The Battle for Gibraltar (el. knyga) (skaityta knyga) | knygos.lt

Aprašymas

In the summer of 1940, the future of Europe was balanced on a knife-edge. France had fallen, Britain stood alone, and Hitler's armies looked poised to dominate the continent. Gibraltar, the narrow gateway to the Mediterranean, was the next logical target for the Axis. If Spain entered the war on Germany's side, the British bastion would fall - and with it, control of the sea routes to Egypt, India, and beyond. The stakes could not have been higher.

Yet what determined the outcome was not tanks, bombers, or naval fleets - but suitcases filled with gold. Orchestrated by British intelligence officer Alan Hillgarth and channelled through the enigmatic Spanish financier Juan March, London secretly bribed Franco's generals and ministers to keep Spain neutral. It was the largest bribe of the twentieth century, a clandestine deal worth millions that barred Hitler's armies from crossing the Pyrenees and closed the gates of Gibraltar to the Axis.

This remarkable story - of diplomats, spies, smugglers, and double-dealing generals - reveals how democracy was saved through corruption. Winston Churchill authorised the payments, Franco pocketed the money, and Hitler was left frustrated as Operation Felix, the planned assault on Gibraltar, collapsed before it began.

In this book the author uncovers the hidden mechanics of this covert financial war: the shadow accounts in Swiss banks, the undated cheques, and the coded telegrams exchanged between Madrid and London. It draws on British, Spanish, and German archives to reconstruct the intrigue that unfolded behind the scenes - from the cocktail lounges of Madrid to the vaults of the Bank of England.

At its heart, the book examines the paradox of power: how a dictatorship enriched itself by playing off Hitler and Churchill, and how Britain compromised its own ideals to preserve survival. With gripping narrative detail and newly uncovered evidence, The Battle For Gibraltar reveals the secret deal that changed the course of the Second World War.