Military history of Gibraltar during World War II
Prelude and evacuation

Military history of Gibraltar during World War II

Section Title: Prelude and evacuation
Table Section Text: None

-

Late 1939	Construction of a solid surface runway begins in Gibraltar.

9 September 1939	No. 202 Squadron RAF is ordered to Gibraltar.

25 September 1939	No 200 (Coastal) Group is formed as a subordinate formation to HQ RAF Mediterranean.

June 1940	13,500 civilian evacuees are shipped to Casablanca in French Morocco.

13 July 1940	Following the creation of Vichy France, Gibraltarian civilians are returned to Gibraltar prior to movement to other locations.

July 1940	Evacuees are shipped to the Atlantic island of Madeira and to London.

9 October 1940	1,093 refugees re-evacuated to Jamaica.

10 March 1941	Operation Felix, the German plan for the invasion of Gibraltar, is amended to become Operation Felix-Heinrich, which delays the invasion until after the fall of the Soviet Union, effectively putting an end to German invasion plans.

Late 1941	Plans for Operation Tracer, a stay-behind plan to be put in place in the event of an invasion of Gibraltar, are formulated.

January 1942	Equipment trials for Operation Tracer begin.

Mid-1942	Operation Tracer is pronounced ready for deployment.

July 1942	Lieutenant General Dwight D. Eisenhower is appointed Allied Commander-in-Chief of Operation Torch.

5 November 1942	Eisenhower arrives in Gibraltar to take command

4 July 1942	A Liberator bomber from RAF Transport Command takes off from Gibraltar and crashes, killing Władysław Sikorski, Polish military and political leader

November 1943	Resettlement Board established.

6 April 1944	First group of 1,367 repatriates arrives on Gibraltar directly from the United Kingdom.

28 May 1944	First repatriation party leaves Madeira for Gibraltar.

8 May 1945	Victory in Europe Day

Sentence(s)

On April 6, 1944, the first group of 1,367 repatriates arrived directly from the United Kingdom, and on May 28th, the first repatriation party left Madeira.

final_sentence: On April 6, 1944, the first group of 1,367 repatriates arrived directly from the United Kingdom, and on May 28th, the first repatriation party left Madeira.