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Royal Signals in Malta

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235 Signal Squadron (DCN), formally known as Malta COMCAN Signal Squadron (1954), was one of the regular post war units in the Royal Corps of Signals and had a direct link to Boddington and Episkopi in Cyprus. The network consisted of a tape relay centre at Fort Bingemma, a transmitter station at Fort Zonqor and a receiver at Ta' Wied Rini. "DCN" was a reference to both the Commonwealth Communications Army Network (COMCAN) denoting Malta and Libya as the area of responsibility and coming into use by July 1967. The unit was officially disbanded on 1 March 1969.

234 and 235 Signal Squadrons were later reformed as distinct units of the 9th Signal Regiment part of the Joint Signals Support Unit based in Cyprus. 234 Squadron provided communication services for the three services in Malta and Libya until disbanded in 1979.

The Signals Liaison Unit intercepted German and Italian communications in the Mediterranean and being equipped with an RAF Type X machine was able to encoded relays to Britain. Operations were initially conducted from under the Barrakka, until a combined services headquarters known as the Lascaris War Rooms could be excavated on the site of a garden built during the reign of Grand Master Jean Lascaris (1656–1670). Access to the war rooms was gained through a tunnel located in the Valletta main ditch at the foot of St Peter and St Paul bastion or from the side of Fort Lascaris.

This facility started operations early in 1943 in time for them to be used during Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily. Lascaris was furnished with a Filter Room, Gun Operations Room and Fighter Control Room. There were dedicated chambers to accommodate signals intelligence and also the Royal Observer Corps which started operating from Malta late in 1942.

References

Royal Signals in Malta Wikipedia