Text and photos by Stephen A. Petroni, submitted to www.ww2wrecks.com and used by permission

The heavy concentration of Royal Navy assets around the Grand Harbour cities of Valletta, Vittoriosa, Cospicua and Senglea attracted the most ferocious enemy aerial attacks during the Second World War, with raids and the resultant casualties reaching a crescendo in mid 1942.

Images of bomb-damaged buildings and rubble-strewn streets remind us of the ordeal these islands and their people went through. The Public Works sketch plan of Senglea showing damage to buildings sustained up to 1 April 1945 leaves us in no doubt that this city suffered most of all, evidently because of being flanked by Dockyard Creek and French Creek, both having naval docks and a concentration of shipping.

However, one image has always intrigued me ever since I first saw it in the Oldhams Press publication “The Epic of Malta” (1943). It is a photo showing the remains of a Luftwaffe ‘Stuka’ dive bomber on the Senglea Seafront against a backdrop of demolished buildings. This image captures the carnage of war in no uncertain terms, as it brings forth the losses sustained by both the attacker and the defender. Moreover, it is testimony to the momentous events of that day, Sunday 10 May 1942.

Malta’s defensive capability had reached the lowest ebb in the preceding days. The insuƯicient number of operational RAF aircraft were unable to prevent concerted attacks by the Regia Marina and the LuftwaƯe. This dire situation prompted the launch of operation ‘Bowery’, a daring attempt to deliver Spitfires to the beleaguered islands.

The American aircraft carrier USS Wasp loaded 50 Supermarine Spitfire Mk VCs at the Shieldhall docks in Glasgow and left under escort for Malta via Scapa Flow on 3 May. As Wasp passed Gibraltar, she was joined by the carrier HMS Eagle, carrying further Spitfires. HMS Welshman, disguised for the occasion as a French destroyer, carried essential supplies, including 100 spare engines for the Spitfires.

In a brilliantly executed operation, the carriers flew off 64 Spitfires in successive waves. Sixty reached Malta in the early hours of 10 May (one crashing on landing). Meanwhile, HMS Welshman successfully reached Malta notwithstanding attacks by Luftwaffe aircraft. The operation was so successful, that most Spitfires were made airborne and ready to engage the enemy at 10:55 a.m. Malta was prepared like it had never been before.

All this took place while Axis air raids were in progress, with alert number 2,317 materialising at 12:43 a.m. on 10 May. A total of five air raids were reported on that Sunday. Senglea suffered further devastation during the third raid, which commenced at 10.40 a.m. and ended 55 minutes later. While some of the bombs hit buildings that had already been demolished in earlier attacks, one bomb brought down several houses in Two Gates Street. The city was struck once again in the last air raid of the day, which occurred between 6.10 p.m. and 7.49 p.m.

The old Police station and several houses in in St Joseph Street were flattened while others were damaged. It was during this attack that a Luftwaffe ‘Stuka’ dive bomber crashed on the Senglea seafront at Triq Ix-Xatt.

Ju 87 D-1 Werknummer 2051 with the identification ‘S7+EM’, forming part of 7./Sturzkampfgeschwader 3, was piloted by 25-year-old Unteroffizier Walter Rastinnes, who was accompanied by 22-year-old Unteroffizier Walter Rauer as radio operator and gunner. Both baled out after their aircraft had been hit, but only Rastinnes survived unscathed and was taken POW. Rauer could not be found initially.

Air Intelligence report 101D/42 states that Unteroffizier Rastinnes, whose morale is described as ‘very good’, did not divulge all particulars. The airfield of departure is listed as probably being Biscari in Sicily, also known as San Pietro, which is 21 km north-northwest of Comiso. Curiously, the time the Stuka was hit is entered in the report as ‘1700 hours’, probably meaning 17:00 GMT. It is further stated that ‘This aircraft was shot down by A.A. fire.’

However, the Luftwaffe attributed the plane’s loss to RAF fighter aircraft. This appears to be corroborated by RAF reports indicating that several Spitfires from 185, 249 and 603 squadrons attacked the Stukas and destroyed two Ju 87 while damaging another two.

The Namentliche Verlustmeldung records at WASt (Berlin) seen by author Anthony Rogers report that Rastinnes was engaged in a diving attack on HMS Manxman [sic] when his aircraft was shot down by an enemy fighter aircraft. They go on to state that although the crew members of ‘S7 + EM’ were spotted in a dinghy, rescue attempts proved to be unsuccessful. Hence, it was presumed that the crew was captured.

The last German prisoners of war left Malta on 5 February 1948, embarking on the troopship SS Taos Victory to be repatriated. However, Rastinnes’ date of release and departure from Malta remains unknown. Movement of POWs had started as early as 1943, long before the first arrival of the bulk of those transferred from POW camps in Italy in the summer of 1945.

Rauer’s body was eventually recovered and buried. In April 1960, his remains and those of over 180 German and Italian servicemen, who lost their lives over Malta and the surrounding sea, were transferred to the San Michele Cemetery in Cagliari on board the Italian navy vessel Proteo. Rauer, who was born in Fellhammer on 6 August 1919, lies buried in grave number 156, block 1.

Rastinnes’ aircraft is one of four Stukas, two from 7. Staffel and two from 8. Staffel, that were hit and destroyed or damaged during that last air raid of Sunday 10 May 1942. It is the only one to have crashed on land. Two crashed into the sea north-west of Valletta, with the loss of their crews, while one ditched closer to Sicily and its crew was saved. The 7th Staffel was one of the three squadrons in III./StG 3 formed earlier that year, on 13 January, in San Pancrazio, Italy under the command of II Fliegerkorps.

Equipped with the tropicalised Ju 87D-1 Stuka, it began operations over Malta on 24 March, deploying as many as thirty aircraft in up to three daily dive-bombing attacks on the RAF’s airfields and the Grand Harbour. The Gruppe’s commander was Knights Cross winner Major Walter Enneccerus, who, by the end of the war, had reached the rank of Oberstleutnant on the Luftwaffe’s General Staff, going to serve as a Brigadegeneral in the post-war Bundeswehr.

Ju87D-1 serial number 2051 was manufactured by Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH, known as Weserflug, at its plant in Tempelhof, Berlin. Production of the D-1 variant started in 1941 and 495 aircraft were delivered between May 1941 and March 1942. According to one source, serial numbers started from 2001. If that is correct, then Rastinnes’ aircraft was the fiftieth to roll out of the factory. Interestingly, it would follow that the Ju87D-1 Werknummer 2001, which was hit and damaged over Malta and later ditched close to Sicily, was the first of this variant to be produced.

Initially, the cockpit armament of the D-1 variant was the Mauser-designed MG 81 machine gun chambered for the 7.92x57IS cartridge and having a cyclic rate of fire of around 1,500 rounds per minute. In the quest to increase firepower, in early 1942, Mauser mounted two MG 81 guns on a single trigger housing and grip, designating this combination the MG 81Z, the ‘Z’ suffix standing for Zwilling, meaning ‘twin’. This increased the rate of fire to an average 3,000 rounds per minute. Most D-1 aircraft were retrofitted with the MG 81Z.

Sources

The Epic of Malta (Odhams Press, 1943)

Air Battle of Malta (Anthony Rogers, Greenhill Books, 2017)

Glorious 10th of May, 1942: the Battle of Malta day (Charles Debono, TOM 14 May 2022)

The Junkers Ju 87 Stuka in a nutshell (Matthew Laird Acred, Assisbiz.com)

Acknowledgments

Anthony Rogers

Nikolai Debono

Battlefront Malta