1942: Gibraltar

Gibraltar, though accommodating a normal population of some 20,000, plus thousands more in war, is less a section of a country than a stationary battleship. The life within the Rock is for one purpose. Its history over any period of time can be scarcely more than the chronicle of a gun emplacement or the saga of a sharpshooter.

When in the fall, the United Nations made their historic juncture from West Africa to Egypt; as Malta still stood, and the Russians thrust the enemy westward from Stalingrad, the bastion at the Iberian peninsula arose again in the public interest.

At the beginning of the year, new defenses on the Rock were reported. In British hands since 1713, its fortifications had been altered to conform to every new defense need. Its readiness was a guarantee to the Empire's continuance. Though only 2¾ mi. long, ¾ mi. wide and 1,396 ft. high, it is the dictator of ingress to or egress from the Mediterranean on the west. It completely dominates the fourteen-mile strait between Europe and Africa.

The new defenses included precautions against a land attack from Spain; new harbor and dock facilities; a seaplane base, and work on the interior of the Rock. Some two thousand tunnelers had been working twenty four hours a day. When the war began, there were two miles of tunnels; in early 1942, 10 miles were finished. Twenty thousand men, and that number are now there, can live in Gibraltar indefinitely. There are six levels, and on each of these, ammunition stores fan out through tracked passages to the great gun emplacements.

The fortifications are centralized on each of the three faces. From the Spanish mainland a narrow isthmus is Gibraltar's only approach. Here 26 sets of concrete tank barriers cross the road for a mile. On each side is a flat space 700 yards wide. This is studded with immense pill boxes and tank traps, flame throwers and anti-aircraft batteries. At the Rock end, there are two canals like moats. Then appear the garrison gates and the cantonments, the mined approaches to the docks and the Mole.

Life in Gibraltar is one of austerity. It resembles that on a man-of-war yet there are alleviating conditions. One of these is the absence of blackouts. To a newcomer this is the antithesis of precaution until he realizes that such blackouts would be useless with the neighboring lights of Spanish La Linea in full glare.

In matters of governance, Gibraltar is a Crown Colony. In the early part of 1942 the Governor and Commander in Chief was General Viscount Gort. In June he was transferred to Malta, to relieve Governor Dobbie. Lord Gort was in turn succeeded as Commander of Gibraltar by Lieut. General Mason MacFarlane, who arrived by air on June 19. He was sworn in by the Acting Chief Justice, Mr. Arthur Carrara.

1941: Gibraltar

Gibraltar's defense construction program, begun in mid-1940, was almost completed during 1941. Whereas there were two miles of underground tunnels at the outbreak of World War II, there were ten by the end of 1941, and officials claimed that 20,000 men could live in the Rock indefinitely. Throughout the year, defenders of Gibraltar expected a German attack through Spain. In a radio broadcast on Jan. 1, Governor Clive Liddell explained, 'The fact that Spain is neutral will not deter Hitler.... Hitler cares little whether a German invasion would result in the starvation of Spain.'

On April 25 London announced that Viscount Gort had been appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar to succeed Lieutenant General Sir Clive Liddell. General Gort had been chief of the Imperial General Staff when the war began in 1939, and later, while commanding the British Expeditionary Force on the Continent, had directed the major part of the evacuation of Dunkerque. Since July 1940 he had been Inspector General of the British Army and Home Guard. Shortly before Gort's appointment it had been rumored that Germany was demanding passage of troops through Spain for an attack on Gibraltar.

General Gort and his staff arrived at the famous British stronghold on April 27. Two days later, the United States appointed Major William C. Bentley military observer for Spanish-occupied Tangier. Major Bentley had been recalled as assistant military attaché for air at Rome, on Italy's request, after the United States had asked the recall of Italy's naval attaché in Washington for the sabotage of Italian ships in United States harbors. On May 19 Governor Gort paid an official visit to the Spanish Military Governor of Algeciras, General Muñoz Grande. This visit coincided with important political shifts in both Vichy and Madrid. Negotiations with France were hinted early in June by the visit of two French generals, who arrived in a flying boat and were taken to the residence of Governor Gort; but apparently no satisfactory basis of agreement was found. In July General Muñoz Grande took command of Spanish troops fighting against the Soviet Union, and General Fernando Barón Ortiz became Governor of Algeciras. He officially visited Governor Dort at Gibraltar on July 21, and a week later attended a review of the British garrison.

Most of the remaining civilian residents of Gibraltar were evacuated on June 4, when United Press observers in La Linea Spain stated that the British transport Stramohere accompanied by two destroyers left Gibraltar with 1,500 civilian passengers. On the same day, defense manoeuvres and the arrival of naval and air reinforcements were reported. Despite the removal of non-essential residents, Governor Gort on Sept. 17 appointed a committee to control prices on all commodities.

Italian attempts to bomb Gibraltar became more frequent in June. Rome announced that Italian planes had bombed the fortress 'violently' on June 5. On June 9, however, 'authoritative sources' at the British stronghold denied the attack. The Italians announced another 'successful' bombing of Gibraltar on June 12, but it was subsequently revealed that the planes had mistakenly bombed near-by La Linea, Spain. Unidentified planes, though to be Italian, dropped five bombs on Gibraltar on June 13 and were then driven off by anti-aircraft fire. Other raids were reported on June 14 and 16.

Italians carried out a naval attack on Gibraltar on Sept. 20, when 'suicide' torpedo boats were said to have entered the harbor and sunk three British merchant ships and damaged a fourth. The British, however, announced on Sept. 23 that only one 'hulk' had been sunk. Except for an unsuccessful Italian torpedo boat raid in 1940, this was the first naval attack on Gibraltar since 1783. Many Axis submarines have tried to get through the series of three huge steel submarine nets during the present war, but none of the undersea craft has succeeded in entering the harbor.

1940: Gibraltar

Gibraltar's strategic value, as Britain's stronghold for controlling passage between the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, was considerably increased when Italy entered the European War on June 10, 1940. After France's military collapse a week later, Britain's ability to withstand the anticipated German attempt at invasion depended largely on continued British possession of Gibraltar. So long as the Italian Navy was effectively bottled up in the Mediterranean, it could not menace British shipping and threaten the British Isles with a severe blockade. But Gibraltar could not indefinitely withstand a prolonged bombardment and siege directed from the heavy gun emplacements already built on Spanish soil at Algeciras and Ceuta — 5 and 12 miles, respectively, from 'the Rock.' It seemed unlikely, moreover, that General Franco could refuse any insistent German demand for transit privileges through Spain, which — after the German occupation of southwestern France on June 22 — held a common border with Germany. Owing to anxiety regarding the possible role which might be assigned to Nationalist Spain as a junior member of the Rome-Berlin Axis, tension at Gibraltar gradually increased during early months of the year as Italy drew nearer hostilities. Intense bombing raids on the Rock in July and September accentuated fears of a major land attack through Spain, but as the year ended Gibraltar was still a most effective asset to Britain in Mediterranean warfare. (See also EUROPEAN WAR: Fourth Phase.)

Contraband Control.

During the first months of the European war, while the Mediterranean remained open for commercial traffic, Gibraltar was a leading contraband-control station for the British Navy. On Jan. 20, 1940, the United States Government issued a sharp protest to Britain because American ships were being detained at Gibraltar from 9 to 18 days, cargoes and mails removed, and in some cases ships diverted to Marseilles — all in violation of American concepts of international law. On May 17, after the Blitzkrieg began in the Low Countries and Italy's entry into the war appeared imminent, Britain tried a final gesture toward appeasement by permitting — for the first time — Italian liners (the Conte di Savoia and the Rex) to pass the contraband-control station without interference.

Evacuation of Civilians.

The first groups of women and children were evacuated from Gibraltar on May 21, to assure that existing stocks of food and other essential supplies would be adequate for the garrison in case of siege. On July 17 — amid reports of German troops in Spain and German plans to attack Gibraltar — Governor Sir Clive Liddell extended the evacuation order to include all women, children less than 17 years old, and men over 45 or physically unfit. These measures led to the evacuation of 14,500 inhabitants.

Spanish Imperialism.

Considerable anxiety during the second half of the year resulted from a vigorous Spanish campaign for return of Gibraltar, which Spain had ceded to England in 1704. On June 26, posters appeared throughout the business sections of Madrid demanding that Britain give the Rock over to Spain, and the government-controlled press pointed out that the powerful British fortress could not be defended against an attack from Spanish territory. Generalissimo Franco made the Spanish demand unequivocally official on July 17, when he publicly told army, navy and air force officers that it was Spain's national mission to control Gibraltar, and that 'Spain has . . . 2,000,000 soldiers ready to face anyone in support of Spain's rights.' During the next 2 days, as an aftermath of Franco's remarks and in celebration of the fourth anniversary of the outbreak of the civil war, widespread popular demonstrations in Spain clamored for the 'return of Gibraltar to its rightful owners.'

New Defenses.

British forces at the Rock prepared for a possible tank or artillery attack by starting to dig, on July 20, a canal across the narrow isthmus connecting Gibraltar with Spain. Any forces approaching Gibraltar by land from the north would now find it an island separated from Spain by a waterway 13 feet wide and 13 feet deep. On Dec. 17, London disclosed that 'hard rock' miners from Canada were boring additional tunnels in the huge rock to expedite internal defense movements there.

Bombing Attacks.

Gibraltar experienced its first air raid of the war on July 5. Two days later the French Navy Ministry revealed that two French air squadrons had joined German and Italian units in a third successive daily attack on Gibraltar, as a reprisal for British naval action against French warships at Oran on July 3. At the end of the month, Italian planes renewed their attacks, and British ships were forced to leave the harbor. On Sept. 23-25, more than 100 French planes administered the worst bombing of Gibraltar during the war, in reprisal for British action against French warships at Dakar, capital of French West Africa. Considerable damage was inflicted on civilian areas and some military objectives — including oil tanks, barracks, piers and the naval breakwater. The staunch fortifications at the Rock, however, were reported unharmed.

To help defend Gibraltar, French pilots sympathetic with General Charles de Gaulle and his 'Free French' movement flew 36 French planes to the Rock from Morocco by Sept. 4, and a month later de Gaulle's headquarters in London indicated that other planes had recently arrived. Because of reduced work resulting from the raids and evacuations, the United States consulate at Gibraltar was closed on Nov. 11. See also SPAIN.

1939: Gibraltar

The threat to Great Britain's power and prestige at Gibraltar was diminished early in 1939 by the conclusion of the Spanish civil war. The refugee problem continued to harass the authorities, however, and demonstrations by Spanish Republican refugees against the Burgos agency led to police action on Jan. 27. In April, after Italy's taking of Albania, there was activity of the Anglo-French fleets in the Mediterranean and the road from Gibraltar to the mainland was closed by the erection of a barrier. British naval units withdrew to the eastern Mediterranean, while the French fleet anchored at Gibraltar for its additional protection. Early in May, following reports that all Spanish troops in the vicinity had been demobilized, the authorities removed the barrier on the road to the fortress. In August, however, the European crisis led to new precautions at Gibraltar. The Fortress Headquarters on Aug. 14 forbade members of the armed forces, officials of the dockyards, and their families to cross the Spanish frontier. Ten days later, the police requested certain categories of foreigners, including Italians, to leave Gibraltar. On Sept. 5, full wartime regulations went into effect. All international financial transactions were placed under the direct control of the Governor, and permits were required for the importation and exportation of all products. Gibraltar immediately became one of the chief control stations for the British navy, which began inspecting all neutral ships and seizing contraband and German exports.

1938: Gibraltar

Great Britain's historic fortress at the western gateway of the Mediterranean has been increasingly threatened during recent years by the intervention of Italy and Germany in the Spanish civil war. Both the Gibraltar harbor and the Imperial communications through the Straits have been jeopardized by long-range guns which Italy and Germany are reported to have placed at Algeciras, Ceuta, and other strategic points. In reply to frequent questions from both Opposition and Conservative Members of Parliament, British Government spokesmen have admitted the existence of such guns but have maintained that Gibraltar defenses were adequate for any attack. The Government insisted that protection of Gibraltar was under careful review in the Committee of Imperial Defense and promised to undertake any necessary modernization of the fortress and provide additional anti-aircraft and artillery equipment. Although permanent Italian and German domination in the Baleric Isles, Spanish Morocco, and Spain itself would constitute a serious threat to Gibraltar and British interests, the Government declined during 1938 to assist the Loyalist régime, and also refused to grant belligerent rights to General Franco.