Military history of Gibraltar during World War II
Encyclopedia
The military history of Gibraltar during World War II exemplifies Gibraltar
's position as a British
fortress since the early 18th century and as a vital factor in British military strategy, both as a foothold on the continent of Europe
, and as a bastion of British sea power
. During World War II
, Gibraltar served a vital role in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre
, controlling virtually all naval traffic into and out of the Mediterranean Sea
from the Atlantic Ocean
.
In addition to its commanding position, Gibraltar provided a strongly defended harbour from which ships could operate in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Force H
, under the command of Vice-Admiral James Somerville was based in Gibraltar and had the task of maintaining naval superiority and providing a strong escort for convoys to and from the besieged island of Malta
. During the course of the war, Gibraltar came under aerial bombardment from Vichy French
aircraft and from aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica
) based on Sardinia
. Additionally, the fortress was the focus of underwater attacks by the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina
) commando
frogman
unit (Decima Flottiglia MAS
) and their human torpedo
es. This Italian unit was based on the interned Italian ship SS Olterra
in the nearby Spanish harbour of Algeciras
. A number of attacks were also carried out by Spanish agents acting on behalf of the German Abwehr
.
Inside the Rock of Gibraltar
itself, miles of tunnels were excavated from the limestone. Masses of rock were blasted out to build an "underground city". In huge man-made caverns, barracks, offices, and a fully equipped hospital were constructed, complete with an operating theatre and X-ray equipment
.
Operation Torch
, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, was coordinated from the "Rock
". General Dwight D. Eisenhower
, who was given command of the operation, set up his headquarters in Gibraltar during the planning phases of the operation. Following the successful completion of the North African campaign
and the surrender of Italy
in 1943, Gibraltar's role shifted from a forward operating base to a rear-area supply position. The harbour continued to operate dry docks and supply depots for the convoy
routes through the Mediterranean until V-E Day
in 1945.
dramatically changed the lives of Gibraltarians. The decision to enforce mass evacuation
in order to increase the strength of the Rock
with more military
and naval
personnel meant that most Gibraltarians (some for up to ten years) had nowhere to call 'home'. Only those civilians with essential jobs were allowed to stay but it gave the entire community a sense of being 'British' by sharing in the war effort.
In early June 1940, about 13,500 evacuees were shipped to Casablanca
in French Morocco
. However, following the capitulation
of the French to the German
armies later in June 1940, the new Pro-German French Vichy Government found the presence of Gibraltarian evacuees in Casablanca an embarrassment and sought opportunities for their removal. The opportunity soon arose when 15 British cargo vessels
arrived under Commodore Crichton, repatriating 15,000 French servicemen who had been rescued from Dunkirk
. Once their own rescued servicemen had disembarked, the ships were interned until they agreed to take away all the evacuees. Although Crichton was unable to obtain permission to clean and restock his ships (and contrary to British Admiralty
orders which forbade the taking on of evacuees), when he saw the mass of civilians pouring through the dockyards, he opened up his gangways for boarding. Just recently, the British fleet had destroyed a number of French warships at Mers el-Kebir in order to prevent them ending up in German hands. The attack killed 1,297 French sailors and led to high tensions, which were evident when families were forced at bayonet point by French troops to board taking only what they could carry, leaving many possessions behind. However, when they arrived at Gibraltar, the Governor
would not allow them to land, fearing that once the evacuees were back on the Rock, it would be virtually impossible to evacuate them a second time. Crowds gathered in John Macintosh Square in the centre of Gibraltar as the news broke, speeches were made and two City Councillors accompanied by the Acting President of the Exchange and Commercial Library went to see the Governor (Sir Clive Liddell
) to ask that the evacuees be allowed to land. After receiving instructions from London
, a landing was allowed as long as the evacuees returned when other ships arrived to take them away from the Rock, and by 13 July the re-evacuation back to Gibraltar had been completed.
British conservative
politician Oliver Stanley
agreed to accept the evacuees in the United Kingdom, but he argued with Gibraltar over the number of people involved. The Governor, he declared, had given the number of evacuees first as 13,000, then as 14,000 and finally as 16,000. He asked for the situation to be clarified, stressing the shortage of accommodation in Britain and insisting that only 13,000 could be accepted, 2,000 of whom were to be sent to the Portuguese
Atlantic island of Madeira
. The situation, replied General Liddell on 19 July, "is that this is a fortress liable to heave and immediate attack and there should be no civilians here whereas there are 22,000. The 13,000 was the number sent to Morocco
, and more would have been sent had the situation there not altered." In London the evacuees were placed in the hands of the Ministry of Health, and many were housed in Kensington
area. Concern for them in Gibraltar mounted as the air raids against London intensified, coupled with the arrival of harrowing letters, describing the circumstances in which the evacuees were living.
In September rumours were already circulating among the evacuees, and in Gibraltar, that the possibility of re-evacuating the Gibraltarians once more was being mooted, this time the destination being Jamaica
, in the West Indies
. After much contention, it was decided to send a party directly from Gibraltar to the island, and 1,093 evacuees left for Jamaica direct, on 9 October, with more following later on. However petitions followed and the demands were met, partly for strategic reasons and the lack of available shipping. The situation at the end of 1940, therefore, was that approximately 2,000 evacuees were in Jamaica and a lesser number in Madeira, with the bulk of around 10,000 housed in the London area.
. The RAF dispatched their next squadron to Gibraltar at this time and it was in September 1939 that war with Germany was declared and the strong possibility of German submarine
s concentrating in the Strait of Gibraltar
and using Spanish port facilities, loomed large in Admiralty thinking. So at 09:00 (UTC
) on the 9 September 1939, No. 202 Squadron RAF
was ordered to Gibraltar, loaded to the gunwales with equipment.
On 25 September 1939, No 200 (Coastal) Group was formed as a subordinate formation to HQ RAF Mediterranean in control of No 202 Sqn. The Group's function was the control of Royal Air Force
units operating from Gibraltar. In late 1940 the Group was transferred to Coastal Command
. Later a combined HQ
was formed which commenced operations in early 1942.
, the Vichy government authorized a bombing raid of Gibraltar
as a response. Apparently many of the French pilots still found it hard to attack their former ally. The attack was generally half-hearted and most of the bombs were dropped in the sea. Little damage was reported to have been done.
On Tuesday, 24 September, the Italian STEFANI News Agency
reported: "As a reprisal for the bombardment of Dakar
yesterday morning, one-hundred-and-twenty French aircraft based in Morocco attacked Gibraltar." On the same day, the United Press Agency
reported: "The French government has issued an official denial of reports, according to which French aircraft were said to have attacked Gibraltar. Up until now, no reprisals have been undertaken." But the United Press report ended on an ominous note with: "French reprisals are imminent."
Again, on the same day, the Vichy French government
issued orders for the naval base and city of Gibraltar to be bombarded. As a result, six bomber squadrons of the Vichy French Air Force
(Armée de l'Air de Vichy) and four squadrons of the Vichy French Navy
(Marine nationale de Vichy
) were employed in the operation. The sixty-four bombers flew from bases in Oran
, Tafaroui (in Algeria
), Meknes
, Mediouna, and Port Lyautey (in Morocco). The French action was approved by both the German Armistice Commission
and the Italian Armistice Commission.
No British aircraft were encountered and much damage was done in the area south of the fortress. The South Mole
and a large ship in the harbour were heavily damaged. In the northern part of Gibraltar, fires broke out.
On 25 September, the French returned with a larger force of eighty-three bombers to cause additional damages to the naval base and harbour installations. Again, aircraft of the British Royal Air Force
made no appearance. However, the French crews did report encountering heavy anti-aircraft fire
. One Leo bomber was lost and thirteen other aircraft were lightly damaged during the two days of bombing attacks. The British armed trawler
HMT Stella Sirius was sunk by bombs.
The attack on 25 September was to prove to be the last air assault launched against Gibraltar by Vichy forces.
The Rock came through the war relatively unscathed but, given its strategic importance, Germany
made plans to capture Gibraltar. Codenamed "Felix"
, the plan which was signed by Adolf Hitler
himself was formulated at the highest level of command. With or without permission, Germany would take entry through Spain and attack Gibraltar driving the British out of the Western Mediterranean. The Strait
would be effectively closed to the Allies once Gibraltar was in German hands, forcing Asia-bound Allied shipping to steam all the way around Africa rather than to proceed to the east via the shorter route through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal
. The Rock was to be heavily dive bombed by planes leaving France but landing afterward at Spanish air bases. To deny a possible Spanish capture of the base, the German planners decided that the final attack to seize Gibraltar was to be made by German troops alone.
Diplomatic failure at the highest levels of government prevented the operation from occurring at the beginning of 1941 which had been drawn up in detail by the Wehrmacht in the summer and autumn of 1940.
General Ludwig Kübler
's XLIX Corps would conduct the actual attack on the Rock. The assault forces would comprise the Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland
, the 98th Regiment of the 1st Mountain Division, 26 medium and heavy artillery battalions, three observation battalions, three engineer battalions, two smoke battalions, a detachment of 150 Brandenburgers
, and up to 150 miniature remote controlled demolition vehicles (Goliaths
), packed with high explosives.
As part of a combined-force operation, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe
) would contribute Ju 88A
s, Stukas, Messerschmitt
s, three light AA battalions, and three heavy AA battalions. The German Navy (Kriegsmarine
) would cooperate by using U-boat
s to interfere with British naval movement and emplacing coastal batteries to further discourage the Royal Navy.
On 10 March 1941, with Operation Barbarossa
looming, Felix was amended to Operation Felix-Heinrich, whereby German troops would be withdrawn from the USSR to capture Gibraltar. As a result of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco
's intransigence, the operation was postponed, modified, and ultimately abandoned.
, Italian Piaggio P.108
bombers attacked Gibraltar several times, mainly in 1942. The last raids on Gibraltar were done during the 1943 Allied landing in Algeria
, when those bombers hit successfully even the Oran
port.
The only unit of the Regia Aeronautica ever to fly the Piaggio P.108 was the "274th Long-Range Bombardment Group".
This unit was formed in May 1941 around the first machines that came off the assembly lines. The training of the crews lasted far longer than anticipated and only in June 1942 the 274th became operational.
The most spectacular raids with the P. 108 bombers were flown in October 1942 when several night attacks against Gibraltar were undertaken from Sardinia.
, an Italian commando
frogman
unit created during the Fascist
government engaged in numerous attacks against the harbour at Gibraltar.
Gibraltar was a very tempting target for the Italians, who saw it as a refuge for British warships and allied merchant shipping. The Italian frogmen originally used a Spanish villa (Villa Carmela) located two miles (3 km) from Gibraltar owned by an Italian officer who had married a Spanish woman named Conchita Ramognino. Their base was shifted later to the Italian tanker SS Olterra
, interned in Algeciras
.
attacks carried out by Spanish agents recruited by the Germans. The Abwehr contacted a Spanish staff officer from Campo de Gibraltar
, Lieutenant Colonel Eleuterio Sánchez Rubio, to establish a network of saboteurs with access to Gibraltar. Sánchez Rubio designated Emilio Plazas Tejera, a member of Falange, as operations chief of the organisation.
Financed, trained and equipped by the Germans, the saboteurs claimed the sinking of the armed trawler HMT Erin, and the destruction of the auxiliary minesweeper HMT Honjo, which resulted in the deaths of six British seamen on 18 January 1942. Plazas was assisted by the Spanish naval commander of Puente Mayorga, Manuel Romero Hume, who allowed him to beach a rowboat there. By September 1942, Plazas, whose activities were closely monitored by the British at that time, resigned and left Carlos Calvo, his second in command, in charge of the operations.
In March 1943 an ammunition dump was blown up by Calvo's agents. The British, growing suspicious of some of the saboteurs, banned them from entering Gibraltar. This forced the Abwehr to ask Calvo for new personnel. A Spaniard working on the "Rock", José Martín Muñoz, was responsible for the explosion and fire at a large fuel tank at Coaling island on 30 June 1943; this mission, however, would be the first and the last for Muñoz, because he was cornered and arrested by British authorities in August, and eventually executed on 11 January 1944. A member of an unrelated Abwehr sabotage network, Luis López Cordón-Cuenca, also arrested in 1943, faced the firing squad the same day. Calvo himself was put under arrest by the Spanish police and neutralized. He would be a free man again in December, when he rejoined the Abwehr in Madrid
, under direct orders of Wolfgang Blaum, aka Baumann, head of the sabotage section in Spain. After a Falangist attempt against the life of pro-allied General José Enrique Varela
, perpetrated by Sánchez Rubio network's agent Juan José Domínguez and a meeting between Anthony Eden
and the Spanish ambassador at London, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart
, Abwehr activities around Gibraltar came to an end.
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Operation Tracer
was a top-secret British stay-behind
spying mission that was only to be implemented if Gibraltar was captured by the Axis Powers. Six men were to be sealed in a cave and left with only enough supplies for a year. The volunteers —two doctors, three signalmen and their leader— would run an observation post with two 12 inches (304.8 mm) by 6 inches (152.4 mm) slits, one looking due east out over the Mediterranean and the other west over the Strait of Gibraltar
and the harbour. The team would then wire back all shipping movements to the British Admiralty
.
They were told there would be no way out and anyone who died within the chamber would have to be embalmed and cemented into the walls. Only if Germany was defeated within their first year would they be released.
As the threat of invasion was clearly felt in late 1941, an idea for a series of secret observation posts (first in Gibraltar and later in other places like Malta
and Aden
) was put together under Operation Tracer.
Work in Gibraltar began immediately under Commander Geoffrey Birley and his chief engineer Colonel Fordham. The site chosen at Lord Airey’s Battery on the southern tip of the Rock already had an existing tunnelling scheme for a shelter.
Extensive trials of the equipment began in January 1942 under the eye of MI6
radio expert Colonel Gambier-Parry. Much thought was also given to the type of men needed for such a strange and demanding task. A member of Scott
’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic
, Murray Levick was called up as Surgeon-Commander to advise on survival techniques. There were practical matters such as diet, exercise, sanitation and clothing to consider as well as vital ‘psychology of the personnel’. The full team was in place by the end of summer 1942 and their cavern fully equipped and ready for occupation. A comprehensive manual was prepared on all aspects of the operation and it was considered that similar secret lookout posts should be prepared throughout the world in the event of future wars. However, Operation Tracer was never needed, as Adolf Hitler
turned his attention away from Gibraltar and towards the Eastern Front
.
The operation had been clouded in mystery until the discovery of papers at the Public Records Office in Kew
UK. Previously in the 1960s, details of the story were told to a journalist by his intelligence service contacts and he wrote these up as ‘Operation Monkey,’ yet facts were very sparse.
In 1997 'Stay Behind Cave' (as it was nicknamed) was discovered in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Caving Group, but no account was ever obtained from anyone associated with the mission. The discovery came about when the group encountered a strong gust of wind in a tunnel. Further searching led them to break through a wall into chambers which had never been used and had remained sealed for over 50 years.
In November 2006 Jim Crone and Sergeant Major Pete Jackson, senior tunnel guide with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment
, met possibly the only member of Operation Tracer still alive when they travelled to meet Dr. W. A. Bruce Cooper at his home in England. Cooper, 92 at the time, provided an opportunity to shed light on the operation with his direct involvement in the mission as a Surgeon-Lieutenant
in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
(RNVR). He recalled stories about his colleagues, his training, and his feelings about the task.
lasted approximately from September 21, 1941, to May 1944. The German Navy (Kriegsmarine
) tried to isolate Gibraltar
, Malta
, and Suez
and disrupt Britain
's trade routes. More than sixty U-boats were sent to interdict Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. Many of these U-boats were themselves attacked negotiating the Strait of Gibraltar
controlled by Britain. Nine U-boats were sunk while attempting passage and ten more were damaged.
Plans for the Allied counter offensive after the attack on Pearl Harbor
were ongoing by mid-1942. An invasion of Europe in 1943 would be unworkable, but the allies could attack the "soft underbelly of Europe" through the Mediterranean, as Prime Minister
Winston Churchill
put it. Devised by President
Franklin Roosevelt
and Churchill and code named Operation Torch
, the plan was to occupy French North Africa: Morocco, Algeria
, and Tunisia
. From these French colonies, attacks could be launched that would drive Italy out of the war.
In July 1942, Lieutenant General
Dwight D. Eisenhower
was appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief of Operation Torch. Churchill placed Gibraltar under the command of General Eisenhower as the temporary headquarters for this, the first large-scale Anglo-American operation of the war. He arrived in Gibraltar on 5 November 1942 to take over, not just command of Operation Torch itself, but also military command of Gibraltar.
General Eisenhower stayed at The Convent
, the official Governor
's residence, but his operational headquarters were in a small chamber in a tunnel in the heart of the Rock. In his memoirs General Eisenhower wrote:
One hundred thousand soldiers on the high seas in a multitude of transports converged on Gibraltar. More than 400 aircraft of all types were crammed into the dispersal areas around the Gibraltar runway. Fighters had been shipped in crates and assembled on the airfield. Every available area of storage was taken up with ammunition
, fuel, and other essential supplies. 168 American pilots were housed in the RAF
messes at North Front.
On 8 November 1942, 466 aircraft from Gibraltar landed on captured North African airfields.
From their headquarters in Gibraltar, General Eisenhower and Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham
directed Operation Torch, the first major combined combat operation during World War II involving American and British forces.
. This "town" inside the Rock contained its own power station, water supply, and hospital. Some soldiers posted here would not see the light of day for months on end. Two Canadian engineer companies, the only soldiers with diamond-tipped drills and 5 British engineer companies, added some 30 miles (48.3 km) of such tunnels, a feat thought impossible at the time. That was enough to hold all 30 000 troops on the rock. Today, the rock has more underground tunnels than roads.
On 4 July 1943, a Liberator bomber
from RAF Transport Command
took off from Gibraltar for England. On board was General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister
of Poland's
London-based government in exile
and Commander-in-Chief
of its armed forces, returning from visiting Polish troops in the Middle East.
The aircraft climbed normally from the runway, levelled off to gather speed but then suddenly lost height and crashed into the harbour. The 62-year-old general died, along with 15 others. The sole survivor was the Czech-born pilot, Max Prchal, who was rescued by an RAF launch. The bodies of five passengers and crew, including Sikorski's daughter, were never found.
The coffins of General Sikorski and his Chief-of-Staff, General Kilimecki, were draped in the Polish National Flag and lay in state in the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned
. After a Requiem Mass
, the bodies were carried in procession to the H.M. Dockyard with full Military Honours to be shipped to London in anticipation that General Sikorski’s remains would one day be returned to a liberated Poland. The route to the dockyard was lined by British troops and the coffins carried and escorted by Polish Servicemen.
In 1943 a British Court of Inquiry investigated the crash of Sikorski's Liberator II
AL523, but was unable to determine the probable cause, finding only that it was an accident and the "aircraft became uncontrollable for reasons which cannot be established". A popular theory was insufficient technical maintenance leading to jamming aircraft controls. Despite this finding, the political context of the event, coupled with a variety of curious circumstances, immediately gave rise to speculation that Sikorski's death had been no accident, and may in fact have been the direct result of a Soviet, British or even Polish conspiracy.
Six weeks before the crash, while Sikorski had been at Gibraltar for the first time, en route to his Middle East inspection, a Polish government office in London received a phone call stating that Sikorski had been killed in a crash at Gibraltar; the call had been discounted as a prank, but has since led to speculation. It is often mentioned that two of Sikorski's previous planes had been subject to incidents. The 30 November 1942, forced landing at Montreal
, Canada, was suspected to have been caused by sabotage. Another incident might have taken place few months earlier, in March. At Gibraltar, due to the special treatment accorded VIPs, there was uncertainty about who had in fact boarded the plane and about the exact cargo manifest—all leading to uncertainty as to the identity of the bodies recovered from the crash site; some bodies, including that of Sikorski's daughter, Zofia, have never been recovered.
The surrender of Italy in September 1943 lifted any possible objections to the return of the evacuees to the Rock. As a result a Resettlement Board was established in November, and at a meeting of the Board on 8 February 1944 repatriation
priorities were finally agreed. On 6 April 1944 the first group of 1,367 repatriates arrived on the Rock directly from the United Kingdom and on 28 May, the first repatriation party left Madeira, and by the end of 1944 only 520 non-priority evacuees remained on the island.
In London, home-comers were making claims on the evacuees’ wartime accommodation and 500 Gibraltarians were re-evacuated to Scotland and 3,000 to camps in Northern Ireland
. Although the Governor, Lt. General Sir Noel Mason-MacFarlane, fought valiantly on behalf of the evacuees and did not accept the lack of accommodation as a sufficient reason for the delays. As late as 1947 there were still 2,000 in Northern Irish camps. The last of the evacuees did not see the Rock again until 1951.
between 1978 and 1982, a military historian and former Chairman of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society.
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
's position as a British
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
fortress since the early 18th century and as a vital factor in British military strategy, both as a foothold on the continent of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and as a bastion of British sea power
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, Gibraltar served a vital role in both the Atlantic Theatre and the Mediterranean Theatre
Mediterranean Theatre of World War II
The African, Mediterranean and Middle East theatres encompassed the naval, land, and air campaigns fought between the Allied and Axis forces in the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and Africa...
, controlling virtually all naval traffic into and out of the Mediterranean Sea
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean surrounded by the Mediterranean region and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Anatolia and Europe, on the south by North Africa, and on the east by the Levant...
from the Atlantic Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
.
In addition to its commanding position, Gibraltar provided a strongly defended harbour from which ships could operate in both the Atlantic and the Mediterranean. Force H
Force H
Force H was a British naval formation during the Second World War. It was formed in 1940 to replace French naval power in the western Mediterranean that had been removed by the French armistice with Nazi Germany....
, under the command of Vice-Admiral James Somerville was based in Gibraltar and had the task of maintaining naval superiority and providing a strong escort for convoys to and from the besieged island of Malta
Siege of Malta (1940)
The Siege of Malta was a military campaign in the Mediterranean Theatre of the Second World War. From 1940-1942, the fight for the control of the strategically important island of Malta pitted the air forces and navies of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany against the Royal Air Force and the Royal...
. During the course of the war, Gibraltar came under aerial bombardment from Vichy French
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
aircraft and from aircraft of the Italian Royal Air Force (Regia Aeronautica
Regia Aeronautica
The Italian Royal Air Force was the name of the air force of the Kingdom of Italy. It was established as a service independent of the Royal Italian Army from 1923 until 1946...
) based on Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. Additionally, the fortress was the focus of underwater attacks by the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina
Regia Marina
The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...
) commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
frogman
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
unit (Decima Flottiglia MAS
Decima Flottiglia MAS
The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italian commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina created during the Fascist regime.The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World...
) and their human torpedo
Human torpedo
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of rideable submarine used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic design is still in use today; they are a type of diver propulsion vehicle....
es. This Italian unit was based on the interned Italian ship SS Olterra
Auxiliary ship Olterra
The auxiliary ship Olterra was a 5,000 tons Italian tanker scuttled by her own crew at Algeciras bay on 10 June 1940, after the entry of Italy in World War II...
in the nearby Spanish harbour of Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
. A number of attacks were also carried out by Spanish agents acting on behalf of the German Abwehr
Abwehr
The Abwehr was a German military intelligence organisation from 1921 to 1944. The term Abwehr was used as a concession to Allied demands that Germany's post-World War I intelligence activities be for "defensive" purposes only...
.
Inside the Rock of Gibraltar
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
itself, miles of tunnels were excavated from the limestone. Masses of rock were blasted out to build an "underground city". In huge man-made caverns, barracks, offices, and a fully equipped hospital were constructed, complete with an operating theatre and X-ray equipment
X-ray
X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...
.
Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, the Allied invasion of French North Africa in November 1942, was coordinated from the "Rock
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
". General Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
, who was given command of the operation, set up his headquarters in Gibraltar during the planning phases of the operation. Following the successful completion of the North African campaign
North African campaign
During the Second World War, the North African Campaign took place in North Africa from 10 June 1940 to 13 May 1943. It included campaigns fought in the Libyan and Egyptian deserts and in Morocco and Algeria and Tunisia .The campaign was fought between the Allies and Axis powers, many of whom had...
and the surrender of Italy
Armistice with Italy
The Armistice with Italy was an armistice signed on September 3 and publicly declared on September 8, 1943, during World War II, between Italy and the Allied armed forces, who were then occupying the southern end of the country, entailing the capitulation of Italy...
in 1943, Gibraltar's role shifted from a forward operating base to a rear-area supply position. The harbour continued to operate dry docks and supply depots for the convoy
Convoy
A convoy is a group of vehicles, typically motor vehicles or ships, traveling together for mutual support and protection. Often, a convoy is organized with armed defensive support, though it may also be used in a non-military sense, for example when driving through remote areas.-Age of Sail:Naval...
routes through the Mediterranean until V-E Day
Victory in Europe Day
Victory in Europe Day commemorates 8 May 1945 , the date when the World War II Allies formally accepted the unconditional surrender of the armed forces of Nazi Germany and the end of Adolf Hitler's Third Reich. The formal surrender of the occupying German forces in the Channel Islands was not...
in 1945.
Prelude and evacuation
World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
dramatically changed the lives of Gibraltarians. The decision to enforce mass evacuation
Emergency evacuation
Emergency evacuation is the immediate and rapid movement of people away from the threat or actual occurrence of a hazard. Examples range from the small scale evacuation of a building due to a bomb threat or fire to the large scale evacuation of a district because of a flood, bombardment or...
in order to increase the strength of the Rock
Rock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
with more military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
and naval
Navy
A navy is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake- or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions...
personnel meant that most Gibraltarians (some for up to ten years) had nowhere to call 'home'. Only those civilians with essential jobs were allowed to stay but it gave the entire community a sense of being 'British' by sharing in the war effort.
In early June 1940, about 13,500 evacuees were shipped to Casablanca
Casablanca
Casablanca is a city in western Morocco, located on the Atlantic Ocean. It is the capital of the Grand Casablanca region.Casablanca is Morocco's largest city as well as its chief port. It is also the biggest city in the Maghreb. The 2004 census recorded a population of 2,949,805 in the prefecture...
in French Morocco
French Morocco
French Protectorate of Morocco was a French protectorate in Morocco, established by the Treaty of Fez. French Morocco did not include the north of the country, which was a Spanish protectorate...
. However, following the capitulation
Capitulation (surrender)
Capitulation , an agreement in time of war for the surrender to a hostile armed force of a particular body of troops, a town or a territory....
of the French to the German
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
armies later in June 1940, the new Pro-German French Vichy Government found the presence of Gibraltarian evacuees in Casablanca an embarrassment and sought opportunities for their removal. The opportunity soon arose when 15 British cargo vessels
Cargo ship
A cargo ship or freighter is any sort of ship or vessel that carries cargo, goods, and materials from one port to another. Thousands of cargo carriers ply the world's seas and oceans each year; they handle the bulk of international trade...
arrived under Commodore Crichton, repatriating 15,000 French servicemen who had been rescued from Dunkirk
Battle of Dunkirk
The Battle of Dunkirk was a battle in the Second World War between the Allies and Germany. A part of the Battle of France on the Western Front, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defence and evacuation of British and allied forces in Europe from 26 May–4 June 1940.After the Phoney War, the Battle of...
. Once their own rescued servicemen had disembarked, the ships were interned until they agreed to take away all the evacuees. Although Crichton was unable to obtain permission to clean and restock his ships (and contrary to British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
orders which forbade the taking on of evacuees), when he saw the mass of civilians pouring through the dockyards, he opened up his gangways for boarding. Just recently, the British fleet had destroyed a number of French warships at Mers el-Kebir in order to prevent them ending up in German hands. The attack killed 1,297 French sailors and led to high tensions, which were evident when families were forced at bayonet point by French troops to board taking only what they could carry, leaving many possessions behind. However, when they arrived at Gibraltar, the Governor
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
would not allow them to land, fearing that once the evacuees were back on the Rock, it would be virtually impossible to evacuate them a second time. Crowds gathered in John Macintosh Square in the centre of Gibraltar as the news broke, speeches were made and two City Councillors accompanied by the Acting President of the Exchange and Commercial Library went to see the Governor (Sir Clive Liddell
Clive Gerard Liddell
General Sir Clive Gerard Liddell KCB CMG CBE DSO was Adjutant-General to the Forces of the British Army.-Military career:Clive Liddell joined the British Army in 1902. He was an Adjutant from 1908 to 1911 and then became Staff Captain at 6th District of Northern Command in 1912...
) to ask that the evacuees be allowed to land. After receiving instructions from London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, a landing was allowed as long as the evacuees returned when other ships arrived to take them away from the Rock, and by 13 July the re-evacuation back to Gibraltar had been completed.
British conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician Oliver Stanley
Oliver Stanley
Oliver Frederick George Stanley MC, PC was a prominent British Conservative politician who held many ministerial posts before his early death when it was expected he would soon assume higher office....
agreed to accept the evacuees in the United Kingdom, but he argued with Gibraltar over the number of people involved. The Governor, he declared, had given the number of evacuees first as 13,000, then as 14,000 and finally as 16,000. He asked for the situation to be clarified, stressing the shortage of accommodation in Britain and insisting that only 13,000 could be accepted, 2,000 of whom were to be sent to the Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
Atlantic island of Madeira
Madeira
Madeira is a Portuguese archipelago that lies between and , just under 400 km north of Tenerife, Canary Islands, in the north Atlantic Ocean and an outermost region of the European Union...
. The situation, replied General Liddell on 19 July, "is that this is a fortress liable to heave and immediate attack and there should be no civilians here whereas there are 22,000. The 13,000 was the number sent to Morocco
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, and more would have been sent had the situation there not altered." In London the evacuees were placed in the hands of the Ministry of Health, and many were housed in Kensington
Kensington
Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...
area. Concern for them in Gibraltar mounted as the air raids against London intensified, coupled with the arrival of harrowing letters, describing the circumstances in which the evacuees were living.
In September rumours were already circulating among the evacuees, and in Gibraltar, that the possibility of re-evacuating the Gibraltarians once more was being mooted, this time the destination being Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, in the West Indies
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
. After much contention, it was decided to send a party directly from Gibraltar to the island, and 1,093 evacuees left for Jamaica direct, on 9 October, with more following later on. However petitions followed and the demands were met, partly for strategic reasons and the lack of available shipping. The situation at the end of 1940, therefore, was that approximately 2,000 evacuees were in Jamaica and a lesser number in Madeira, with the bulk of around 10,000 housed in the London area.
Royal Air Force involvement: 1939–1941
Construction of a solid surface runway began in late 1939 and in 1940 it was proposed to extend the existing runway to a length of 1,550 yards (1,417 m). The land reclamation commenced towards the end of 1941 along with the construction of an RAF camp at the "North Front", now RAF GibraltarRAF Gibraltar
Royal Air Force Station Gibraltar, better known as RAF Gibraltar and formally as North Front, is a Royal Air Force station on Gibraltar. No military aircraft are currently stationed there, but there are regular visits...
. The RAF dispatched their next squadron to Gibraltar at this time and it was in September 1939 that war with Germany was declared and the strong possibility of German submarine
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s concentrating in the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
and using Spanish port facilities, loomed large in Admiralty thinking. So at 09:00 (UTC
Coordinated Universal Time
Coordinated Universal Time is the primary time standard by which the world regulates clocks and time. It is one of several closely related successors to Greenwich Mean Time. Computer servers, online services and other entities that rely on having a universally accepted time use UTC for that purpose...
) on the 9 September 1939, No. 202 Squadron RAF
No. 202 Squadron RAF
No. 202 Squadron of the Royal Air Force presently operates the Sea King HAR.3 in the Search and rescue role at three stations in the northern half of the United Kingdom. It was originally formed as one of the first aeroplane squadrons of the RNAS before it became part of the RAF.-Formation and...
was ordered to Gibraltar, loaded to the gunwales with equipment.
On 25 September 1939, No 200 (Coastal) Group was formed as a subordinate formation to HQ RAF Mediterranean in control of No 202 Sqn. The Group's function was the control of Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
units operating from Gibraltar. In late 1940 the Group was transferred to Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command
RAF Coastal Command was a formation within the Royal Air Force . Founded in 1936, it was the RAF's premier maritime arm, after the Royal Navy's secondment of the Fleet Air Arm in 1937. Naval aviation was neglected in the inter-war period, 1919–1939, and as a consequence the service did not receive...
. Later a combined HQ
Headquarters
Headquarters denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the top of a corporation taking full responsibility managing all business activities...
was formed which commenced operations in early 1942.
Vichy French attacks: 1940
On 18 July 1940, after the destruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir by the BritishDestruction of the French Fleet at Mers-el-Kebir
The Attack on Mers-el-Kébir, part of Operation Catapult and also known as the Battle of Mers-el-Kébir, was a naval engagement fought at Mers-el-Kébir on the coast of what was then French Algeria on 3 July 1940...
, the Vichy government authorized a bombing raid of Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
as a response. Apparently many of the French pilots still found it hard to attack their former ally. The attack was generally half-hearted and most of the bombs were dropped in the sea. Little damage was reported to have been done.
On Tuesday, 24 September, the Italian STEFANI News Agency
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
reported: "As a reprisal for the bombardment of Dakar
Battle of Dakar
The Battle of Dakar, also known as Operation Menace, was an unsuccessful attempt in September 1940 by the Allies to capture the strategic port of Dakar in French West Africa , which was under Vichy French control, and to install the Free French under General Charles de Gaulle there.-Background:At...
yesterday morning, one-hundred-and-twenty French aircraft based in Morocco attacked Gibraltar." On the same day, the United Press Agency
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
reported: "The French government has issued an official denial of reports, according to which French aircraft were said to have attacked Gibraltar. Up until now, no reprisals have been undertaken." But the United Press report ended on an ominous note with: "French reprisals are imminent."
Again, on the same day, the Vichy French government
Vichy France
Vichy France, Vichy Regime, or Vichy Government, are common terms used to describe the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers from July 1940 to August 1944. This government succeeded the Third Republic and preceded the Provisional Government of the French Republic...
issued orders for the naval base and city of Gibraltar to be bombarded. As a result, six bomber squadrons of the Vichy French Air Force
Vichy French Air Force
The Vichy French Air Force was the aerial branch of the armed forces of Vichy France - the government of France that collaborated with the Axis powers following the defeat of France by Germany in 1940....
(Armée de l'Air de Vichy) and four squadrons of the Vichy French Navy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
(Marine nationale de Vichy
French Navy
The French Navy, officially the Marine nationale and often called La Royale is the maritime arm of the French military. It includes a full range of fighting vessels, from patrol boats to a nuclear powered aircraft carrier and 10 nuclear-powered submarines, four of which are capable of launching...
) were employed in the operation. The sixty-four bombers flew from bases in Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
, Tafaroui (in Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
), Meknes
Meknes
Meknes is a city in northern Morocco, located from the capital Rabat and from Fes. It is served by the A2 expressway between those two cities and by the corresponding railway. Meknes was the capital of Morocco under the reign of Moulay Ismail , before it was relocated to Marrakech. The...
, Mediouna, and Port Lyautey (in Morocco). The French action was approved by both the German Armistice Commission
German Armistice Commission
The German Armistice Commission was created by Article Twenty-Two of the Armistice Agreement between the German High Command of the Armed Forces and French Plenipottentiaries, Compiègne, June 22, 1940.-Description:...
and the Italian Armistice Commission.
No British aircraft were encountered and much damage was done in the area south of the fortress. The South Mole
Mole (architecture)
A mole is a massive structure, usually of stone, used as a pier, breakwater, or a causeway between places separated by water. The word comes from Middle French mole and ultimately Latin mōlēs meaning a large mass, especially of rock and has the same root as molecule.Historically, the term "mole"...
and a large ship in the harbour were heavily damaged. In the northern part of Gibraltar, fires broke out.
On 25 September, the French returned with a larger force of eighty-three bombers to cause additional damages to the naval base and harbour installations. Again, aircraft of the British Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
made no appearance. However, the French crews did report encountering heavy anti-aircraft fire
Anti-aircraft warfare
NATO defines air defence as "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action." They include ground and air based weapon systems, associated sensor systems, command and control arrangements and passive measures. It may be to protect naval, ground and air forces...
. One Leo bomber was lost and thirteen other aircraft were lightly damaged during the two days of bombing attacks. The British armed trawler
Naval trawler
A naval trawler is a vessel built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes. Naval trawlers were widely used during the First and Second world wars. Fishing trawlers were particularly suited for many naval requirements because they were robust boats designed to work...
HMT Stella Sirius was sunk by bombs.
The attack on 25 September was to prove to be the last air assault launched against Gibraltar by Vichy forces.
Operation Felix: 1940–1941
For the aerial attack on the harbour of Gibraltar forces are to be designated which will guarantee abundant success. For the subsequent operations against naval objectives and for support of the attack of the Rock mainly dive bombers units are to be transferred to Spain. Sufficient anti-aircraft artillery is to be allocated to the army units including its use against ground targets. |
| Operation Felix, Directive No. 18, Section IV: Luftwaffe’’ by Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945... |
The Rock came through the war relatively unscathed but, given its strategic importance, Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
made plans to capture Gibraltar. Codenamed "Felix"
Operation Felix
Operation Felix was the codename for a proposed German seizure of Gibraltar during World War II. It never got beyond the staff study stage, even though planning continued into 1944, primarily because of Francisco Franco's reluctance to commit Spain to enter the war on the Axis...
, the plan which was signed by Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
himself was formulated at the highest level of command. With or without permission, Germany would take entry through Spain and attack Gibraltar driving the British out of the Western Mediterranean. The Strait
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
would be effectively closed to the Allies once Gibraltar was in German hands, forcing Asia-bound Allied shipping to steam all the way around Africa rather than to proceed to the east via the shorter route through the Mediterranean and the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
. The Rock was to be heavily dive bombed by planes leaving France but landing afterward at Spanish air bases. To deny a possible Spanish capture of the base, the German planners decided that the final attack to seize Gibraltar was to be made by German troops alone.
Diplomatic failure at the highest levels of government prevented the operation from occurring at the beginning of 1941 which had been drawn up in detail by the Wehrmacht in the summer and autumn of 1940.
General Ludwig Kübler
Ludwig Kübler
General Ludwig Kübler was a German General of the Mountain Troops during World War II who was executed as a war criminal in Yugoslavia.- Early life :...
's XLIX Corps would conduct the actual attack on the Rock. The assault forces would comprise the Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland
Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland
The Infantry Regiment Großdeutschland was an élite German Heer ceremonial and combat unit which saw action during World War II. The regiment served in the campaigns in France and the Low Countries in 1940. It then served exclusively on the Eastern Front until the end of the war...
, the 98th Regiment of the 1st Mountain Division, 26 medium and heavy artillery battalions, three observation battalions, three engineer battalions, two smoke battalions, a detachment of 150 Brandenburgers
Brandenburgers
The Brandenburgers were members of the Brandenburg German Special Forces unit during World War II.Units of Brandenburgers operated in almost all fronts - the invasion of Poland, Denmark and Norway, in the Battle of France, in Operation Barbarossa, in Finland, Greece and the invasion of Crete,...
, and up to 150 miniature remote controlled demolition vehicles (Goliaths
Goliath tracked mine
The Goliath tracked mine - complete German name: Leichter Ladungsträger Goliath - was a remote controlled German-engineered demolition vehicle, also known as the beetle tank to Allies....
), packed with high explosives.
As part of a combined-force operation, the German Air Force (Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe
Luftwaffe is a generic German term for an air force. It is also the official name for two of the four historic German air forces, the Wehrmacht air arm founded in 1935 and disbanded in 1946; and the current Bundeswehr air arm founded in 1956....
) would contribute Ju 88A
Junkers Ju 88
The Junkers Ju 88 was a World War II German Luftwaffe twin-engine, multi-role aircraft. Designed by Hugo Junkers' company through the services of two American aviation engineers in the mid-1930s, it suffered from a number of technical problems during the later stages of its development and early...
s, Stukas, Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt
Messerschmitt AG was a famous German aircraft manufacturing corporation named for its chief designer, Willy Messerschmitt, and known primarily for its World War II fighter aircraft, notably the Bf 109 and Me 262...
s, three light AA battalions, and three heavy AA battalions. The German Navy (Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
) would cooperate by using U-boat
U-boat
U-boat is the anglicized version of the German word U-Boot , itself an abbreviation of Unterseeboot , and refers to military submarines operated by Germany, particularly in World War I and World War II...
s to interfere with British naval movement and emplacing coastal batteries to further discourage the Royal Navy.
On 10 March 1941, with Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa was the code name for Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union during World War II that began on 22 June 1941. Over 4.5 million troops of the Axis powers invaded the USSR along a front., the largest invasion in the history of warfare...
looming, Felix was amended to Operation Felix-Heinrich, whereby German troops would be withdrawn from the USSR to capture Gibraltar. As a result of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco
Francisco Franco y Bahamonde was a Spanish general, dictator and head of state of Spain from October 1936 , and de facto regent of the nominally restored Kingdom of Spain from 1947 until his death in November, 1975...
's intransigence, the operation was postponed, modified, and ultimately abandoned.
Italian bombing of Gibraltar
From SardiniaSardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
, Italian Piaggio P.108
Piaggio P.108
The Piaggio P.108 Bombardiere was the only Italian four-engine heavy bomber used by the Axis powers during World War II. The prototype first flew in 1939 and it entered service in 1941....
bombers attacked Gibraltar several times, mainly in 1942. The last raids on Gibraltar were done during the 1943 Allied landing in Algeria
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, when those bombers hit successfully even the Oran
Oran
Oran is a major city on the northwestern Mediterranean coast of Algeria, and the second largest city of the country.It is the capital of the Oran Province . The city has a population of 759,645 , while the metropolitan area has a population of approximately 1,500,000, making it the second largest...
port.
The only unit of the Regia Aeronautica ever to fly the Piaggio P.108 was the "274th Long-Range Bombardment Group".
This unit was formed in May 1941 around the first machines that came off the assembly lines. The training of the crews lasted far longer than anticipated and only in June 1942 the 274th became operational.
The most spectacular raids with the P. 108 bombers were flown in October 1942 when several night attacks against Gibraltar were undertaken from Sardinia.
Italian frogmen raids 1940–1943
Known as the "Floating Trojan Horse of Gibraltar", Decima Flottiglia MASDecima Flottiglia MAS
The Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italian commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina created during the Fascist regime.The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World...
, an Italian commando
Commando
In English, the term commando means a specific kind of individual soldier or military unit. In contemporary usage, commando usually means elite light infantry and/or special operations forces units, specializing in amphibious landings, parachuting, rappelling and similar techniques, to conduct and...
frogman
Frogman
A frogman is someone who is trained to scuba diving or swim underwater in a military capacity which can include combat. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver or combatant diver or combat swimmer....
unit created during the Fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
government engaged in numerous attacks against the harbour at Gibraltar.
Gibraltar was a very tempting target for the Italians, who saw it as a refuge for British warships and allied merchant shipping. The Italian frogmen originally used a Spanish villa (Villa Carmela) located two miles (3 km) from Gibraltar owned by an Italian officer who had married a Spanish woman named Conchita Ramognino. Their base was shifted later to the Italian tanker SS Olterra
Auxiliary ship Olterra
The auxiliary ship Olterra was a 5,000 tons Italian tanker scuttled by her own crew at Algeciras bay on 10 June 1940, after the entry of Italy in World War II...
, interned in Algeciras
Algeciras
Algeciras is a port city in the south of Spain, and is the largest city on the Bay of Gibraltar . Port of Algeciras is one of the largest ports in Europe and in the world in three categories: container,...
.
Spanish saboteurs
Lesser known than the Italian actions were the sabotage operations and limpet-mineLimpet mine
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets; they are so named because of their superficial similarity to the limpet, a type of mollusk....
attacks carried out by Spanish agents recruited by the Germans. The Abwehr contacted a Spanish staff officer from Campo de Gibraltar
Campo de Gibraltar
The comarca of the Campo de Gibraltar is a comarca in the province of Cádiz, Spain, in the southwestern part of the autonomous community of Andalusia, the southernmost part of continental Western Europe...
, Lieutenant Colonel Eleuterio Sánchez Rubio, to establish a network of saboteurs with access to Gibraltar. Sánchez Rubio designated Emilio Plazas Tejera, a member of Falange, as operations chief of the organisation.
Financed, trained and equipped by the Germans, the saboteurs claimed the sinking of the armed trawler HMT Erin, and the destruction of the auxiliary minesweeper HMT Honjo, which resulted in the deaths of six British seamen on 18 January 1942. Plazas was assisted by the Spanish naval commander of Puente Mayorga, Manuel Romero Hume, who allowed him to beach a rowboat there. By September 1942, Plazas, whose activities were closely monitored by the British at that time, resigned and left Carlos Calvo, his second in command, in charge of the operations.
In March 1943 an ammunition dump was blown up by Calvo's agents. The British, growing suspicious of some of the saboteurs, banned them from entering Gibraltar. This forced the Abwehr to ask Calvo for new personnel. A Spaniard working on the "Rock", José Martín Muñoz, was responsible for the explosion and fire at a large fuel tank at Coaling island on 30 June 1943; this mission, however, would be the first and the last for Muñoz, because he was cornered and arrested by British authorities in August, and eventually executed on 11 January 1944. A member of an unrelated Abwehr sabotage network, Luis López Cordón-Cuenca, also arrested in 1943, faced the firing squad the same day. Calvo himself was put under arrest by the Spanish police and neutralized. He would be a free man again in December, when he rejoined the Abwehr in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, under direct orders of Wolfgang Blaum, aka Baumann, head of the sabotage section in Spain. After a Falangist attempt against the life of pro-allied General José Enrique Varela
José Enrique Varela
José Enrique Varela Iglesias was a Spanish military officer and Carlist noted for his role as a Nationalist commander in the Spanish Civil War.-Early career:...
, perpetrated by Sánchez Rubio network's agent Juan José Domínguez and a meeting between Anthony Eden
Anthony Eden
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957...
and the Spanish ambassador at London, Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart
Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke of Alba
Don Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart y Falcó, 17th Duke of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain was a Spanish noble, diplomat, politician and art collector...
, Abwehr activities around Gibraltar came to an end.
Operation Tracer: 1941–1942
Operation Tracer
Operation Tracer refers to World War II Allied operations:* A British surveillance operation to be activated should Gibraltar be captured....
was a top-secret British stay-behind
Stay-behind
In a stay-behind operation, a country places secret operatives or organisations in its own territory, for use in the event that the territory is overrun by an enemy. If this occurs, the operatives would then form the basis of a resistance movement, or would act as spies from behind enemy lines...
spying mission that was only to be implemented if Gibraltar was captured by the Axis Powers. Six men were to be sealed in a cave and left with only enough supplies for a year. The volunteers —two doctors, three signalmen and their leader— would run an observation post with two 12 inches (304.8 mm) by 6 inches (152.4 mm) slits, one looking due east out over the Mediterranean and the other west over the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
and the harbour. The team would then wire back all shipping movements to the British Admiralty
Admiralty
The Admiralty was formerly the authority in the Kingdom of England, and later in the United Kingdom, responsible for the command of the Royal Navy...
.
They were told there would be no way out and anyone who died within the chamber would have to be embalmed and cemented into the walls. Only if Germany was defeated within their first year would they be released.
As the threat of invasion was clearly felt in late 1941, an idea for a series of secret observation posts (first in Gibraltar and later in other places like Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
and Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
) was put together under Operation Tracer.
Work in Gibraltar began immediately under Commander Geoffrey Birley and his chief engineer Colonel Fordham. The site chosen at Lord Airey’s Battery on the southern tip of the Rock already had an existing tunnelling scheme for a shelter.
Extensive trials of the equipment began in January 1942 under the eye of MI6
Secret Intelligence Service
The Secret Intelligence Service is responsible for supplying the British Government with foreign intelligence. Alongside the internal Security Service , the Government Communications Headquarters and the Defence Intelligence , it operates under the formal direction of the Joint Intelligence...
radio expert Colonel Gambier-Parry. Much thought was also given to the type of men needed for such a strange and demanding task. A member of Scott
Robert Falcon Scott
Captain Robert Falcon Scott, CVO was a Royal Navy officer and explorer who led two expeditions to the Antarctic regions: the Discovery Expedition, 1901–04, and the ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition, 1910–13...
’s ill-fated expedition to the Antarctic
Terra Nova Expedition
The Terra Nova Expedition , officially the British Antarctic Expedition 1910, was led by Robert Falcon Scott with the objective of being the first to reach the geographical South Pole. Scott and four companions attained the pole on 17 January 1912, to find that a Norwegian team led by Roald...
, Murray Levick was called up as Surgeon-Commander to advise on survival techniques. There were practical matters such as diet, exercise, sanitation and clothing to consider as well as vital ‘psychology of the personnel’. The full team was in place by the end of summer 1942 and their cavern fully equipped and ready for occupation. A comprehensive manual was prepared on all aspects of the operation and it was considered that similar secret lookout posts should be prepared throughout the world in the event of future wars. However, Operation Tracer was never needed, as Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , commonly referred to as the Nazi Party). He was Chancellor of Germany from 1933 to 1945, and head of state from 1934 to 1945...
turned his attention away from Gibraltar and towards the Eastern Front
Eastern Front (World War II)
The Eastern Front of World War II was a theatre of World War II between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union, Poland, and some other Allies which encompassed Northern, Southern and Eastern Europe from 22 June 1941 to 9 May 1945...
.
The operation had been clouded in mystery until the discovery of papers at the Public Records Office in Kew
Kew
Kew is a place in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in South West London. Kew is best known for being the location of the Royal Botanic Gardens, now a World Heritage Site, which includes Kew Palace...
UK. Previously in the 1960s, details of the story were told to a journalist by his intelligence service contacts and he wrote these up as ‘Operation Monkey,’ yet facts were very sparse.
In 1997 'Stay Behind Cave' (as it was nicknamed) was discovered in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar Caving Group, but no account was ever obtained from anyone associated with the mission. The discovery came about when the group encountered a strong gust of wind in a tunnel. Further searching led them to break through a wall into chambers which had never been used and had remained sealed for over 50 years.
In November 2006 Jim Crone and Sergeant Major Pete Jackson, senior tunnel guide with the Royal Gibraltar Regiment
Royal Gibraltar Regiment
The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is the home defence unit for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop.-Formation:...
, met possibly the only member of Operation Tracer still alive when they travelled to meet Dr. W. A. Bruce Cooper at his home in England. Cooper, 92 at the time, provided an opportunity to shed light on the operation with his direct involvement in the mission as a Surgeon-Lieutenant
Lieutenant
A lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer in many nations' armed forces. Typically, the rank of lieutenant in naval usage, while still a junior officer rank, is senior to the army rank...
in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve
Royal Naval Reserve
The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...
(RNVR). He recalled stories about his colleagues, his training, and his feelings about the task.
Mediterranean U-boat Campaign: 1941 - 1944
The Mediterranean U-boat CampaignMediterranean U-boat Campaign
The Mediterranean U-boat Campaign lasted approximately from September 21, 1941 to May 1944 during World War II. The Italians had failed to neutralise Malta as a British base and Axis supply convoys to north Africa suffered severe losses as a result. This in turn threatened Axis armies' ability to...
lasted approximately from September 21, 1941, to May 1944. The German Navy (Kriegsmarine
Kriegsmarine
The Kriegsmarine was the name of the German Navy during the Nazi regime . It superseded the Kaiserliche Marine of World War I and the post-war Reichsmarine. The Kriegsmarine was one of three official branches of the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany.The Kriegsmarine grew rapidly...
) tried to isolate Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...
, and Suez
Suez
Suez is a seaport city in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez , near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal, having the same boundaries as Suez governorate. It has three harbors, Adabya, Ain Sokhna and Port Tawfiq, and extensive port facilities...
and disrupt Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
's trade routes. More than sixty U-boats were sent to interdict Allied shipping in the Mediterranean Sea. Many of these U-boats were themselves attacked negotiating the Strait of Gibraltar
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea and separates Spain in Europe from Morocco in Africa. The name comes from Gibraltar, which in turn originates from the Arabic Jebel Tariq , albeit the Arab name for the Strait is Bab el-Zakat or...
controlled by Britain. Nine U-boats were sunk while attempting passage and ten more were damaged.
North African Campaign: 1942
Attack on Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike conducted by the Imperial Japanese Navy against the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941...
were ongoing by mid-1942. An invasion of Europe in 1943 would be unworkable, but the allies could attack the "soft underbelly of Europe" through the Mediterranean, as Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
put it. Devised by President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Franklin Roosevelt
Franklin D. Roosevelt
Franklin Delano Roosevelt , also known by his initials, FDR, was the 32nd President of the United States and a central figure in world events during the mid-20th century, leading the United States during a time of worldwide economic crisis and world war...
and Churchill and code named Operation Torch
Operation Torch
Operation Torch was the British-American invasion of French North Africa in World War II during the North African Campaign, started on 8 November 1942....
, the plan was to occupy French North Africa: Morocco, Algeria
French Algeria
French Algeria lasted from 1830 to 1962, under a variety of governmental systems. From 1848 until independence, the whole Mediterranean region of Algeria was administered as an integral part of France, much like Corsica and Réunion are to this day. The vast arid interior of Algeria, like the rest...
, and Tunisia
Beylik of Tunis
-Ottoman beylik:The Beylik of Tunis was founded on July 15, 1705, after the Husainid Dynasty led by Al-Husayn I ibn Ali at-Turki defeated the Turkish Deys....
. From these French colonies, attacks could be launched that would drive Italy out of the war.
In July 1942, Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General
Lieutenant General is a military rank used in many countries. The rank traces its origins to the Middle Ages where the title of Lieutenant General was held by the second in command on the battlefield, who was normally subordinate to a Captain General....
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...
was appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief of Operation Torch. Churchill placed Gibraltar under the command of General Eisenhower as the temporary headquarters for this, the first large-scale Anglo-American operation of the war. He arrived in Gibraltar on 5 November 1942 to take over, not just command of Operation Torch itself, but also military command of Gibraltar.
General Eisenhower stayed at The Convent
The Convent (Gibraltar)
The Convent has been the official residence of the Governor of Gibraltar since 1728. It was originally a convent of Franciscan friars, hence its name, and was completed in 1531....
, the official Governor
Governor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
's residence, but his operational headquarters were in a small chamber in a tunnel in the heart of the Rock. In his memoirs General Eisenhower wrote:
One hundred thousand soldiers on the high seas in a multitude of transports converged on Gibraltar. More than 400 aircraft of all types were crammed into the dispersal areas around the Gibraltar runway. Fighters had been shipped in crates and assembled on the airfield. Every available area of storage was taken up with ammunition
Ammunition
Ammunition is a generic term derived from the French language la munition which embraced all material used for war , but which in time came to refer specifically to gunpowder and artillery. The collective term for all types of ammunition is munitions...
, fuel, and other essential supplies. 168 American pilots were housed in the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
messes at North Front.
On 8 November 1942, 466 aircraft from Gibraltar landed on captured North African airfields.
From their headquarters in Gibraltar, General Eisenhower and Admiral Sir Andrew Browne Cunningham
Andrew Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope
Admiral of the Fleet Andrew Browne Cunningham, 1st Viscount Cunningham of Hyndhope KT, GCB, OM, DSO and two Bars , was a British admiral of the Second World War. Cunningham was widely known by his nickname, "ABC"....
directed Operation Torch, the first major combined combat operation during World War II involving American and British forces.
War tunnels
Given that Gibraltar was a small town with only a few defences protecting it, the solution was to build a massive series of tunnels and chambers inside the natural protection of the Rock of GibraltarRock of Gibraltar
The Rock of Gibraltar is a monolithic limestone promontory located in Gibraltar, off the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. It is high...
. This "town" inside the Rock contained its own power station, water supply, and hospital. Some soldiers posted here would not see the light of day for months on end. Two Canadian engineer companies, the only soldiers with diamond-tipped drills and 5 British engineer companies, added some 30 miles (48.3 km) of such tunnels, a feat thought impossible at the time. That was enough to hold all 30 000 troops on the rock. Today, the rock has more underground tunnels than roads.
Death of Władysław Sikorski: 1943
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
from RAF Transport Command
RAF Transport Command
RAF Transport Command was a Royal Air Force command that controlled all transport aircraft of the RAF. It was established on 25 March 1943 by the renaming of the RAF Ferry Command, and was subsequently renamed RAF Air Support Command in 1967.-History:...
took off from Gibraltar for England. On board was General Władysław Sikorski, Prime Minister
Prime Minister of the Republic of Poland
The Prime Minister of Poland heads the Polish Council of Ministers and directs their work, supervises territorial self-government within the guidelines and in ways described in the Constitution and other legislation, and acts as the superior for all government administration workers...
of Poland's
Second Polish Republic
The Second Polish Republic, Second Commonwealth of Poland or interwar Poland refers to Poland between the two world wars; a period in Polish history in which Poland was restored as an independent state. Officially known as the Republic of Poland or the Commonwealth of Poland , the Polish state was...
London-based government in exile
Polish government in Exile
The Polish government-in-exile, formally known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in Exile , was the government in exile of Poland formed in the aftermath of the Invasion of Poland of September 1939, and the subsequent occupation of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, which...
and Commander-in-Chief
Commander-in-Chief
A commander-in-chief is the commander of a nation's military forces or significant element of those forces. In the latter case, the force element may be defined as those forces within a particular region or those forces which are associated by function. As a practical term it refers to the military...
of its armed forces, returning from visiting Polish troops in the Middle East.
The aircraft climbed normally from the runway, levelled off to gather speed but then suddenly lost height and crashed into the harbour. The 62-year-old general died, along with 15 others. The sole survivor was the Czech-born pilot, Max Prchal, who was rescued by an RAF launch. The bodies of five passengers and crew, including Sikorski's daughter, were never found.
The coffins of General Sikorski and his Chief-of-Staff, General Kilimecki, were draped in the Polish National Flag and lay in state in the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned
Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned
The Cathedral of Saint Mary the Crowned is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Gibraltar. It is the primary centre of Catholic worship in the Diocese of Gibraltar.-15th Century:The original building of the current cathedral was built during the Spanish period...
. After a Requiem Mass
Requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead or Mass of the dead , is a Mass celebrated for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, using a particular form of the Roman Missal...
, the bodies were carried in procession to the H.M. Dockyard with full Military Honours to be shipped to London in anticipation that General Sikorski’s remains would one day be returned to a liberated Poland. The route to the dockyard was lined by British troops and the coffins carried and escorted by Polish Servicemen.
Investigation
B-24 Liberator
The Consolidated B-24 Liberator was an American heavy bomber, designed by Consolidated Aircraft of San Diego, California. It was known within the company as the Model 32, and a small number of early models were sold under the name LB-30, for Land Bomber...
AL523, but was unable to determine the probable cause, finding only that it was an accident and the "aircraft became uncontrollable for reasons which cannot be established". A popular theory was insufficient technical maintenance leading to jamming aircraft controls. Despite this finding, the political context of the event, coupled with a variety of curious circumstances, immediately gave rise to speculation that Sikorski's death had been no accident, and may in fact have been the direct result of a Soviet, British or even Polish conspiracy.
Six weeks before the crash, while Sikorski had been at Gibraltar for the first time, en route to his Middle East inspection, a Polish government office in London received a phone call stating that Sikorski had been killed in a crash at Gibraltar; the call had been discounted as a prank, but has since led to speculation. It is often mentioned that two of Sikorski's previous planes had been subject to incidents. The 30 November 1942, forced landing at Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada, was suspected to have been caused by sabotage. Another incident might have taken place few months earlier, in March. At Gibraltar, due to the special treatment accorded VIPs, there was uncertainty about who had in fact boarded the plane and about the exact cargo manifest—all leading to uncertainty as to the identity of the bodies recovered from the crash site; some bodies, including that of Sikorski's daughter, Zofia, have never been recovered.
Aftermath
...a matter so fraught with hysteria and heart burning... |
| Miles Clifford, Colonial Secretary Chief Secretary The Chief Secretary is the title of a senior civil servant in members of the Commonwealth of Nations, and, historically, in the British Empire. Prior to the dissolution of the colonies, the Chief Secretary was the second most important official in a colony of the British Empire after the... to the Colonial Office Colonial Office Colonial Office is the government agency which serves to oversee and supervise their colony* Colonial Office - The British Government department* Office of Insular Affairs - the American government agency* Reichskolonialamt - the German Colonial Office... . (11 July 1944) |
The surrender of Italy in September 1943 lifted any possible objections to the return of the evacuees to the Rock. As a result a Resettlement Board was established in November, and at a meeting of the Board on 8 February 1944 repatriation
Repatriation
Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. This includes the process of returning refugees or soldiers to their place of origin following a war...
priorities were finally agreed. On 6 April 1944 the first group of 1,367 repatriates arrived on the Rock directly from the United Kingdom and on 28 May, the first repatriation party left Madeira, and by the end of 1944 only 520 non-priority evacuees remained on the island.
In London, home-comers were making claims on the evacuees’ wartime accommodation and 500 Gibraltarians were re-evacuated to Scotland and 3,000 to camps in Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
. Although the Governor, Lt. General Sir Noel Mason-MacFarlane, fought valiantly on behalf of the evacuees and did not accept the lack of accommodation as a sufficient reason for the delays. As late as 1947 there were still 2,000 in Northern Irish camps. The last of the evacuees did not see the Rock again until 1951.
Further reading
General Sir William Jackson was Governor of GibraltarGovernor of Gibraltar
The Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Gibraltar is the representative of the British monarch in the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The Governor is appointed by the British Monarch on the advice of the British Government...
between 1978 and 1982, a military historian and former Chairman of the Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society.