MALTA’S GREAT PART

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 December 1943, Page 2

MALTA’S GREAT PART

IN MEDITERRANEAN WAR SIR K. PARK’S OUTSTANDING LEADERSHIP. SUPERIOR ENEMY FORCES OVERCOME. (Special P.A. Correspondent.) (Received This Day, 8.30 a.m.) LONDON, December 26. Of many crucial Rattles in lliis Avar, two spring' easily to mind —those of Britain and Malta. It is a source of pride to New Zealand that in both those vital struggles Air Vice-Marshal Sir Keith Park, formerly of Dunedin took an outstanding part. He commanded the famous No. .11 Group which crippled Goering’s Luftwaffe in the drama- • lie summer of 1940. Two years later, as A.O.C. Malta, he successfully defied the Luftwaffe’s furious onslaught on the George Cross island. If you.wanted to irritate Air ViceMarshal Park—which would not be advisable —you would elaborate the ability of Malta to sit back and take the full weight of German bombing, and it received just under 13,000 tons. This view is anathema to Park’s energetic, aggressive mind. In his view, Malta was not a bomb sponge, but a fortress which tied up superior forces of the enemy and made a valuable contribution to General Montgomery’s and General Eisenhower’s campaigns in North Africa and Tunisia, in addition to carrying on a “private war” with the Luftwaffe in Sicily and Sardinia.

OFFENSIVE SPRINGBOARD. When Air Vice-Marshal Park arrived’ in Malta in July, 1942, the island was just about “out.” It was his job to develop it into an offensive spring- ; board and he did it. In those dark • days the Services were short of flour >• and bully beef and the R.A.F. twice had only one week’s supply of petrol f left. Petrol was so short that Park . used to begin his day by reading a big graph showing the petrol position and how much had been used on the previous day. He worked on a quota and , if that quota was exceeded on one day ■ then the following day’s operations had to be restricted. The first of the R.A.F’s. fighters crippled the German fighter force over Malta. Then, despite the petrol shortage, Park began attacking the Germans on Sicily, where they had massed 700 fighters and bombers. Park saw that if he could tie up that force it would greatly assist Generals Eisenhower and Montgomery. He set out to obtain air superiority, despite all Malta’s disadvantages. Park sent his Spitfires over Sicily on sweeps, and when the Luftwaffe did not come up to be shot down over their own aerodromes Park put two 250 pound bombs on Spitfires. It was the first time Spitfires had ever carried bombs. Many thought the idea crazy, but Park proved right. They were a great success, and when the Germans saw the Spitfires coming, they had to come up to meet them in case they were carrying bombs. Park also put bombs on Beaufighters for the first time. In both cases the Royal Navy supplied scrap metal for bombracks and dockyard workers made them. Next Park set about sinking ' the ships supplying Rommel in Bengj hazi. He watched the convoys buildi ing up in Brindisi and Taranto and I then attacked them by day and night j when they put to sea. He also ordered I the bombing of Benghazi, Sfax, Tunis, i Bizerta and Tripoli by his small, high- ; ly-trained force. He sent out MosI quitos on intruder work in the Desert behind Rommel. They shot up convoys by day and night., causing great disruption. AT THE RIGHT MOMENT. When the British and Americans were landing in North Africa, Park was watching, the Germans building up a torpedo-bomber force in Sardinia. Then, at the right moment, he bombed the airfields, destroying aircraft and disrupting installations. His crews were so enthusiastic that they did two raids nightly. If that torpedo-bomber force had been launched against the Allied armada the story of the landings might have been different. Park repeated these successful tactics in Tunis. As soon as l the Germans landed aircraft in Tunis, Spitfires photographed them. Then, within two hours, Park launched a first-class Beaufighter force to do low bombing and strafing. They met no flak and no fighter opposition. It was “money for old rope.” That night Wellingtons bombed and started fires. Park continued these tactics until he guessed the Germans had built up a flak and fighter defence. Then he switched his effort elsewhere. His raids undoubtedly were a great help to General Eisenhower. Park was again at the helm in the invasion of Sicily, for all the air operations were directed from Malta.

Today the war has passed on and left Malta far behind. It bears and will bear for some time to come the scars of German bombing, but it played its full role, aided by the daring, aggressive and clear mind of this famous New Zealander. Malta will stand out as a shining example of the flexibility of air power, the ability of the British race to improvise and the tremendous hitting power of quite a small air force when it is centralised and organised so that its striking force can be concentrated from hour to hour on targets vital to the campaign going on around it. Malta’s achievement is also an example in the co-operation of all three services, working together as one.