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The Peril. In May 1942, the battle of Malta suddenly took on a new phase. Governor Dobbie was relieved. To fill his place came John Standish Surtees Prendergast Vereker, better known as General the Viscount Gort. He arrived in the midst of an air raid, was greeted by Chief Justice George Borg, who gave him a cut and bloodied hand to shake. Almost simultaneously there arrived reinforcements: more Spitfire planes. They hopped ashore from aircraft carriers. The U.S. carrier Wasp ferried in more. London had decided that the glory that was now Malta's must be maintained.
On the second anniversary of the raids, Malta chalked up these grim statistics: 2,537 alarms; 1,183 persons killed; 1,265 seriously injured; 18,498 buildings destroyed or damaged, including 112 churches, hospitals and schools. But a token of Malta's growing power was the swelling total of 590 Axis planes shot down, 231 probably destroyed, 546 damaged. British losses were at the ratio of about one to eight. Malta's determination to resist soared.
How Malta's resistance increased is shown by the rise in Axis losses since last May. Operating from the island, which is now a veritable aircraft carrier anchored off Sicily, the defenders have destroyed over two-thirds as many Axis planes in the past four months as they had destroyed in two years.
But Malta's peril is not ended; rather it has been enhanced. The stronger she becomes, the more the Axis is determined to flatten her into the sea. Today the center of Valletta is a ruin, in the midst of which, at last reports, a statue of Queen Victoria ("Old Ma") alone sits unscathed.
Power lines are now gone. Little or no sanitary facilities are left. Pollution rate is high and the danger from disease is great and constant. Judging by the heavy losses to two convoys last summer, convoying of supplies in quantity has become too costly to repeat, though the Royal Navy may try it. An increasingly serious problem, therefore, is the shortage of food and water. The riverless island has always depended for her water supply on rain.
In their wrath the Germans are using a rocket bomb designed to penetrate into Malta's deep shelters.
The Defender. When Gort took over, he turned his attention to community kitchens, which supplied 8,000 islanders last July, now supply 100,000. He set an example of frugal living by serving only civilian rations at Government House. The islanders approved.
He is an Old School Tie, but he is a tough Tie and a professional soldier. He entered the army at the age of 19, in 1905. In World War I, as commander of the First Grenadier Guards, he won the Victoria Cross. Among fellow officers, who declared that his battalions were "too bloody dangerous," Gort was considered mad as a hatter, though respected all around.
In post-war days he proceeded through China and India, as became a British officer, and returned to England to head the staff college at Camberley. In 1935 Gort was made a major general. On a sojourn in Switzerland, on skis, he collided with Transport Minister Hore-Belisha, who barked: "Who the hell are you?" Said Gort: "Gort."