Brief Summary of Case 6
This file contains documents from the 44th Artillery Command (Arko 44) concerning Operation Felix, the German plan in late 1940 to seize Gibraltar. The records consist primarily of operational orders, reconnaissance instructions, artillery fire plans, communications arrangements, and the distribution of intelligence materials.
Key contents include:
- Detailed artillery plans for attacking Gibraltar, including North Group and West Group fire schedules, target lists, bombardment phases, ammunition planning, and support for infantry assaults. Targets included defensive positions, artillery batteries, anti-aircraft sites, harbour facilities, walls, gates, tunnels, and key military infrastructure.
- Reconnaissance and survey instructions directing artillery units and observation battalions to identify firing positions, observation posts, routes, command locations, and targets around Gibraltar and the surrounding Spanish territory.
- Communications plans showing reporting routes and information flows between artillery commands, observation units, and corps headquarters.
- Distribution of intelligence materials, including aerial photographs, maps, harbour charts, firing-position diagrams, fortification studies, and target analyses for Gibraltar.
- Security and deception measures, including orders that operational documents be kept secret, distributed only to authorized personnel, and not taken into Spain. Officers participating in reconnaissance missions were instructed to travel in civilian clothing under cover identities.
- Logistical preparations for reconnaissance trips and the planned operation, covering transport, fuel, rations, passports, civilian clothing, and administrative arrangements.
- A final document (3 November 1940) orders personnel member selected for a reconnaissance journey connected to the Gibraltar operation to travel in civilian disguise, carry passports and photographs, and complete preparations by mid-November. It is signed by Jodl, Chief of Staff of the XXXIX Corps.
Overall, the file is a comprehensive collection of German military planning documents showing how artillery, reconnaissance, intelligence, logistics, and security were to be coordinated for the proposed capture of Gibraltar under Operation Felix.
