Currently, our country is facing the challenge of protecting its people from the deadly invisible Covid-19 virus and its variants. Another great challenge faced by the Maltese islands during the course of history were the preparations made for protection against airiel bombing prior to the declaration of hostilites in June 1940. Precautions by way of anti-gas protection and shelter excavation were still inadequate and documentation suggests that early measures, were, to say the least, very poor and dangerously low in protection.

One of the most important strategies of civil and military authorities in making Malta impregnable to the enemy was to immediately have in place departments dealing with casualties and damage resulting from enemy action.

The co-ordination of the work of these departments was of utmost importance and each head was issued with a memorandum to ensure that such co-ordination was implemented. Circulars were subsequently issued to the public to help in its prepardness.

The main departments most concerned with dealing with casualties and damage were the following:

(a)    The Malta Police

(b)   The Air Raid Precautions Department

(c)     The Demolition and clearance Department

(d)    The District Commissioners (or Protection Officers)

An early circular, issued as a guideline to the public, suggested how the public could seek protection by having a refuge room at home or at work. Viewed within the context of a threat of hostilities reaching the island, the measures were most inadequate because no building could withstand the effects of high-calibre bombs which were used by Germans and Italians during the war.

The tragic effects and lessons of the consequences of bombing had already been made very clear in that the German air force had bombed Guernica in 1937 where 70% of the town was destroyed and 1,600 civilians (one third of the population) killed or wounded.

A refuge room

The guidlines instructed every household and employer to select in their house or place of business a room suitable for use as a refuge room. This room was not required to be fitted up unless a crisis seemed to be developing in which Malta might be exposed to attack.

It was thought that the houses of our towns were so solidly built that they would give excellent protection from the effects of both gas attack and high explosive bombs and hence people were encouraged not to leave their houses unnecessarily.

In fact people were asked to stay indoors, and if caught in the street, they were to go quietly home or to the nearest shelter whichever was nearer.

Specific arrangements were given on how each room should be set up:

(a)    Frames were to be placed on each side of the door on which to hang blankets. These blankets, if kept wet during raids, would exclude gas and prevent it entering the room when persons need to go out or come in. The fear of gas attacks was on the authorities' minds due to the use of poison gas by the Italians in the Italo-Ethopian war of 1935.

(b)   Rags, paper and so on were to be kept in the room for use in stopping cracks.

(c) Materials for stopping up fire-places and ventilators were to be kept in the room.

(d) Frames were to be placed round the inside of windows on which to fix a blanket during air-raids. If kept wet during raids, this would exclude gas and also prevent splinters of glass entering should explosions break the windows.

Excavation of underground shelters was not yet suggested to the public in this Circular but makeshift arrangements, which the authorities thought could afford some degree of protection. In reality, these measures were not safe at all because if the building received a direct hit, the people inside would end up buried dead or wounded under the rubble.

(e) If the person had a house with more than one storey, a room on the ground floor is preferable.

(f) The windows were to be protected by strong shutters or by sandbags, or boxes filled with earth or loose stones. A mattress against the windows was a good substitute.

The following necessities were be kept in the room:

(a)    Cold food and provisions

(b)   Plates, knives and forks, etc.

(c)    Essential furniture for the number of people using the room

Trenches

If the peron had a garden or owned a field near the house, he was instruced to dig a trench for the protection of himself and his family. The trench was to be three feet wide and seven feet deep and as long as is required to shelter the members of the entire household allowing two feet for each person.

The trench was to be roofed over with corrugated iron or stone and the earth placed on top of it. The trench was to be, if possible, as far away from the house as the height of the house.

General precautions

During hostilties everyone was to always carry the anti-gas respirator with them wherever they went and everyone was to find the nearest shelter, First-Aid decontamination centre and the nearest Police Station.

If there is any possibility of an attack no one was to go out unnecessarily and instead go home or to the nearest public shelter immediately once the  Warning signal was sounded.

Provision was to be made for the protection of invalids. If necessary a refuge room was to be made of the room in which they habitually reside.

A list of shelters was given and these consisted of the old railway station tunnels of Valletta, those from Valletta to Floriana and from Floriana to Hornworks.

A list of churches was also given where people could seek shelter. Sheltering in the crypts of churches resulted in heavy casualties during the course of the war. On 9 April 1942 a bomb fell right down through the roof of Mosta church. This was one of the biggest churches and there were hundreds of people in it. Miraculously it did not explode. But on 28 April, at St Publius Church, the people there suffered a different fate as enemy warplanes targeted the church leaving 13 dead.

One important motto placed on the Circulars was as follows:

DO NOT PANIC. STOP OTHER PANICKING.

PANIC MAY BE AS DANGEROUS AS BOMBS.

As the war progressed the lessons were bitterly learned by the mistakes presented in these circulars. As a result, the shelter excavation programme went in full swing as taking cover in the Maltese rock shelters proved the best protection against high-calibre bombs. Other means of seeking protection (as the unsafe ones mentioned herein) were completely discarded.