Soldiers from a RMA living history group wearing WWII-era Khaki Drill uniforms and carrying .303 SMLE rifles on guard duty in Valletta in 2008A 40mm Bofors Anti-Aircraft gun used by the RMA in WWII. Note characteristic Malta rock camouflage.A 3.7-inch gun on a travelling carriage (not a Malta battery position)A 4.5-inch gun and crew (not a Malta battery position).Gunners of the RMA's 3 Light Anti Aircraft Artillery and 11 Heavy Anti Aircraft Regiments of the Royal Malta Artillery on parade in November 1959The RMA's war memorial on St. Anne Street in Floriana
The Royal Malta Artillery (RMA) was a regular artillery unit of the British Army prior to Malta's independence. It was formed in 1889, having been called the Royal Malta Fencible Artillery from 1861 until 1889.[1][2]
Initially on the British Establishment, the regiment was disbanded in 1970 with its personnel and equipment being handed over to the Maltese Government and becoming part of the Malta Land Force.
Initially, the average strength of the RMA was 365 men, but by the beginning of the 20th century, the unit has more than doubled its size, with its HQ still at Fort Lascaris and two companies based at Fort St Angelo and Fort SalvatoreatCottonera. The unit had a total of eight companies two of which were earmarked for service beyond the island and one RMA Company would be deployed to serve in Egypt (Cairo and Alexandria) in the early 1900s. The Malta-based units were arranged as follows:
HQ RMA was still at Fort Lascaris
1 Company was based at Fort Lascaris
2 Company was based at the Crucifix Bastion in Valletta
3 Company was based at Spinola Camp in the vicinity of the Spinola Battery
Up until the outbreak of hostilities the RMA had steadily been reduced to a Depot Company and Three Gun Companies (of various types and roles). In 1914 this trend was reversed and the RMA raised an extra company and was deployed thus:
At the end of the Great War, the RMA were deployed to guarding POWs until 1920 when they were taken off this task and the unit was reduced to its pre-war three company order of battle (ORBAT). The RMA would spend the inter-war years acting as coastal and heavy anti-aircraft artillery. From 1938 onwards the RMA expanded to make up two coast regiments. one of which would become a heavy anti-aircraft regiment.[4]
The RMA is known to have had the following units on its ORBAT:[5][6][7] They were vital in repelling the Italian naval attack on Grand Harbour on 26 July 1941.
1 Coast Regiment, RMA, present 25 August 1941 & June 1943
2 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RMA, present 1 January 1940; defending Ta' Qali airfield[8]
3 Light Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RMA, present June 1941 (made up of 10, 15, 22 and 30 Batteries) - equipped with Bofors 40mm QF Guns
5 Coast Regiment, RMA
11 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RMA (Territorial) present 1 January 1942
1 Regiment Royal Malta Artillery served in Germany within BAOR from 1962 to 1970.[13] In 1968 the then Prime Minister of Malta George Borg Olivier visited the Regiment in its barracks in Mulheim, and announced that the 1st Regiment RMA would cease to be part of the British Army of the Rhine in 1970 and could return to Malta to form the core of its land forces. 500 officers and men from the Royal Malta Artillery took their oath of allegiance and were enlisted in the Malta Land Force (MLF) on 1 October 1970. Maltese Engineer and Signals personnel were also absorbed into the force that day.[14]
Most, if not all units stationed in Malta during World War II including the RMA had adopted a unique camouflage pattern on their helmets. This pattern attempted to replicate the rubble walls that are still commonly used to separate fields and properties in Malta. It was also applied to vehicles, bunkers and anti-aircraft guns.
The RMA used a range of UK/US manufactured support vehicles as general duties and logistics support. They also manned a range of searchlight and target acquisition systems associated with the anti-aircraft artillery.
^Frederick, J.B.M. (1984). Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978. Vol. II. Wakefield: Microform Academic. pp. 888–90, 931–4. ISBN1-85117-009-X.
United Kingdom
United States
Sweden
