Operation Felix

Operation Felix was the codename for a proposed German seizure of Gibraltar during the Second World War. It never got beyond the staff study stage, even though planning continued into 1944,primarily because of Francisco Franco's reluctance to commit Spain to enter the war on the Axis side. Following the fall of France to Germany in June 1940, Hermann Göring advised Adolf Hitler to occupy Spain and North Africa rather than invade Britain. As early as June 1940, before the armistice with France had been signed, General Heinz Guderian also argued for seizing Britain's strategically important naval base of Gibraltar. Guderian even urged Hitler to postpone the armistice so that he could rush on through Spain with two Panzer divisions, take Gibraltar, and then invade French North Africa. General Alfred Jodl, chief of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) operations, presented Hitler with a formal plan to cut off Britain from its eastern empire by invading Spain, Gibraltar, North Africa, and the Suez Canal instead of invading the British Isles. On July 12, 1940, the OKW set up a special group for the necessary planning. On July 22, 1940, Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, the head of the Abwehr and an acknowledged expert on Spain, travelled with several other German officers to Madrid, Spain, where they held talks with General Francisco Franco and General Juan Vigón, his Minister of War. They then travelled on to Algeciras, where they stayed some days to reconnoiter the approaches to Gibraltar. They returned to Germany with the conclusion that Franco's regime was reluctant to enter the war. However, it has since become known that Canaris was disloyal to Hitler and actually encouraged Franco not to join the Axis, since an Allied victory was almost certain. Canaris' team did however determine that Gibraltar might be seized through an air-supported ground assault involving at least two infantry regiments, three engineer battalions, and a dozen artillery regiments. Canaris declared that without 15 inch heavy assault cannon - which he knew were unavailable - Gibraltar could not be taken. When he reported to Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, he gave his personal opinion that even if Germany were able, with the cooperation of Spain, to seize Gibraltar, the British would land in Morocco and French West Africa.[2] On July 18, Franco claimed Gibraltar. He did not expect the British to accede to the claim and made it to keep Germany from attempting to take it. In August, Canaris met with Franco's brother in law, Ramón Serrano Súñer, who was about to become Spain's Foreign Minister. Canaris urged Súñer to do what he could to convince Franco to stay out of the war. Soon after, Franco dispatched Súñer to Berlin to get an idea of Hitler's attitude, since Canaris had assured him that Germany would not forcibly intervene in Spain. When Súñer met Hitler on September 16, Hitler did not press very hard for Spanish involvement in the war, perhaps because he planned to meet Franco himself very soon. Canaris met with Franco around the same time and warned him that if Spain joined the Axis, the Spanish islands - even mainland Spain itself - would be at risk from British attack. Knowing that Franco feared a hostile German invasion of Spain if he refused to cooperate, Canaris informed him that Hitler had no such intention due to the planned invasion of Russia. Canaris also surprised Franco by admitting that he was convinced Germany could not win the war. On August 8, made confident by the secret talks with Canaris, Franco presented extravagant terms for his cooperation to the German Ambassador to Spain, Eberhard von Stohrer; he said that he would only join Hitler if Spain were promised Gibraltar and French Morocco. Germany must also promise military and economic assistance in the form of wheat and oil to help Spain's faltering economy. Additionally, German forces must first land on the British mainland in a full-scale invasion. This provoked Hitler to send Canaris to Spain again in an effort to convince Franco to join the Axis and soften his "outrageous" demands. To the contrary, Canaris once more reminded Franco that it would be foolish to join the side that was doomed to lose the war. On August 24, Hitler approved a general plan for seizing Gibraltar. In October, he met with Franco at Hendaye, France, and proposed that Spain enter the war on the Axis side in January 1941; Gibraltar would be taken by special Wehrmacht units and turned over to Spain. Franco however refused the offer, emphasizing Spain's need for large-scale military and economic assistance and Hitler took offence when Franco expressed doubts about the possibility of a German victory. Franco pointed out that even if the British Isles were invaded, Britain's fleet would continue to fight from Canada with US support. A meaningless memorandum of understanding was signed at Hendaye by Franco and Hitler, neither side getting what they wanted. Hitler is reported to have later told Benito Mussolini, "I would rather have four teeth pulled out than go through that again!" Despite these problems, German military leaders proceeded to prepare for a large-scale operation against Gibraltar. Codenamed Operation Felix, the plan called for two German army corps to enter Spain across the Pyrenees. One corps, under General Ludwig Kübler, was to cross Spain and assault Gibraltar, while the other, commanded by General Rudolf Schmidt, was to secure its flanks. Air support would need one fighter and two dive-bomber wings. Overall command of Felix was to be assigned to Field Marshal Walther von Reichenau. The plan also made provisions for occupying Spanish possessions in North Africa: Spanish Morocco, Río de Oro, and the Canary Islands, whose ports could then be used as bases for German U-boats. On November 12, Hitler issued Führer Directive No. 18,which stated that "political measures to induce the prompt entry of Spain into the war have been initiated" and that "The aim of German intervention in the Iberian Peninsula (code name Felix) will be to drive the English out of the Western Mediterranean." It also mentioned the potential invasion of Portugal if the British gained a foothold and requested that the occupation of Madeira and of the Azores be investigated. On December 5, Hitler met with the German High Command and decided to request permission from Franco for German troops to cross the Spanish border on January 10, 1941. It was planned that General Jodl would go to Spain to make preparations for the attack on Gibraltar as soon as Canaris had obtained Franco's agreement. Canaris accordingly met with Franco on December 7 and put to Franco the need for Spain's immediate entry into the war. Franco responded that Spain was simply not capable, due to shortages of food. He also expressed his fear that German seizure of Gibraltar would lead to the loss of the Canary Islands and Spain's other overseas possessions. On receiving Canaris' report, Hitler decided that Operation Felix should be cancelled. His disappointment was reflected in a later letter to Mussolini in which he said, "I fear that Franco is committing here the greatest mistake of his life". In the opening weeks of 1941, unsuccessful efforts were made by both Berlin and Rome to encourage the Spanish government to change their stance. Franco answered negatively to another request from Hitler to join the war, received on February 6, 1941, using as a pretext the precarious state of Spain's economy. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Germany's Foreign Minister, told Hitler that in his opinion Franco had no intention of ever joining the war. In February 1941, the OKW advised the naval high command that Operation Felix was out of the question for the time being, since the troops earmarked for it would soon be needed elsewhere. On Hitler's insistence, the OKW developed a revised plan for the capture of Gibraltar, which might be implemented once the German invasion of the Soviet Union had been completed. Codenamed Felix-Heinrich, the plan was submitted to General Franz Halder on March 10, 1941. It proposed that as soon as the invading forces in the Soviet Union reached a line between Kiev and Smolensk, hopefully by July 15, units could then be withdrawn to prepare for the Gibraltar operation, which it was thought could begin on October 15. Felix-Heinrich would broadly follow the original plan, with the same forces, but with new supporting units.