algiers, the 10th Flotilla harried the reinforcements of Rommels army after El Alamein and 18 submarines supported the 'Torch' landings in North Africa. Further successes - and some losses - followed: 'Chariot' raids on the Sicilian ports of Maddalena and Palermo, exploits by Safari, Sahib, Turbulent and Splendid. A total of 47 Allied submarines covered the invasion of Sicily, Operation 'Husky'. Shakespeare provided a flashing beacon for the Salerno landings and sank the Italian Argo class submarine Velella a few minutes before Italy officially surrendered. Just after the Italians had surrendered, the Unrivalled, Lt. Turner, went into Bari harbour, and organised all the shipping there into a convoy and escorted it to Malta. The force stayed at Malta until November 1943, when it moved to La Maddalena, until August 1944. On 11th September 1943, Sir Andrew Cunningham signalled the Admiralty:

From: CinC Mediterranean - To: Admiralty
'Be Pleased to inform their Lordships that the Italian battlefleet now lies at anchor under the guns of the fortress of Malta.'

In September 1944, with so few German targets left, the famous 10th Submarine Flotilla was disbanded although some of the boats continued to work out of Malta in the Aegean. The last British submarine sunk in the Mediterranean was Sickle, June 44, the 45th Royal Navy submarine loss in the Mediterranean. From June 1940 to the end of 1944 the flotillas had accounted for:

one million tons of Axis shipping in the Mediterranean theatre, three cruisers, over 30 destroyers, torpedo boats and several German and Italian submarines.

To these can be added the uncompleted light cruiser Ulpio Traiano, sunk at Palermo in January 1943 by submarine-launched Chariot human torpedoes.

Captain Shrimp Simpson, on promotion

The 10th Submarine Flotilla, between January 1941 and April 1942:

Headquarters Staff:

Captain GWG Simpson RN, CB, CBE.
Cdr G Tanner RN, OBE
Lt Cdr (E) SA McGregor, RN, OBE
Lt Cdr R Giddings, RN, OBE

HMS Upright (Commanded by Lieutenant E.D. Norman DSO, DSC and then J.S. Wraith DSC) (1 Cruiser 1 destroyer, 4 supply ships and 1 floating dock for 23,408 tons)

HMS Utmost (Commanded by Lieutenant-Commander R.D. Cayley DSO) (1 transport and 6 supply ships for 43,993 tons)

HMS Unique (Commanded by Lieutenant A.F. Collett DSC) (1 AMC, 1 transport and 2 supply ships for 20,382 tons)

HMS Upholder (Commanded by Lieutenant-Commander M.D. Wanklyn VC, DSO) (2 destroyers, 3 submarines, 3 transport, 10 supply ships, 2 tankers and 1 trawler for 128,353 tons)

HMS Usk (Commanded by Lieutenant P.R. Ward and then Lieutenant F.P. Darling)

HMS Ursula (Commanded by Lieutenant P.R. Ward and then Lieutenant A.R. Hezlet DSC) (2 supply ships for 14,640 tons)

HMS Undaunted (Commanded by Lieutenant J.L. Livesay)

HMS Unbeaten (Commanded by Lieutenant E.A. Woodward DSO) (2 submarines, 2 supply ships, 1 tanker, 1 collier and 2 schooners for 30,616 tons)

HMS Union (Commanded by Lieutenant R.F. Galloway) (1 supply ship, 2,800 tons)

HMS Urge (Commanded by Lieutenant-Commander E.P. Tomkinson DSO and Bar) (2 cruisers, 1 destroyer, 1 transport, 5 supply ships and 2 tankers for 74,669 tons)

HMS P33 (Commanded by Lieutenant R.D. Whiteway-Wilkinson DSC) (1 supply ship, 6,600 tons)

HMS P32 (Commanded by Lieutenant D.A.B. Abdy)

ORP (Polish) Sokol (Commanded by Commander Karnicki VM, DSO) (1 destroyer, 2 supply ships and 1 schooner for 7,462 tons)

HMS P34 (Commanded by Lieutenant P.R.H. Harrison DSO, DSC) (1 submarine, 1,461 tons)

HMS P31 (Commanded by Lieutenant J.B. de B. Kershaw DSO) (1 cruiser and 1 supply ship for 12,100 tons)

HMS Una (Commanded by Lieutenant D.S.R. Martin and then Lieutenant C.P. Norman) (1 supply ship, 1 tanker and 1 schooner for 15,355 tons)

HMS P38 (Commanded by Lieutenant R.J. Hemmingway DSC) (1 supply ship, 4,170 tons)

HMS P35 (Commanded by Lieutenant S.L.C. Maydon) (1 supply ship and 1 salvage tug for 4,471 tons)

HMS P36 (Commanded by Lieutenant H.N. Edmonds DSC)

HMS P39 (Commanded by Lieutenant N. Marriott, DSC with Lieutenant J.D. Martin as spare commanding officer)

Between January 1941 and December 1942, the Italians lost 171 ships in the Mediterranean, totalling over half a million tons. A high proportion of those losses were inflicted by the submarines of Malta, supported by those from Alexandria/Beirut and Gibraltar. Losing half a million tons of shipping was key to the Axis defeat in North Africa.

However, to this fine record we must add some sad details. Unbeknown to the commanders of the successful submarines, some of the Italian shipping sent to the bottom of the Mediterranean carried British and Allied Prisoners of War:
PORPOISE (Lt Cdr Pizey) of the 3rd Flotilla, torpedoed the Sebastiano Venier 9/12/41. She was beached at Methoni. In excess of 400 P.O.W.s were lost.
P38 (Lt. Hemmingway) sank the Ariosto 15/2/42. 138 P.O.W.s lost.
UPHOLDER (Lt Cdr Wanklyn) sank the Tembien 27/2/42. More than 400 P.O.W.s lost.
TURBULENT (Cdr. Linton) (3rd Flotilla) torpedoed Nino Bixio 17/8/42. 336 P.O.W.s lost.
UNRUFFLED (Lt. Stevens) sank Loreto 13/10/42. 130 P.O.W.s lost.
SAHIB (Lt. Bromage) sank Scillin 14/11/42. 787 P.O.W.s lost.
Information supplied by Brian Sims<

**Pantelleria:
This tiny island, between Tunisia and Sicily abd even smaller than Malta, became the first Italian territory to be surrendered to the Allies. The American forces, desperate to show the 'folks back home' how wonderful they had been, mined the old city on the island and filmed the explosions. The film was then edited, interspersed with shots of their bombers airborne, to show how they had attacked Italy.

Here's another useful webpage to complement the Malta information, courtesy of www.my-malta.com

5th February 2005, I received this E-mail - possibly somebody can help....

Home e-mail:matthias@mail.global.net.mt
School e-mail: eric@spmc.edu.mt

'OPHRYS', 11, Guze' Cardona Street,
Hal Qormi - QRM 08,
Malta G.C.

Dear Sir,
I understand this letter may come as a surprise to you, but I believe you may be able to help me in my work as an educator.

Even though I am a science teacher by profession, I am doing my utmost to instil in my students the knowledge and respect for those who risked their lives fighting the Nazi-Fascist forces during World War II, so that even today we could live in peace. 

I have more than a passing interest in local history, and it is my wish to pass on my love for the subject to my students. World War II history has always interested me, especially due to the fact that I had lost two great-uncles to the Axis Forces, in 1940 and in 1944 (both Merchant Navy men.) 

I’m sure you realise that for most teenage students, WWII is only just another chapter in a long history book. But, with 2005 being the 60th. anniversary of the end of the war, and when mass celebrations will be held the coming September to commemorate this event, it is my wish to somehow contribute, albeit on a small scale, towards the dissipation of knowledge about the many men and women who risked life and limb fighting the Axis-machine or otherwise to guard our island or help bring vital convoys into our harbours. 

As a result of this, my interest in these matters has enticed me to embark on a very ambitious school project as well.

I have set up a group of very keen history students and we are planning on holding an exhibition with photos and war memorabilia to help others get a glimpse of the part played by Malta, the Royal and the Merchant Navy, the Royal Air Force, and the Army between 1940 and 1945.

Hopefully, the centre of attraction of our exhibition will be a collection of photographs, recordings and autographed personal accounts of some of the men and women who were on active service during the war, particularly those based in Malta or working on Malta-bound convoys. 
In view of this, I would like to ask you if you could be so kind as to provide me with the contact details of any World War II Veterans from the R.N. Submarine Units, particularly those operating from Maltese Harbours or those having had anything to do with the Malta scene. 

I am also especially interested in contacting Mr. John Cruces, nephew of the late Mr. James Smith who saw service on HMS Upholder stationed at Lazzaretto in Malta during WWII.

If you feel it would be easier and/or more prudent, you may freely give them my contact details so they may contact me themselves if they wish so.

My intention is to ask them for a photograph of themselves (in period uniform, preferably) together with a few lines about their involvement in the war effort, either in Malta or in England.

As WWII mementos are today extremely difficult to come by, your precious help in this regard in view of our project will surely serve to make the delivery of our message much more effective.

Thanking you beforehand for any help you may be able to give me in this regard, I beg to remain, Sir,

Yours faithfully,

Eric Bonanno B.Ed. (Hons.)