Royal Malta Artillery

The RMA was a compact force in the late Nineteenth Century and in 1891 it is recorded as being deployed as follows:{{cite web|title=The Royal Malta Artillery - 1891 |url=http://maltaramc.com/regmltgar/rymaltartillery.html |website=maltaramc.com |access-date=14 July 2017 |language=en}}

• Headquarters in Fort Lascaris
• Sub-units based at St Antonio's Gardens in Attard and Fort St Angelo.

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 Salvatore at Cottonera. 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
• 4 Company was based at Fort St Angelo
• 5 Company was based at Cairo, Egypt
• Depot Company was based at Fort Lascaris.

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:

• HQ and 1 Company based at Forts Lascaris, San Leonardo and Tigné
• 2 Company based at Fort Bingemma
• 3 Company based at Fort Mosta
• 4 Company also based at Tigné
• 5 Company would be raised in 1918 and based at Fort San Rocco.

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.{{cite web|title=The Royal Malta Artillery |url=http://maltaramc.com/regmltgar/rymaltartillery.html |website=maltaramc.com |access-date=14 July 2017 |language=en}}

The RMA is known to have had the following units on its ORBAT:{{cite web|title=British GHQ, Army Group, Army and Corps Troops Mediterranean Area 1939-1945 |url=http://usacac.army.mil/CAC2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/939BXHB.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131195454/http://usacac.army.mil/cac2/CGSC/CARL/nafziger/939BXHB.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 31, 2017 |publisher=US Army CAC |access-date=13 July 2017}}{{cite news|author=Allied Newspapers Ltd |title=The Royal Malta Artillery's role in the Battle for Malta |url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130407/life-features/The-Royal-Malta-Artillery-s-role-in-the-Battle-for-Malta.464700 |access-date=13 July 2017 |work=Times of Malta |date=7 April 2013}}{{cite book|last1=Doherty |first1=Richard |title=Ubique: The Royal Artillery in the Second World War |date=2016 |publisher=History Press |isbn=9780750979313 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0YC3DAAAQBAJ&q=Searchlight+REgiment+Malta&pg=PT267 |access-date=13 July 2017 |language=en}} 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{{cite news|author=Allied Newspapers Ltd |title=Remembering the Royal Malta Artillery's forgotten thousands |url=https://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20130414/life-features/remembering-the-royal-malta-artillery-s-forgotten-thousands.465675 |access-date=13 July 2017 |work=Times of Malta |date=14 April 2013}}
• 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
• 14 Heavy Anti-Aircraft (Relief) Battery, RMA, part of 4 Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, RA{{cite web|title=Armed Forces of Malta - Air Defence Battery |url=http://steno.webs.com/112/afm/adbhist.htm |website=steno.webs.com |access-date=13 July 2017}}
• 8 Searchlight Battery, RMA, part of the mixed British-Maltese 4 Searchlight Regiment, RA/RMA{{cite book|last1=Wragg |first1=David W. |title=Malta, the Last Great Siege: The George Cross Island's Battle for Survival, 1940-43 |date=2003 |publisher=Casemate Publishers |isbn=9780850529906 |page=162 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MGI0zySJSSkC&q=Searchlight+REgiment+Malta&pg=PA162 |access-date=13 July 2017 |language=en}}{{cite web|title=The Garrison The RA-RMA Orbat in Malta 1939 - 45 |url=http://www.thegarrison.org.uk/history/maltaorbat.php |website=www.thegarrison.org.uk |access-date=14 July 2017}}
• 13 Defence Battery, RMA, formed 22 August 1941 as part of 26 Defence Regiment, RA, transferred to 5 Coast Regiment, RMA, 1 June 1942{{cite book|first=J.B.M. |last=Frederick |title=Lineage Book of British Land Forces 1660–1978 |volume=II |location=Wakefield |publisher=Microform Academic |date=1984 |isbn=1-85117-009-X |pages=888–90, 931–4}}

1 Regiment Royal Malta Artillery served in Germany within BAOR from 1962 to 1970.{{cite web|title=King's own and Royal Malta Artillery |url=https://afm.gov.mt/en/info/history/rma/Pages/Kings-own-and-Royal-Malta-Artillery.aspx |website=afm.gov.mt |access-date=13 July 2017 |language=en}} 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.{{cite web|title=Royal Malta Artillery BAOR |url=http://www.baor-locations.org/RMA.aspx.html |website=www.baor-locations.org |access-date=13 July 2017}}

During World War II the RMA wore the same uniform as the British Army.

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.

During World War II the RMA used the same personal and crew-served weapons in service with the British Army.

During World War II the RMA used light and heavy anti-aircraft guns and searchlights to help defend the island against air attack.{{cite web|title=THE ROYAL MALTA ARTILLERY |url=http://maltacommand.com/unit%20history%20RMA.html |access-date=13 July 2017}}

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.

• The King's Own Malta Regiment
• Siege of Malta (World War II)
• Fortifications of Malta
• Malta Dockyard
• Sliema Point Battery
• Fort Ricasoli
• Fort Campbell (Malta)
• Pembroke Battery
• Fort Pembroke

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Category:Military history of Malta

Category:Military units and formations disestablished in 1972

Category:British colonial regiments