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Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice

Buildings and structures completed in 1922Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorialsMonumental crosses in the United KingdomMonuments and memorials in GibraltarRelocated buildings and structures in the United Kingdom
War memorial in Gibraltar 2005
War memorial in Gibraltar 2005

The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice is a war memorial in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located west of North Front Cemetery, at the junction of Winston Churchill Avenue and Devil's Tower Road. The Cross of Sacrifice was designed by Sir Reginald Blomfield in 1917, and his monument is found in numerous Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries. The cross in Gibraltar was erected by the Royal Engineers for the commission, and unveiled on Armistice Day 1922. The British Pathé film recorded at the dedication ceremony that day represents the first motion picture made in Gibraltar. The Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice served as the focus of Remembrance Sunday ceremonies in Gibraltar until 2009, at which time the location was changed to the Gibraltar War Memorial.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Gibraltar Cross of Sacrifice
Devil's Tower Road, Gibraltar

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N 36.148797 ° E -5.349023 °
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Cross of Sacrifice

Devil's Tower Road
GX11 1AA Gibraltar
Gibraltar
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War memorial in Gibraltar 2005
War memorial in Gibraltar 2005
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Gibraltar International Airport
Gibraltar International Airport

Gibraltar International Airport, previously known as North Front Airport, (IATA: GIB, ICAO: LXGB) is the civilian airport that serves the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. The runway and aerodrome is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), and operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) as RAF Gibraltar. Civilian operators use the civilian-operated terminal. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) hold the contract for provision of air navigation services at the airport. In 2017, the civilian airport handled 571,184 passengers and 302,094 kilograms (666,003 pounds) of cargo on 4,888 total flights. Winston Churchill Avenue (the main road heading towards the land border with Spain) intersects the airport runway, and consequently has to be closed every time an aircraft lands or departs. The History Channel programme Most Extreme Airports ranked the airport the fifth most extreme airport in the world, ahead of the now-defunct Kai Tak Airport with its infamous right-hand turn approach over central Hong Kong before landing, but behind Princess Juliana International Airport, famous for its low-altitude approaches over a public beach. It is exposed to strong cross winds around the 'rock' and across the Bay of Gibraltar, making landings in winter particularly challenging. Prior to its bankruptcy, Monarch Airlines was the largest operator at Gibraltar, but entered administration and ceased operations in October 2017. As of 2021 easyJet is the largest airline operator, with the airport also being served by British Airways. Although located in Gibraltar, the airport is also used by people travelling to or from neighbouring parts of southern Spain such as the Costa del Sol or the Campo de Gibraltar.

Operation Flavius
Operation Flavius

Operation Flavius (also referred to as the Gibraltar killings) was a military operation in which three members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) were controversially shot dead by the British Special Air Service (SAS) in Gibraltar on 6 March 1988. The trio were believed to be planning a car bomb attack on British military personnel in Gibraltar. They were shot dead while leaving the territory, having parked a car. All three were found to be unarmed, and no bomb was discovered in the car, leading to accusations that the British government had conspired to murder them. An inquest in Gibraltar ruled that the authorities had acted lawfully but the European Court of Human Rights held that, although there had been no conspiracy, the planning and control of the operation was so flawed as to make the use of lethal force almost inevitable. The deaths were the first in a chain of violent events in a fourteen-day period. On 16 March, the funeral of the three IRA members was attacked, leaving three mourners dead. At the funeral of one, two British soldiers were killed after driving into the procession in error. In late 1987, British authorities became aware of an IRA plan to detonate a bomb outside the governor's residence in Gibraltar. On the day of the shootings, known IRA member Seán Savage was seen parking a car near the assembly area for the parade; fellow members Daniel McCann and Mairéad Farrell were seen crossing the border shortly afterwards. As SAS personnel moved to intercept the three, Savage split from McCann and Farrell and ran south. Two soldiers pursued Savage while two others approached McCann and Farrell. The soldiers reported seeing the IRA members make threatening movements when challenged, so the soldiers shot them multiple times. All three were found to be unarmed, and Savage's car did not contain a bomb, though a second car, containing explosives, was later found in Spain. Two months after the shootings, the documentary "Death on the Rock" was broadcast on British television. Using reconstructions and eyewitness accounts, it presented the possibility that the three IRA members had been unlawfully killed. The inquest into the deaths began in September 1988. The authorities stated that the IRA team had been tracked to Málaga, where they were lost by the Spanish police, and that the three did not re-emerge until Savage was seen parking his car in Gibraltar. The soldiers testified that they believed the suspected bombers had been reaching for weapons or a remote detonator. Several eyewitnesses recalled seeing the three shot without warning, with their hands up, or while they were on the ground. One witness, who told "Death on the Rock" he saw a soldier fire at Savage repeatedly while he was on the ground, retracted his statement at the inquest, prompting an inquiry into the programme which largely vindicated it. The inquest returned a verdict of lawful killing. Dissatisfied, the families took the case to the European Court of Human Rights. Delivering its judgement in 1995, the court found that the operation had been in violation of Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights as the authorities' failure to arrest the suspects at the border, combined with the information given to the soldiers, rendered the use of lethal force almost inevitable. The decision is cited as a landmark case in the use of force by the state.

Prince's Lines
Prince's Lines

The Prince's Lines are part of the fortifications of Gibraltar, situated on the lower slopes of the north-west face of the Rock of Gibraltar. They are located at a height of about 70 feet (21 m) on a natural ledge above the Queen's Lines, overlooking the landward entrance to Gibraltar, and run from a natural fault called the Orillon to a cliff at the southern end of the isthmus linking Gibraltar with Spain. The lines face out across the modern Laguna Estate, which stands on the site of the Inundation, an artificial lake created to obstruct landward access to Gibraltar. They were constructed to enfilade attackers approaching Gibraltar's Landport Front from the landward direction. A fortification constructed by the Spanish or Moors appears to have existed on the site before the British capture of Gibraltar in 1704, but the Lines were principally constructed during the 18th century. They were first laid out in 1720, and a stone stepped communication passage was later built to connect them with the Queen's Lines. William Green carried out major improvements after 1761, repairing the parapets, scarping the cliff, repairing the banquets and parapets and smoothing the ditches with mortar. To prevent shells and rubble rolling into the Lines from behind, dry rubble walls were constructed to their rear. The glacis in front of the Lines was also cleared of boulders and crevices were infilled to deny enemy soldiers any shelter. A bombproof barracks, magazine and cookhouse were built at the same time. During the construction of the Lines, an "entire human skeleton" was discovered fossilised in the rock but was blown to pieces by a miner. Nothing else is recorded about this find, but only a few decades later, the first known Neanderthal skull was found nearby.The Lines saw action during the Thirteenth Siege of Gibraltar (1726–27), when they mounted two cannon and several swivel guns which were reported to have caused heavy casualties among the attacking Spanish force. During the Anglo-Spanish War of 1761–63, they mounted two 9-pdrs and five 6-pdrs, and by 1770 they could accommodate up to fifty wall-mounted guns using sockets cut into the eastern end of the parapet's crest. A communication gallery was cut in 1790. The Lines were bombarded again during the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–83). On 11 June 1782, a Spanish shell exploded inside the magazine of Princess Anne's Battery further up the Rock, causing a massive explosion that blew the flank of the battery into the Prince's Lines, killing fourteen soldiers. Hanover Battery stands at the west end of the Lines. At the eastern end of the Lines are Lower Forbes Battery and Prince's Lines Battery, which was repurposed during the Second World War to mount a searchlight housed inside a cantilevered iron cupola. The parapet of the Lines was raised during the war to provide loopholes for rifles, with a second wall added behind and the space roofed over with concrete. The Lines are still mostly intact but have been abandoned and are now in a state of overgrown disrepair.

Queen's Lines
Queen's Lines

The Queen's Lines are a set of fortified lines, part of the fortifications of Gibraltar, situated on the lower slopes of the north-west face of the Rock of Gibraltar. They occupy a natural ledge which overlooks the landward entrance to Gibraltar and were an extension to the north-east of the King's Lines. They run from a natural fault called the Orillon to a cliff above the modern Laguna Estate, which stands on the site of the Inundation, an artificial lake created to obstruct landward access to Gibraltar. The Prince's Lines run immediately behind and above them on a higher ledge. All three of the Lines were constructed to enfilade attackers approaching Gibraltar's Landport Front from the landward direction. The Lines were built in 1788 but the Spanish or Moors seem to have constructed a much earlier irregular defensive wall on the same site, as depicted in a 1627 map by Don Luis Bravo de Acuña. The Lines run along what had been an access path up to the Granada Gate. During the tenure of William Green as Gibraltar's Senior Engineer from 1761–83, the Lines were repaired, improved and fortified, and the cliffs below were scarped to make them impossible to climb.They are connected to the King's Lines via a communication gallery completed on 13 September 1782, and to the Prince's Lines via another gallery constructed in 1790. They saw action during the Great Siege of Gibraltar (1779–83) when the Lines were a principal target for Spanish gun batteries; during a heavy bombardment in September 1782, they suffered significant damage.At the far end of the Queen's Lines is the Queen's Lines Battery, which mounted one 12-pdr between 1781–1834. The gun was then replaced by an 8-inch brass howitzer, and between 1859–89 a ten-inch howitzer and three 24-pdr carronades were mounted there. Behind the Lines three tunnels called the Queen's Lines Galleries were dug out in 1789 to provide bomb-proof shelters. At the eastern end of the Lines, Queen's Advance and Queen's Lookout (built in 1727) provide views out over the isthmus between Gibraltar and Spain.