Hot Rock

SOUTHERN THEATRE

Sweltering hot though it is, with its beetling, sun-scorched Rock radiating heat all day, Gibraltar became hotter still last week. Italian bombers from bases 1,000 miles away repeatedly dropped monster explosions upon it. British warships in the anchorage on the Rock's west side were prime targets, the sea power that keeps Italy corked into the Mediterranean. The Italians claimed they hit and fired some of the ships. Watchers in Algeciras across the bay and in Tangier across the Strait could not tell, but they could see and hear the Rock erupt an inferno of anti-aircraft fire, and they saw no planes come down. Several blazes lit the scene after the heaviest raid and Spanish sources said hits had been made on docks, barracks, the radio transmitter, water tanks, a gun emplacement on Europa Point.

The Rock's governor, Lieut. General Sir Clive Gerard ("Jock") Liddell, knew that, as Germany pushed home her attack on Great Britain (see p. 30), Gibraltar was really in for it from the Italians. There was even a report that the Germans were massing troops below Bordeaux for a land assault on the world's greatest fortress. This attack would come across Spain, which was less likely than ever to interfere, in view of Britain's plan announced last week to extend the blockade to all Spanish and Portuguese ports. Sir Clive's gravest concern was as to whether and when the Axis would get the use of Spain's huge German-built coastal guns over behind Algeciras and at Fort Hacho on the African shore.

Meantime, he hastened the evacuation of 16,000 non-combatants from Gibraltar town. His wife and some 400 others went to Funchal, Madeira. A contingent of 300 were sent across the Strait to Tangier. As ships could be brought for them, others were to go to the Bahamas and Canada. Ships arriving brought supplies and soldier reinforcements that increased the Rock's garrison to above 10,000.

This week, with no Italian planes overhead, a terrific explosion shook Gibraltar: a carelessly handled grenade had touched off a dump of anti-aircraft shells, killing four soldiers. Meanwhile:

P: Small units of British and Italian planes, ships, tanks and troops clashed at various spots along the 4,000-mile arc from the Pillars of Hercules, around the Mediterranean, down through the Red Sea, through the Somalilands and into northern Kenya.

P: Anecdote of the week from the Southern Theatre was heard in London from the British officer who took care of Emperor Haile Selassie when he was in Alexandria last month on his way to rejoin his people. The officer took the black-fuzzed little Emperor to the former Italian Yacht Club to change into military regalia. This was accomplished in a lavatory, accompanied by a drink of confiscated Italian wine.

Said the British officer: "I claim to be the only man in the world who has entertained an Emperor in a washroom."

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