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Fort Campbell ( mt, Forti Campbell or ), also known locally as ''Il-Fortizza ta' Selmun'', is a former fort in
Mellieħa Mellieħa ( mt, il-Mellieħa ) is a large village in the Northern Region of Malta. It has a population of 10,087 as of March 2014. Mellieħa is also a tourist resort, popular for its sandy beaches and natural environment. Etymology The name ''M ...
, Malta. It was built by the British between 1937 and 1938. It is notable as the most important fortification north of the
Victoria Lines The Victoria Lines, originally known as the North West Front, are a line of fortifications that spans 12 kilometres along the width of Malta, dividing the north of the island from the more heavily populated south. Location The Victoria Lines ru ...
, and the last major fortification to be built in Malta. Today, it lies in ruins.


History

Fort Campbell is located on the Selmun peninsula, roughly halfway between
Mistra Battery Mistra Battery ( mt, Batterija tal-Mistra), formerly also known as Despirasse Battery ( mt, Batterija ta' Despirasse), is an artillery battery in Mistra Bay, Mellieħa, Malta. It was built by the Order of Saint John in the 18th century as one o ...
and the ruins of
Għajn Ħadid Tower Għajn Ħadid Tower ( mt, Torri ta' Għajn Ħadid), originally known as ''Torre di Salomone'' and known by locals as Xagħra Tower ( mt, It-Torri tax-Xagħra), is a ruined watchtower in Selmun, limits of Mellieħa, Malta. It was built in 1658 as ...
, and facing
St Paul's Island St Paul's Island ( Maltese: ''Il-Gżejjer ta' San Pawl''), also known as Selmunett, is a small island off Selmun near the north-east of the main island of Malta. St Paul's Island is sometimes split into two islands by a shallow isthmus, and it i ...
s. It was built to protect the approach to both Mellieħa Bay and St. Paul's Bay. It also protected British
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...
s which landed in Mistra Bay. The fort took over the role of
Wardija Battery Wardija Battery ( mt, Batterija tal-Wardija) was an artillery battery in Wardija, a hilltop in the limits of St. Paul's Bay, on the northern coast of Malta. It was built by the British in 1915, and saw use during World War I. It became obsolete ...
, which had been built in 1915. Before construction of the fort began, Governor
Charles Bonham-Carter General Sir Charles Bonham-Carter, (25 February 1876 – 21 October 1955) was a British Army officer and later Governor of Malta. Early life Bonham-Carter was born on 25 February 1876 in Kensington, London, the ninth of eleven children of Henr ...
visited the site. Work on the fort probably began in December 1937, and work was hurried after the
Munich Agreement The Munich Agreement ( cs, Mnichovská dohoda; sk, Mníchovská dohoda; german: Münchner Abkommen) was an agreement concluded at Munich on 30 September 1938, by Nazi Germany, Germany, the United Kingdom, French Third Republic, France, and Fa ...
of September 1938. The fort was modified throughout the course of
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
, when barracks were built and a radar was installed. It is not known exactly when the fort was decommissioned. After the war, its strategic importance diminished and it was on the verge of being closed by 1949. However, the fort remained in military hands and a watchman remained stationed there until the 1970s.


Layout

Fort Campbell is very different from earlier fortifications in Malta, such as the bastioned forts built by the
Knights Hospitaller The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic Church, Catholic Military ord ...
and the
polygonal fort A polygonal fort is a type of fortification originating in France in the late 18th century and fully developed in Germany in the first half of the 19th century. Unlike earlier forts, polygonal forts had no bastions, which had proved to be vulnerabl ...
s built by the British in the 19th century. Due to the new threat of
aerial warfare Aerial warfare is the use of military aircraft and other flying machines in warfare. Aerial warfare includes bombers attacking enemy installations or a concentration of enemy troops or strategic targets; fighter aircraft battling for control o ...
, the fort was surrounded by a thin wall, and the buildings were placed at a distance from each other. Due to this, the fort was camouflaged as from the air it resembled the field walls of the surrounding countryside. Unlike many of the earlier fortifications, Fort Campbell was unadorned. For example, the fort's gateway is just a breach in the perimeter wall defended by a guard room, in contrast with the usually ornate gates of many Hospitaller or Victorian forts. Fort Campbell's design is similar to other fortifications built before and during World War II throughout the British Empire, such as Fort Stanley in
Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...
,
Good Head Battery In most contexts, the concept of good denotes the conduct that should be preferred when posed with a choice between possible actions. Good is generally considered to be the opposite of evil and is of interest in the study of ethics, morality, ph ...
in
New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
,
Brownstone Battery Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...
in
Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...
, and
Fort South Sutor A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...
in
Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...
. The fort had two gun emplacements which were armed with 6-inch BL guns. A third gun emplacement may have housed another 6-inch gun or a heavy anti-aircraft gun. In addition, a number of concrete machine gun posts (similar to pillboxes) and rifle loopholes were placed at irregular intervals around the perimeter wall. The buildings in the fort included Battery Observation Post, which served as the command post of the fort and had a gun control room and an underground plotting room. The fort also had direction posts, a water tank, underground magazines, a generator room and rock-hewn bomb shelters. Defence Electric Lights and
searchlight A searchlight (or spotlight) is an apparatus that combines an extremely bright source (traditionally a carbon arc lamp) with a mirrored parabolic reflector to project a powerful beam of light of approximately parallel rays in a particular direc ...
emplacements were also built outside the perimeter wall on the shoreline. In 1942, barracks were built outside the fort to house the force of infantry that was stationed in Selmun. Various Nissen and
Romney hut The Romney hut is a prefabricated steel structure used by the British military, developed during World War II to supersede the Iris hut. History At the outbreak of World War II, the British military developed a series of prefabricated huts to ...
s were also built inside and outside the fort.


Present day

Since Fort Campbell was decommissioned, it has fallen into a state of neglect and disrepair. It still retains most of its original features, although many rooms are in ruins. The fort was vandalized repeatedly, and in 2004 the fire control position was completely destroyed by vandals. At some point, the iron beams that supported the roof of the barracks were stolen, and due to this some of the blocks have collapsed or are in danger of collapsing. Since the fort is abandoned, it is possible to enter, but parts of it are dangerous to visitors. The mayor of the Mellieħa Local Council, Robert Cutajar, is attempting to restore the fort. Until now, the site was never restored since it would be very expensive given the large area of the fort. It has been proposed that the site be rehabilitated as a picnic or camping site. In 2014, Prime Minister
Joseph Muscat Joseph Muscat (born 22 January 1974) is a Maltese politician who served as the prime minister of Malta from 2013 to 2020, and as the leader of the Labour Party from June 2008 to January 2020. Muscat was re-elected as prime minister in the ...
stated that the government intends to rehabilitate the fort and the surrounding area.


Further reading

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References

{{Forts in Malta Mellieħa
Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
Campbell Campbell may refer to: People Surname * Campbell (surname), includes a list of people with surname Campbell Given name * Campbell Brown (footballer), an Australian rules footballer * Campbell Brown (journalist) (born 1968), American television ne ...
Buildings and structures completed in 1938 World War II sites in Malta Ruins in Malta Modern ruins Military installations closed in the 1970s Barracks in Malta 20th-century fortifications