Defending the Rock: How Gibraltar Defeated Hitler - Hardcover

Rankin, Nicholas

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0571307701 ISBN 13: 9780571307708

Publisher: Faber & Faber, 2017

Synopsis

Two months before he shot himself, Adolf Hitler saw where it had all gone wrong. By failing to seize Gibraltar in the summer of 1940, he lost the war.
The Rock of Gibraltar, a pillar of British sea-power since 1704, looked formidable but was extraordinarily vulnerable. Though menaced on all sides by Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, Vichy France and Francoist Spain, every day Gibraltar had to let thousands of people cross its frontier to work. Among them came spies and saboteurs, eager to blow up its 25 miles of secret tunnels. In 1942, Gibraltar became US General Eisenhower's HQ for the invasion of North Africa, the campaign that led to Allied victory in the Mediterranean.
Nicholas Rankin's revelatory new book, whose cast of characters includes Haile Selassie, Anthony Burgess and General Sikorski, sets Gibraltar in the wider context of the struggle against fascism, from Abyssinia through the Spanish Civil War. It also chronicles the end of empire and the rise to independence of the Gibraltarian people.

About this title

Review:

Rankin is a wonderful storyteller . Hitler hinted that his failure to take Gibraltar in the summer of 1940 was his gravest mistake during the war. Historians aren't supposed to indulge in counterfactuals but it does make you think., The Times

This meticulously researched book is well timed, as this year marks the 50th anniversary of Gibraltar's 1967 referendum, which yielded a 99.6 per cent vote in favour of continued British sovereignty., BBC History Magazine

Highly readable . The Rock hosted an array of remarkable characters, whose foibles, fantasies and fears are handled with a keen eye . Rankin has chosen an unusual vantage point to view the wider war, and told his story well. -- Richard Overy, Guardian

[A] much needed history ... Rankin has researched his theme thoroughly, and his book goes far beyond military history to take in the active spy war fought in the Rock's shadows, along with the colourful characters who peopled Gibraltar in the war years. -- Nigel Jones, Times Literary Supplement

'Hitler once suggested that his failure to take Gibraltar in 1940 was his gravest mistake of the war. The garrison, many felt, could have been overrun by a troop of Boy Scouts. What if Gibraltar had fallen? The counterfactuals are intriguing. This is a big book about a little place. Nicholas Rankin discusses Oswald Mosley, Belisha beacons, Neanderthals, Haile Selassie, the Atlantic Charter, mines shaped like mule dung, rancid venison stew and the weird sexual habits of Buster Crabbe. Oh, and the war. The title is misleading, but the possibilities do make you think.', The Times, Books of the Year: History

Book Description:

This thrilling new history reveals how a lone outpost of the British Empire, riddled with secret tunnels, fought off attacks by land, sea and air to help win the war.

About this edition

• Publisher: Faber & Faber
• Publication date: 2017
• ISBN 10: 0571307701
• ISBN 13: 9780571307708
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 672