大象传媒

Reg Gill, an RAMC sergeant radiographer, landed in Malta in July 1941. He had come with his unit to join the 45th General hospital, just opening after conversion from a half built school. An existing hospital had already been destroyed during the air attack on the aircraft carrier Illustrious in the Grand Harbour in January 1941.
Any relief at safe arrival disappeared along with sleep when the following night at about 2 am. there was a full scale battle as coastal defences fought off an attack by Italian MTB's on the newly arrived ships in the Grand harbour. The 9.2 inch guns were shaking the ground and firing right over the top of the new hospital. Not a peaceful place for patients to recuperate!

Reg was in the 45th General hospital one day when a land mine came down. It landed on the roof of the operating theatre. Reg's x-ray department was on the floor above. The parachute got caught on the roof and the 2000lb mine was swaying from side to side in the breeze. Eventually it was defused. A particularly dangerous job for the individual concerned.

The hospital was in a direct line between Sicily and the Grand harbour with its world famous massive barrage so if a bomber had been hit, it was at risk if the pilot, desperate to maintain height, jettisoned the bombs immediately rather than into the sea.

After the fall of Crete invasion seemed imminent and personnel for another hospital, the 39th General arrived in September 1941. That hospital was bombed and totally destroyed between February and April 1942. Reg has photos. It appeared deliberate and the reason was veiled in secrecy. The word in the Sergeants mess was that the Colonel had failed to inform Geneva that the brand new hospital was about to start taking patients.

There was another reason that made Malta's hospitals vulnerable. The Geneva convention required that military installations must be at least a kilometre from protected medical sites.
Malta had a large number of first aid post, regimental aid posts, field ambulance stations and casualty clearing station all within pecking distance of each other. There wasn't the required distance between medical facilities and the nearest gun because the island fortress just didn't have that amount of spare space. The 45th was at risk of accidental destruction but it did have a large red cross on the roof and the Germans knowing their pilots were treated there made every effort to avoid it.

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