La Línea de la Concepción (ES)

History

The history of La Línea de la Concepción begins long before the actual founding of the town in 1870.

The trigger for all this was the occupation of Gibraltar by England during the War of the Spanish Succession England and the Netherlands joined forces at short notice and, under the leadership of the Prince of Hesse Darmstadt, conquered the heavily fortified but understaffed peninsula in a coup d'état.

In order to prevent a reconquest, the fortress of Gibraltar was expanded and sufficiently manned at short notice. The Spanish-French alliance then attempted to besiege and recapture the peninsula from land and sea with up to 14,000 men and several fleets. After unsuccessful attacks and heavy losses, the siege was finally transformed into a passive blockade in January 1705, the harbingers of the later Línea de Contravalación de Gibraltar.

In 1713, Gibraltar was officially granted to Great Britain in the „Peace of Utrecht“. Nevertheless, Spain attempted to recapture it in early 1727 during the Anglo-Spanish War, again without success.

From 1730 Spain had the Línea de Contravalación de Gibraltar in order to definitively seal off Gibraltar from the mainland and establish a base for further attempts at reconquest in the future.

Architecture

Línea de Contravalación de Gibraltar

On behalf of Spain Marquis of Verboom in November 1730 with the construction of the 1700 m long defence line. At a distance of 1800 metres from the Rock of Gibraltar, it stretched from the Mediterranean coast to the Bay of Algeciras, blocking the land route to the peninsula.

The line of fortifications was designed as a continuous redan line with five triangular bastions: San Carlos, San Fernando, San José, Santa Mariana and San Benito. At the ends, Fort Santa Barbara was built in the east and Fort San Felipe in the west. The line of fortifications was largely straight, although a bulge was created at Fort San Felipe to make room for an army.

The broad Fort San Felipe had 28 gun positions (20 iron 16-pounders, 4 iron 6-pounders and 4 13“ brass mortars) and provided a wide field of fire across the bay and into the city of Gibraltar. The fort also had several casemates, two bastions and a curtain wall at the rear, as well as a moat that could be flooded from the sea.

The Santa Barbára fort was built in a pentagonal shape and aligned like an arrowhead towards Gibraltar. It had 24 gun positions, a dry moat, a covered path, a glacis, 4 bombproof casemates and a sea wall against the surf. The fort was equipped with 12 iron 15-pounders and a 13“ brass mortar, the peacetime garrison consisted of 50 men plus a captain.


Sistema de Defensa del Campo de Gibraltar

Looking at the disposition, armament and tactical purpose, three perfectly differentiated zones can be distinguished: The Pre-defence zone was divided into two anti-tank barrier lines, consisting of a line of six rows of „dragon's teeth“ and a line of thick metal posts reinforced with barbed wire. The anti-tank defence lines ran roughly parallel and were only interrupted by the road to the colony. The pre-defence zone no longer exists today.

The second defence sector consisted mainly of machine gun nests with three cupolas each. Their mission was to defend against infantry attacks on the one hand and to protect the nearby artillery positions on the other. The defence zone was reinforced on its flanks and on both sides of the access road to Gibraltar by several anti-tank obstacles.

The third defence sector consisted mainly of armoured positions for field artillery, with some anti-tank positions in the centre. Its total equipment totalled 35 pieces, 27 of which were equipped with 66-mm infantry guns, the well-known 6’5 „Legionario“.

Two extraordinary bunkers derive their originality from their disguise as civilian buildings. Bunker 154 is a huge anti-tank post with six partially dismantled rooms on a plot of land on Avenida Príncipe de Asturias and Paseo Andrés Viñas. Thanks to its „civilian“ roof and simulated doors, it remained undetected for fifty years. A two-storey command post, also perfectly camouflaged, is located between the houses on Avenida de La Banqueta.