The diary of the Reverend Reginald M. Nicholls, Chancellor of St.Paul’s Anglican Cathedral, Valletta, from 1931 to 1942. He lived in Malta and wrote almost daily in his diary. This diary is authentic and was written between 10th June 1940 and 1st April 1942. This is the 29th installment and is done in conjunction with the: Santa Marija Convoy Exhibition in the LASCARIS WAR ROOMS under Castille place, Valletta and the Fortification Builder Interpretation Centre Malta. Open from 11am till 4pm. The fighters for the defence of Malta have to be ready at an instant’s notice. The pilots sit with part of their flying kit already fitted. Every second counts. They fly off and have to rise immediately to 20,000 feet. It is a great strain. In addition, hundreds of planes of different sorts pass through Malta on their way to the Middle East. I have had one personal trial hanging over me for three months which to my great relief did not materialize as I feared it would. An English soldier from the West Kent Regiment quarrelled with another soldier over a slut of a girl. He knocked the other man out with a rifle-butt, then cut his throat, and with the assistance of another man put the body in a sack and threw it into a dry watercourse. Justice here is terribly slow, and the prisoner was about 4 months on remand. I saw him every week, and he used to say “ Well, if they hang me….....” and I felt certain that he would be condemned, as two Maltese had been put to death either this year or last - the first for about 20 years. But he was lucky. The jury voted 7 to 2; and as the vote for execution must be unanimous, he got a life sentence. The English barrister-soldier who defended him said that in all his experience - which was not small - he had never known a more sordid murder. Anyhow, thanks be to God, I was saved the horrid business of seeing him put through his last earthly punishment. Now I see him weekly, and he is not at all pleased at his treatment in the prison ! There are 2 other homicide remands awaiting trial. St.Stephens Day. Boxing Day. We are having our third noisy raid today, so I will add a little to this. The Germans are being beaten - at least temporarily - on every front except Sevastopol, and are taking it out of us here. We have had all-night raids, though one night a week ago, a Junker ‘tailed in’ on one of our bombers and got a Wellington and eleven men. Yesterday, God be praised we did not do so badly. The first alert was just as I was communicating the last five people at the Sung Eucharist; so we came down to the Crypt and finished the service there - a thing we have not had to do for several months Photos: Pilots in Cockpit fot quick Scramble. Air Raid Shelter in Mellieha. Air raids over Malta. Savoia Marchetti over Malta. Ju 88 Crashed at ta Qali.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 14:57:15 +0000
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