Evening star., 1923-08-08
A|RPLANESLESSEN
G|BRALTAR'S VALUE
Boasted InvuInerabiIity Seen
Threatened by Modern In
Struments of War.
BY PAUL SCOTT MOWRER.
BY Gable to The Star and Chicago Daily New.

BT PAUL SCOTT MOWRER-
BY Gable to The Star and Chicago Daily News.
tFollowins is the second Of Mr.; Mowers
four articles the Franco British rivalry
for control Of the Mediterranean.}
PARIS, France. August s. The
Straits of Gibraltar, for control of
which rivalry between Great Britain
and France has been revived by the
worth of Gibraltar and by the French
ambition to obtain Tangiers, form
j, the western gateway to the Mediter-
ranean and separate Europe from
Africa at a point where the two con-
tinents are thought once to have
been gcologically connected.
Along both the Spanish and the
Moroccan shores. throughout their
forty miles of length, the straits are
bordered by rough mountains. At
the eastern end two of these noun
tains-Gibraltar on the European
side and the Sierra Bullones on the
African-were supposed by the an
cients-who called them Calpe and
Abyla, the pillars of HerculeS-to
= have been fixed there as landmarks
= bE the demigods, but the rest of the
bordering crags are scarcely less
In width the misty waters of the
straits vary. Twenty-seVen and
! half miles wide between Cape Ira
\
en- extremity, they narrow gradu-
ally to eight miles near the middle,
then open to twelve and half miles
between Gibraltar and. Punta Santa
Cat talina. at the eastern extremity.
Except at two places, the bordering
territory. on both the European and
African sides. is Spanish. Shore de-
| fcnscs, established at almost any
,print on the narrow part of the chan
raNs1 could interrupt the passage of
sTips spain. moreover. has an ad-
mira ale natural harbor at Cadiz. some
tWCur! miles north OF Trafalgar, and
has port and fortress at Ceuta,
opposite Gibraltar on the African
side.
Theoretically. therefore. Spain ought
=" he able to control the straits. But
whether il could do so practically is
an open question. Spain has no navy
70 speak of and no powerful air force
The value of its artillery is dubious
and its capacity for careful organiza-
ilow.
Control by Spain Doubted.
The port of Cadiz is lamentably
uudeveloped. Ceuta is said to be we'll
fortified. but there is reason to doubt
the adaptation of these fortit1catiors
70 modern conditions. Because of its
position on the straits. Spain would
doubtless be an invaluable ally to
some greater naval power which
might wish to close the Mediterra-
mean or TO Keep II OPEN DlL 1t lS QueS-
tionable whether alone the Spanish
have either the will or the ability
TO control the straits against any of
the great powers
It is chiefly Spain's weakness and
Indifference which gives such impor-
tance to the two natural harbors on
the straits. which are not Spanish
Gibraltar and Tangiers
Gibraltar British since 1904. Is a
rocky promontory. two and a half
miles long, separated from the Span
Isl, mainland by a neck of low ground
1T IS the very image as Thackeray
wrote "of an enormous lion, crouch
ed between the Atlantic and the Med
.iterranean and set there to guard the
passage for it's British mistress"
1t commands the eastern entrance
to the straits and dominates the hno
Bay of Algeciras, on which its own
port works have been constructed.
j is perhaps the most famous fortress
and naval base in the world, and In
; the past has successfully WithStood
several memorable seiges, chief of
which was that undertaken by the
Spanish and French during and in
support of the American war or IN
dependence.
Gibraltar, however. is said to, be
no longer the impregnable citadel 1t
proved 10 be $50 years ago. In the
first place. lonE-range guns make its
| nerable, not only from the Spanish
. heights just across the narrow Bay
I of Algeciras, but also from the
heights on the African side, twelve
or fourteen miles away. In the sec
ond place, the lack of ground space
, makes the storing of coal and oil
supplies in adequate Quantities for
i modern warships increasingly diff
! hcult.
! brought from elsewhere, and there Is
it's means Of defense against air
planes attacking the harbor or sub
marines operating in the straits are
probably slight, owing once more to
rhe narrownesS of its territory.
I, To proclaim. as some have. that
HCiibraltar is obsolete, is certainly to
exaggerate. In alliance with Spain
II would still be admirable With
neighborhood. it would be of great
utility. Even against Spain alone II
might be held, unless the Spanish
were to reveal more military eff
,ciency than is generally expected of
them.
But against Spain and a great
poEer or even with Spain neutral,
NAVAL and air bases not far away, it
might well rrove mediocre. The
British know these possibilities bet
conversation readily admit them.
1t is precisely the presumed de-
cline in the effectiveness of Gibral-
far. combined with the presumed in
ability of Spain to exercise the con-
troll Theoretically hers. which now
causes all eyes in the western Medi-
terranean-not only French and
Spanish, but British as well--to be
fixed on the town and bay of Tan
giers. the 'international" port of
Morocco. good natural harbor 81
1he western entrance to the straits
on the African side. twenty-eight
miles across from Trafalgar.
(Ths next article in this series will
he published tomorroW.l