3/11 Regt. RMA(T) IN THE INFANTRY ROLE‏

1. 3/11 Regt. RMA(T)
25 June 2012
3/11 Regt. RMA(T) IN THE INFANTRY ROLE
by
Capt. Patrick Caruana-Dingli
michaelicl@yahoo.com
In 1967 the Authorities realised that our role as Territorial
Artillery Regiments within the Malta Territorial Force, with our
obsolete equipment of LAA Bofors L70's and 3.7 Heavy AA
Guns, had become untenable. A decision was taken to change
the function of both 3 LAA Regiment and 11 HAA Regiment. I
would tend to think that the incoming use of guided missiles for
air defence was probably one of the reasons behind this.

2. Both Regiments’ three batteries were redeployed into three
separate and different roles. In the case of my Regiment, 3 LAA
Regt, 15 Battery was to become an infantry company, 22
Battery was given a Civil Defence role and 30 Battery would
retain its Artillery role.
As one can imagine, 15 Battery’s change of role to infantry
was an upheaval of quite big proportions and required
complete re-training. We had to start from scratch!
Paddy Beacom, who was appointed to command the new
Company, Charles Psaila and George Kissaun were sent off to
the Infantry Training School at Warminster to be initiated into
the dubious delights of becoming foot soldiers. George Pace
Balzan, Joe Bonello, who unfortunately have both passed
away, Joe Wismayer, Frank Mizzi , James Miller and the writer
of this narrative were transferred from our previous duties in
the Regiment into the new infantry company.
Further to the training received by Paddy, Charles and George
at Warminster, all the officers were given additional infantry
training by The Duke of Edinburgh Royal Regt., who were
stationed at the time at St Patrick’s barracks. One has to
understand that the five of us who did not go to Warminster,
had absolutely no inkling of what all this was about. The
DERRs started by forming us into a Section, the most basic of
infantry formations, eight men in all. The arms we carried
were the good old .303 Lee Enfield and a Bren Gun. Training
was carried out, together with a similar unit from 11
Regiment, during week-end camps on Majjesa Ridge and
Ghajn Tuffieha ranges.
This was a thing to die for, and I mean it literally. It was
physically hard and I was surprised how we all survived. The
training was carried out, in high summer, on Majjesa ridge,
starting from Mistra and finishing at Upper Ghajn Tuffieha
Camp, a good two miles of rugged terrain, ideal, for this sort
of escapade. Suffice it to say that I used to return home with
my web belt soaked with sweat, this having penetrated a vest,
‘il-famuza’ angora shirt, denim trousers and the belt itself. The
belt was so wet that the blanco had returned to its muddy
state! Nonetheless, it was a completely new experience and
most of us thoroughly enjoyed it. Eventually we passed this
‘new experience’ on to the men in 15 Battery.
I remember one event of note which is worth telling. This was
an exercise to Gozo. It took place during a week-end camp
held at Lower Elmo. Early afternoon, we set off, fully armed
and kitted out (but no live ammo), in a convoy of three

3. tonners’ to Cirkewwa. On our arrival, we embarked onto
Personnel Landing Craft (PLC) which were supposed to sail
round to Ramla l-Hamra, where we were to disembark. This
was the plan, but Mother Nature had other ideas, the sea was
too rough for the much anticipated landing and we certainly
did not want to lose some hapless infantry man to Its
vagaries. So a decision was taken to cross over to Mgarr and
we landed next to the Gozo Ferries.
When night fell, we set off to reach our objective, the
Ta’Gurdan Lighthouse. This is situated on a ridge in the North
of the island overlooking the tiny village of Ghasri in an area
called Ta’ Gurdan. Constructed in 1851 during the British
period, the lighthouse was built to monitor and assist maritime
traffic in the region. This was the first ‘real’ route march for
the Company. The distance involved is about twelve
kilometres and we passed through a couple of villages on the
way. As it was very late at night, the streets were deserted
but we could sense that we were causing a commotion and a
lot of curious Gozotin eyes were peeping out from behind the
louvered windows.
We arrived at Ta’Gudan without incident just before daybreak. The attack was carried out at dawn, thunder flashes
being our main fire power and of course, the objective was
taken easily. Considering that the Lighthouse was undefended
this was a foregone conclusion.
Happy with our achievement, we marched back to Mgarr and
made straight for the ‘al fresco’ kitchen set up by our cooking
staff on the slopes below Fort Chambray. The menu was
bangers, mash, baked beans and tea. After downing camp we
boarded the PLCs and sailed back to Cirkewwa where we
found the trucks waiting, all set to return to St Elmo. So ended
a unique experience and as far as I am aware, there wasn’t a
next time.

5. 3/11 Regt. RMA(T)
Updated 28 February, 2014
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