ROLE OF GIBRALTAR
SYMBOL OF POWER HISTORIC ROLE CHANGED Gibraltar which appears to have become an object of early aggression by Axis, forces, lias long been the symbol of strength and guardianship.. In the popular view, it stands firmly out from the coast; of Spain, and effective barrier against any of Britain's enemies who try to pass through the l , westelrn gate of the Mediterranean. But while Gibraltar may still be practically impregnable, itsi strategic diominance has been greatly modified in the last few decades. Gibraltar owes its strength, and its attractiveness as a strategic asset, to tlite fact that it is a natural rock fortress, as nearly unassailable as) can be, forming one side of a deep bay which convc'rts it into an almosit ready-inade naval base. The strait, in its narrower parts, is about 30 miles long. The African coast is roughly 15 miles from Gibraltar, andt projects! north in a sharp promontary, terminated! by the little peninsu-fa. and riscts near the coas! to nearly 3000 feet. The Strait Narrows. Further wrst of Gibraltar, the strait narrows to about ten miles. The stiraiit trends south-west, and the Sierra Bullomes, the hills of the Moroccan promontarj r , arc faced in Spain not by Gibraltar, but by the highlands called La Luna, also running, up to about 3000 feet. The. narrowest part of the strait is! therefore dominated, not by the l British fortress, but by the stcepish slopes, of the Spanish and Moroccan mainland. Between the Spanish promontary and the Gibraltar peninsula is the Bay of A'lgeciras (or Gibraltar), about four miles wide': A'.gociras is on the west side of the bay, directly opposite the naval port and township of Gibraltar. Effect of Modern Gun-power. These facts, easily checked' by » map,, show how Gibraltar can be robbed, by military action in its neighbourhood of its positive value, and reduced to a dlefensive role. ' As lonig as guns had an effective range of only two or three miles (a memory embalmed in the three-mile wroth of "territorial Avaters") Gibraltar could reimain a naval stronghold until closely invested; andi as long as ships,' could be based there and could maintain a local naval superiority, the fortress could close or open the straits as it ohose. But to-day, when heavy artillery can shoot at ranges of many miles. tliQ position must be realised that the Strait could be commanded by
batteries on the. Spanish and African coasts, ami the naval) port of Gibraltar, facing Aigeciras, couk] be. shcl'led from across; the bay, But Gibraltar as i« fortress retains it:i inherent strength. The Rock Stronghold. Gibraltar itself is a very small territory, less than, three mil,es, long from north to south. In the north it is a little over tliree-quartersi of a mile wide and tapersi down to about a quarter of a mile, at the southern end. Except for a narrow strip of low land along the western shore, where the town stands:, it consists of The Rock, the ridige of which is from 1000 to 1400 feet high. As is well known, The Rock is very strongly fortified,, and is provisioned for prolonged independent existence; and everything possible has been done to make it impregnable to any form of attack. North of The Rock, the British territory extends over the neck of the peninsula for only about half, a mile, and its northern boundary, from shore to shore, measures; about three-quarters of a mile. North of this again is a strip of neutral ter ritory, bounded on the north by the ruins of old Spanish fortifications, from which the town of La Linca de la Ccmeepcion, commonly La Linea, takes its name. The flat stretch of British territory, of which the racecourse and the cemetery take up the greater part, is guarded on the north by field fortifications, and it is on this groundi that a moat is: reported to bc> under construction.
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Bibliographic details
Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 302, 7 May 1941, Page 6
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652ROLE OF GIBRALTAR Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 302, 7 May 1941, Page 6
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