Malta in the Great War - The Hospital of the Med?

[RICHARD1959]

[Keith_history_buff]

From memory there are a number of Japanese sailors buried at Malta, given the presence of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Mediterranean during WW1.

[mancpal]

Richard,

Im not sure I understand your question. Could you offer anything more?

Simon

[RICHARD1959]

2 QUESTIONS

WAS MALTA NAMED 'THE HOSPITAL OF THE MED?

DID MALTA FIGHT IN THE CRUSADES?

[mancpal]

Richard, 

Malta was known as the nurse of the Mediterranean after large numbers of injured troops received treatment there from 1915 onwards. 
I’m not sure how the crusades fit in with a WW1 forum though there is plenty on Google connecting the Knights Templar with Malta and the crusades.

Simon

[FROGSMILE]

9 hours ago, RICHARD1959 said:

2 QUESTIONS

WAS MALTA NAMED 'THE HOSPITAL OF THE MED?

DID MALTA FIGHT IN THE CRUSADES?

I agree with Simon Richard.  The term Nurse of the Mediterranean was common for Malta because of the large number of hospitals established by the British military there before and during WW1.  It was a place where both, troopships offloaded their long term sick mid passage, and hospital ships offloaded wounded from the MEF theatre of operations.  As well as wounds, tropical diseases were treated there, and a particularly problematic eye infection from bacteria laden wind blown sand too.  The British Army first established a hospital at Malta in 1802 during the Napoleonic Wars and following battles with the French in Egypt.  See: https://www.maltaramc.com

In late medieval times it was the base of the Knights of Malta, who had earlier participated in the Crusades and also established hospitals for the sick, having originally been known as the Knights Hospitaller.  The Maltese Cross derives from that connection.

Edited 30 May by FROGSMILE

[GWF TEAM]

The Crusades are off limits to the Forum. 

Stick to ww1 or the thread will be locked.

[michaeldr]

There's a lot of useful info in the paper here, including a list of hospital & convalescent fascilities (see table 5.3) and stats. for Gallipoli and for Salonika (table 5.4)
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/323808596_Malta_in_the_First_World_War_an_appraisal_through_cartography_and_local_newspapers 

[RICHARD1959]

Thank you all!

[seaJane]

On 29/05/2024 at 21:32, Keith_history_buff said:

From memory there are a number of Japanese sailors buried at Malta, given the presence of the Imperial Japanese Navy in the Mediterranean during WW1.

You're correct Keith - I saw the Japanese Naval Memorial last year when I visited Malta. It's in the Capuccini cemetery at Kalkara. If I can remember when I get home I'll check to see if I have a picture.

sJ.

 

[seaJane]

@RICHARD1959 just to confirm, there is at least one item titled "Malta: nurse of the Mediterranean" in the medical bibliography I compiled. I'll try to remember to cite it here when I have a moment.

seaJane

[keithmroberts]

Thge book proved to be  an interesting read a few years back, but I passed on my copy to someone else.  There are reprints  available printed by "Forgotten Books", and more reasonably priced, Amazon UK have a different  reprint edition.

[PRC]

Do you mean this on archive org https://archive.org/details/maltanurseofmedi00mackuoft/page/n5/mode/2up

The author came up on a thread a couple of weeks ago, which is the only reason I know of it's existance

Cheers,
Peter

[keithmroberts]

Yes, that's the book; I should have checked archive.org, which has so many really relevant and useful books relating to the great War.

[seaJane]

Also:

Mizzi JA. 'Nurse of the Mediterranean.' In: Gallipoli: the Malta connection. Luqa, Malta: Tecnografica, 1991.  

sJ