Europa Point, Gibraltar (1859-1945)

 Europa Point is not the southernmost point of the Iberian Peninsula, but it might as well be. The Rif Mountains of Morocco are prominent on the horizon across the busy sea lanes of the Straits and it is immediately evident why, in military terms, Gibraltar is so strategically important.  The occupation of the Rock of Gibraltar means controlling access to the Mediterranean Sea. I travelled to Europa Point from the main Gibraltar bus station just a few miles distant, to the north of Casements Square. It is possible to walk anywhere in Gibraltar but a £6 rover ticket means one can cover more ground if time is short. It is worth the ride, there is plenty to see and explore.

Morocco from a WW2 Searchlight Bunker, Europa Point

Alighting from the bus, I headed for the cricket stadium recently built on flat ground in the shadow of the Rock. Glancing back one can just about make out O'Hara's Battery up on the hilltop way above the minaret of the Ibraham-al-Ibraham Mosque - one of two religious buildings at Europa Point, the other being the Roman Catholic Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. Following the path around the front of the cricket stadium, I noticed a number of pill-boxes which had been incorporated into modern sea defences. At the western end a gateway leads to a series of steps descending down to what was, until 1945, known as 'Wireless Beach'. The Royal Navy establishment at the bottom of the cliff is now a collection of holiday villas - some newly built, others having been established from repurposed military buildings. Just to the east of the complex is a pillbox built by 575 Army Troop Company of the Royal Engineers, with help from men from the Second Battalion of the Somerset Light Infantry, in 1942.

Site of Royal Navy Wireless Station with Defensive Pillbox

Nowadays he Royal Navy, under the auspices of NATO, monitors sea and air traffic from the Windmill Hill Signal Station which is up on the Rock, about a third of a mile from Wireless Beach. With over 60,000 ships entering the Med through the Gibraltar Straits, there is plenty to keep an eye on! Retreading the path down, I climbed the stairs to the top of the cliff and explored some of the World War two era structures that are still extant. These include the searchlight post shown in the image above, and one can imagine observers using the powerful beams to spot the tell tale wake of a submarine periscope or to track German raiders banking around to attack the busy airfield on the northern side of the Rock.

Europa Point, Searchlight Post on the Right of Image

On the promenade above Wireless Beach there is a striking memorial to General Wladyslaw Sikorski, the first Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Army in Exile 1939-43. The General was killed on the 4th July 1943 when the B-24 in which he was travelling, crashed nearby with the loss of fifteen lives. The current memorial which includes the propeller from the crashed aeroplane was dedicated in a ceremony on the 4th Jult 2013, the 70th anniversary of the crash. It is the third such memorial and the only one to have been displayed at Europa Point - the others were located near Gibraltar Airport where lack of accessibility was proving to be an issue. A nearby display panel laments the fact that 'Poland paid for its participation in World War II, which had caused enormous human losses (almost 20% inhabitants), by losing half of its territory (as the only allied state to suffer this), as well as losing its sovereignty for the following 45 years.'

The Sikorski Memorial

Before jumping on a bus back into town, there was just enough time to explore whai is probably the most striking attraction at Europa Point. Harding's Battery (named after Sir George Harding, British Army Chief Engineer in 1844) originally mounted two 32-pounder cannon. The single 12.5 RML (Rifled Muzzle-Loading) gun on traversing carriage which can still be seen today was installed in 1878. A plan to replace the RML gun with a 9.2. Inch Coastal Defence Gun in 1904, was never implemented. The RML was temporarily removed at the start of World War II at which point a Bofors 40mm anti-aircraft gun was deployed at the battery.

The RML Gun at Harding's Battery

According to a Gibraltar Chronicle article dated 13th April 2014, Harding's Battery was abandoned and covered in a mound of sand after the Second World War, but was unearthed in March 2010 as part of a £4.4m refurbishment project for Europa Point. The magazine below the gun pit was converted into a visitor centre (which is well worth a short visit). The RML gun, which is identical to the original, was retrieved from elsewhere in Gibraltar and remounted on a replica carriage funded by the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.

This is the second of my three Gibraltar walks. The first covering the Nelson's time at Rosia Bay can be found here. The third, covering the tunnels and batteries up on the Rock of Gibraltar will be posted in a couple of weeks' time. My photographs of Europa Point can be found here.