The Straits of Gibraltar is one of the great bird-viewing locations in the world, with vast streams of raptors and storks flowing across the water in late Fall to warmer environs in Africa, and back again in the Spring.
Gibraltar is also the site where one of the very first Neanderthal skulls was found in a quarry in 1848 -- eight years before a similar skull was discovered in Neandertal, Germany, for which the early hominid species is named.
The caves of Gibraltar appear to have once housed one of the densest Neanderthal settlements in Europe.
The caves of Gibraltar appear to have once housed one of the densest Neanderthal settlements in Europe.
Those same caves were later a sanctuary for spies and lookouts in World War II who, in the parlance of British spy craft, were "bird watching".
One of the "bird watchers" during the early years of WWII was Ian Fleming -- later to author the James Bond novels -- who was a chief aid to Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey, the Director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the British Admiralty.
Fleming was detailed to run "Operation Goldeneye" -- a plan to use Gibraltar as a spy roost even if the Germans managed to overrun the peninsula from Spain, as seemed very likely.
Why was Gibraltar so important? For the simple reason that anything coming in or out of the Mediterranean has to pass by Gibraltar. That included not just German and Italian ships, but French, Spanish, British, Algerian, Turkish, Egyptian, and American ships as well.
Whoever controlled Gibraltar could see what was moving about -- and pass the word to destroyers, submarines, and smaller boats with big guns waiting offshore.
Even if Britain lost physical control of most of Gibraltar, the Admiralty did not want to lose its observation post.
What do to do?
The answer was a secret Allied "stay behind" plan called "Operation Goldeneye" which included Operation Tracer -- a plan to wall six men into a specially excavated and hidden side tunnel dug into the wall of an existing Gibraltar cave.
The six men bricked into their cave were to stay in the their plastered and cork-floor sanctuary for up to six years.
Six years!
The secret tunnel works included a large room for sleeping, a bathroom for cleanup, a 10,000-gallon water tank, a radio room, a bicycle to provide electricity and pump power, and enough food for the duration.
Two small peep out slits were carved into the rock through which ships could be spotted moving moving both east and west, and through which ventilation air could be pumped.
Bay of Gibraltar as seen from the 2 cm-wide western observation post.
Though rumor of the Operation Tracer caves circulated on Gibraltar after World War II, no one could find them even though a great deal of effort was spent on the task.
In late 1997, however, the Gibraltar Caving Group systematically ruled out certain locations before finally deciding that the secret hiding space had to be in close proximity to Lord Airey's Battery at the Upper Ridge of the southern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. A small breeze felt from behind some old metal sheets, suggested a location, and the group eventually broke through a bricked in area of wall and into the World War II-era "Stay Behind" chambers.
A picture that I took of Barbary Apes looking out from the top of Gibraltar.
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