I was 15 years old when WW2 started. I remember the blackout, all of San Lawrenz, like the rest of Gozo was in pitch darkness. One could see millions of stars twinkling in the night sky! Everyone was obliged to carry with him or her mask against any gas attacks from enemy action.

But most of all, I remember the mine exploding in Dwejra Bay, very near to where I live, that is at San Lawrenz village. I remember the first time I saw sea mine, swept onto the rocks by a heavy storm. Nobody knew what that round metal ball with pointed ends actually was, and what damage it could cause! We found it in a place called iz-Zerqa. And nobody knows how many times these sea mines was thrown against the rocks without exploding. Someone alerted the local police and soldiers and they rushed to the bay to defuse it. The official was really angry with us, because we were very near the sea mine and it was a miracle that it did not explode.

Dwejra Bay is an open bay. When the wind is blowing in the NW direction, it was a natural trap for these mines to be swept on these shores like flotsam. We could hear many mines exploding every now and then, both during the day or night. Each large explosion signaled that another was swept against the rocks and exploded. Today, some divers told me that there are two sea mines still at the bottom of Dwejra Bay. I remember a mine which exploded in a place known as Ta’ l-Ilsna (Of the Tongues); another one exploded just under the Azure Window ; another one near Dwejra Tower; another one near Fungus Rock while another one hit and damaged a cave known as Ta’ Tejtu.

Another instance was when a British Spitfire crashed on the cliffs overlooking Dwejra Bay. Other soldiers and locals arrived to help the pilot and took him out of the plane and rushed to hospital.

While air raids were carried out by the Italian Air Force, the locals were not really afraid since the Italian pilots flew very high, beyond the range of the local gunfire. But with the arrival of the German Luftwaffe, things took a turn for the bad. The Germans flew low and hit with a vengeance. I was almost hit once by a German plane when he spotted me in a field. I had to take refuge under some large boulders. I used to remain on the roof of our house watching the fighters engaged in thick fighting but now, we started to seek safety in shelters which started to be dug in our village. We used to spend all night praying for deliverance. A typical prayer was something like this ….

O Holy Mother of Victories,
Patroness of Heaven and Earth
Deliver us from the Enemy’s Wrath
And from the Attacker’s bombs

Ta’ Dbiegi Hill is in the limits of our village. There were barracks for the R.A.F. soldiers. We usually visited these barracks every week. There we could have some chocolates and talk with the soldiers. We could also see some films. From Ta’ Dbiegi Hill, we could see fighter planes in various skirmishes over Malta’s Grand Harbour. \

Few damages were suffered by these villagers during WW2. Most bombs fell in the fields in various places. The worst attack was on 5th August, 1942. It all happened around 11.30pm during an air raid. I was in the village square near a shelter. All of a sudden I heard a low-flying plane and the noise of falling bombs. They hit the Il-Hara tar-Rokon, a quarter in San Lawrenz village. We saw flames engulfing the houses; we heard the shrieks of frightened children and people. Confusion was everywhere. Many people were injured. There were also some dead ones too four in all….just days before the village fiesta.