A “MAGINOT LINE”

Waikato Times, Volume 121, Issue 20248, 17 July 1937, Page 9

A “MAGINOT LINE”

BUILT BY GERMANY. NEW GUNS IN MOROCCO. ■Germany’s miniature “Maginot Line” in Morocco, when It is finished, will run from Cap de L’Eau and lies ChalTarines, in the extreme east of the Spanish zone, to Benzou and Ksar Seghir, opposite Gibraltar, and on the west coast from Arzila, Just south of the Tangier international zone, to the neighbourhood of Larache, wrote the London correspondent of the Sydney Morning Herald reoently. This is the statement of a special correspondent of the News Chroniole who has Just completed a tour of investigation in Morooco. Io reoent months, he declares, there have been two distinct though closely linked oooupations of the Spanish Protectorate, the first for the purpose of creating permanent German Influence, the second for giving assistance to the Spanish rebel oause.

The first of these is of more immediate importance to the British people. There is, he declares, ito longer any free passage of the Gibraltar Straits. At Benzou, directly opposite Gibraltar Bay, a new German 40.5 gun has been installed and its capabilities severely tested. It has been fired several times towards Spain, and has proved satisfactory. Outside Benzou, on the Punta Blanca, German engineers have installed and camouflaged a battery of three smaller guns with a range of almost 14,000 yards. They were made In 1921 for the Spanish Navy by Vickers. They have now been reconditioned at Cadiz and adapted to land use.

‘‘l have seen photographs and have talked with two of the many men who were taken from prison and forced to help to build sunken emplacements,” the correspondent continues. “Ail three guns are more or less hidden by an outcut in the hillside, and are connected by subterranean galleries with a common magazine. Each has its own automatic ammunition hoist.” Crossfire Over Straits. This battery is complementary to a similar one of new German guns on Punta Carnero, whichis on the Spanish mainland opposite. Between them they can rake the sea passage with crossfire and make a mockery of the guaranteed freedom of the Straits. The Straits are also menaced from Ksar Seghir, which lies between Benzou and the Tangier international zone. Here, states the correspondent, there is a battery of three new guns whose calibre he has been unable to dlsoover, although he is reliably ininformed that they are German. Ceuta, it Is stated, ts now a fortress. In the city Itself there ts a battery of four 15.'5 Inch guns. On the house roofs of the Plaza Azcarate, -Calles Canalejas. and Rebellin, and on the roof of the church of Los Remedlos, are Installed four German anti-aircraft guns of the latest pattern. The peninsula of El Hacho, -which Juts out eastwards from Ceuta, is part and parcel of this giant fortress. Here there are eleven guns. Near the penal settlement are two batteries of four guns each. All are 75*s and in the extreme north of this peninsula, on the heights dominationg it, are three 15.5’5. All are new, and all are German, it is stated. At Castlllejos, southward on the border of Spanish sovereign territory and the Spanish Protectorate, four German 7's’s point towards Morocco. Half-way along the coast lies Villa Alhucemas, in whose bay German submarines find ideal shelter. This bay, flanked by Capes Morro Neuva and Quilates, is a forbidden zone. Accurate Information Alters out only with extreme difficulty, it Is stated, for it Is here that whatever headquarters the Nazis have installed in Morocco and whatever concentration of troops there may be, are to be found. It is .more 'difficult of access than Lhassa. It is known, however, that on both capes concrete emplacements have recently been built and that each Is fortified with at least a battery of four 7's’s. Seaplane Base. Further east lies Mellila, with Its Ideal seaplane base, the inland sea of Mar Chica. At this moment, it is stated, there are not more than twenty Italian seaplanes using it, most having gone to the mainland after the fall of Malaga. Mellila and its environs are even more heavily fortified than Ceuta. On Cap des Trois Fourches, northwards, are four new German 75’s, which guard the sea passage in and out of the harbour. Four new 105’s have been placed strategically close to the Mclilla Lighthouse, and in the old town there is a battery of four new 75*s. Just south-west of the town at Forte de Rostro Gordo, German engineers have installed a battery of reconditioned German 115's which they brought from Ceuta. There are four. They were cast in 1905. There are at least eight of the newest anti-aircraft guns at Mellila, most of them surrounding the harbour, two actually on the Jetty. The harbour is much used by Ger- | man and Italian ships, it is stated, for It Is one of the chief sources of the rebel supplies, and it is from here that ore from Bifilan mines leaves for Germany. Such Is the weight of traffic that the harbour was recently reconditioned and brought up to date. All minor fittings were brought from Melilla hv German destroyers hearing the marks LU and LW. It is seldom, however, that. Big German cruisers now appear at Ceuta and Melilla. They are more careful. Their favourite haunt is a little hay north of Cap Noir Here, between Ceuta and Tetunn, unobserved by foreign Consuls and other busybodtes. they lj e off the village of El Medik. tn a ‘’strategically admirale position."

Fortifications which are being erected between Arzila and Larache are not yet. finished. Tn order to hurry them up. a system of forced labour Is being applied.