On Sunday and Monday (April 14 and 15) Polish Navy’s Honor Guard and Orchestra took part in 71 anniversary of the fight for Malta’s independence. The Polish delegation was led by minister Jan Stanislaw Ciechanowski – the head of the Office for War Veterans and Victims of Oppression. The Polish Navy Commander-in-Chief vice admiral (three star) Tomasz Mathea also attended the ceremony.
On Sunday, April 14, the celebration began with the mass celebrated by Polish Armed Forces bishop Jozef Guzdek accompanied by a Honor Military Guard. The following lying flowers ceremony (at the Great Siege Bell Memorial and the War Memorial monument) was escorted by Polish sailors. In the evening, at St. George’s Square in La Valetta the Polish Honor Guard and Polish Navy’s Representative Orchestra performed a parade drill. On Monday, April 15, the Fallen Appeal was accompanied by the Polish Navy delegation which also laid flowers on the Kalkara Naval Cemetery.
Malta played a key role in the operations of World War II. The island was of strategic importance because it was a natural barrier to the German-Italian forces engagement in Africa. The naval bases located in Malta launched ships and aircraft to combat the supply convoys coming to Africa. Therefore Malta was a guarantee of maintaining the reign of the Allies in the Mediterranean and at the same time the island was ensuring the patency routes from Gibraltar to Egypt. Polish submarines and destroyers actively participated in the military operations in the Mediterranean operating from Malta’s bases. In the fights for Malta Poland lost her destroyer ORP ‘Kujawiak’, which sank just a few nautical miles from the island. 13 sailors were killed onboard and those souls were also commemorated during the ceremony at the Kalkara Naval Cemetery. There are also two submariners from ORP ‘Sokol’ and two Polish Air Force soldiers buried at this site.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, April 17, 2013; Image: Polish Navy