A rocky projection from the coast of southern Spain, Gibraltar became a British colony in 1704 and, from the end of the Battle of France to 1943, was the only toehold left to the Allies on the European continent. Some 25 miles of tunnels and subterranean chambers were excavated into the rock, which furnished warehouse space, munitions storage, living quarters, and military headquarters for the Allies. It was from such a bunkerlike headquarters on Gibraltar that General Dwight David Eisenhower directed Operation Torch, the Allied landings at the commencement of the North African Campaigns. Some 600 aircraft operated from an airstrip at Gibraltar to provide close air support for Operation Torch.

Gibraltar functioned as the base for the Royal Navy's small fleet designated Force H and for the British Naval Contraband Control Service, which boarded and searched neutral shipping. Gibraltar was also vital to the convoy system as the point at which many convoys assembled and started their journeys. During the Siege of Malta, that island was sustained by supplies convoyed from Gibraltar. Gibraltar also functioned as a way station for Allied airmen who had been shot down and were either evading capture or had escaped from captivity.

Gibraltar was variously targeted by the Italians and the Vichy French. However, Spain's dictator, Francisco Franco, blocked a German attempt to capture the base because he saw such an operation as a threat to Spanish neutrality. Not wishing to alienate a friendly fascist "neutral," Adolf Hitler reluctantly withdrew plans for attack.

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