German fears and ambitions

After France's capitulation, General Alfred Jodl presented Hitler with OKW's strategic plans for continuing the war, consisting of two options: The "direct attack" on Great Britain with the objective of the occupation of the British Isles and the second; The 'indirect strategy' advocating an attack on the British Empire, especially on the choke-points that made it possible to maintain the sea lanes to its Dominions and allies. An Anglo-American agreement, by which the United States would obtain a number of British bases in the Atlantic in exchange for 50 used destroyers concerned Hitler, as he expected that either the US or Britain could invade and occupy one or more of the Spanish or Portuguese islands in the Atlantic. To counter any such actions, the OKW studied and started planning for the occupation of the Canary Islands. The study provided two alternatives: (a.) the peaceful transfer and access to the islands to Britain by Spain and (b.) resistance to the invasion by the local Spanish garrison.^[3] The first alternative was eliminated by the Spanish-German negotiations of September 1940 concerning the entry of Spain into the war, where a German offer of forces to reinforce the island defence was rejected by Spain, insisting that the Spanish garrison had the necessary resources to counter a British attack.^[3]

Having been assured that the islands would be defended by Spain, German Directive no. 18 of 12 November 1940 defining Operation Felix, recommended the need to first occupy the Portuguese archipelagos of the Azores before conducting any attack on Gibraltar. Gibraltar remained the prime objective of Operation Felix. This directive recommended the reinforcement of the Canaries by the Luftwaffe and the Kriegsmarine. In December 1941 the German high command sent Commander Fritz Krauss, authorised by the Spanish Government, to investigate the reinforcement and defensive needs of the islands.^[4]

The Cape Verde Islands were poorly protected and had been used as a provisional port for sheltering British survivors from ships sank in the Atlantic.^[5] Only two military ships were stationed on the islands, many of the islands’ artillery pieces dated from the Cuban War of 1898, air defences consisted of 25 obsolete Fiat biplanes and supplies were frequently moved by camel.^[6] Krauss made numerous recommendations related to reinforcement, but in February 1941 the OKM ordered the cancellation of all reinforcements because of the indefinite postponement of Spanish belligerency. After a few months, Germany reviewed its position regarding reinforcements and by 22 May, Hitler agreed to the delivery of four artillery batteries to Spain to reinforce the Islands’ defences. The four batteries of 12 guns were distributed between Gran Canaria and Tenerife.^[4]

German reinforcements continued until the summer of 1942 but had not solved the problem of a lack of personnel and materiel in the island garrison. A matter of concern to the Germans was that in May and August 1942 Britain conducted two amphibious operations: Operation Ironclad to secure the naval base of Diego Suarez in Madagascar which was taken on 7 May by forces that had been trained to assault the Port of La Luz of Gran Canaria. Operation Jubilee against Dieppe, had also drawn the attention of the Spanish high command and alerted the Spanish and German authorities to the capabilities of the British in landing and taking the Canary Islands.^[7] By the end of September 1942, there were 34,000 troops on the islands, of which one third were of North African descent.^[8]

Initiation of Allied planning

On 18 April 1941 the United States Government announced a line of demarcation between the Eastern and Western hemispheres, drawn along the 26° West meridian. This became a virtual sea frontier of the United States in the Atlantic and included Greenland and the Azores. Although not a belligerent, United States warships would patrol this area and keep Britain informed about any Axis activity, but would not provide any direct protection for British convoys. This remained a British responsibility.^[9] Both British and US Naval chiefs were concerned about the Azores and suspected that Germany was planning to seize the islands in order to establish a U-Boat and air base. Holding such bases in the central north Atlantic posed a major threat to Britain. Consequently, Britain and the United States started planning an operation to occupy the Azores as well as the Canary and Cape Verde Islands should Hitler move into Spain in support of the Fascists and threaten Gibraltar and these Atlantic islands.^[10]

Gibraltar was essential to Britain’s war effort and Churchill reiterated this by writing “Spain held the key to all British enterprises in the Mediterranean.” The very real possibility of losing Gibraltar forced the British government to make contingency plans addressing this risk. Churchill further wrote: “If we are forced from Gibraltar, we must take the Canaries immediately, allowing us to control the western entry to the Mediterranean.”^[6]