Abstract
The visit of Lanzarote took place on November 2018 and allowed to note that its defensive military structures were composed by pillboxes, truncated, pyramidal bases, ground emplacements and artillery bases. This article describes the Playa Blanca and Punta del Papagayo coastal defences and the artillery bases of Mirador del Rio for concluding that today, at about seventy years from the WWII end, they appear in good preservation state and their integrity not particularly menaced by possible further expansions of touristic and residential centres. In addition, their study provided examples of WWII Spanish military architecture and gave hints about the defence concepts involved in the WWII Lanzarote defence.
Highlights
IntroductionThe presence of bunkers in the Canary Islands comes to my attention through an article (Anonym, 2018) dedicated to the Operation Pilgrim
The visit of Lanzarote took place on November 2018 and allowed to note that its defensive military structures were composed by pillboxes, truncated, pyramidal bases, ground emplacements and artillery bases
This article describes the Playa Blanca and Punta del Papagayo coastal defences and the artillery bases of Mirador del Rio for concluding that today, at about seventy years from the WWII end, they appear in good preservation state and their integrity not menaced by possible further expansions of touristic and residential centres
Summary
The presence of bunkers in the Canary Islands comes to my attention through an article (Anonym, 2018) dedicated to the Operation Pilgrim. After having reminded the 10th June 1941 meeting between Hitler and the Spanish minister Serrano Suñer dedicated to the possible invasion of Gibraltar (Operation Felix) and summarized the strategic importance of Gibraltar for the British interests, the article introduced the Operation Pilgrim, to be accomplished on September 1941, concerning the British invasion of the Canaries in case of loss of Gibraltar. Suspecting such an invasion Hitler offered anti-aircraft guns and Stukas to be stationed to the islands and the dictator Franco sent concrete to build bunker systems.
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