What the British did not know was that the Germans had already sent reinforcements to the area. The Pioneer Battalion of SS Charlemagne had arrived at Santa Maria between Cadiz and Rota, and Rota itself was already garrisoned by II/58th Battalion of that same brigade. These were Vichy French troops, but the best of the lot, and their ranks were well seeded with Veteran SS troops and officers. The Commandos were going to have more on their hands than they bargained for. Some 60 kilometers north on the road to Seville, I/58th Motorized Infantry could also take to their vehicles and get south to the Cadiz area in just a few hours time.
Another thing that Monty had not taken into account was that Cadiz was only some 55 miles from Gibraltar as the crow flies, and the Germans would certainly react strongly to any attempt to take it. They would soon concentrate the bulk of their air power there, and move any available troops south from Seville to secure that flank.
This would be the tale of two cities that would decide the outcome of the campaign in Spain. To get to Gibraltar, Montgomery needed Cadiz and Seville, and that was where the fire of war was now, burning hotter with each passing hour.
Chapter 26
Three British Commando units had been sent to take Rota. Number 4 and 9 Commandos landed north of the town, seizing a small lighthouse and breakwater and then pushing into the light woods. Number 4 Commando was late, and it came under enemy air attack soon after dawn. Stukas on the airfield north of Jerez were able to make runs from lower elevation before the Allied fighter cover thickened, and they caught the units approaching the shore, savaging it and inflicting heavy casualties. The men come in through the tall sea spray thrown up by the bombs, but many were flayed by shrapnel, and dead in the water before they ever reached the beach.
By 09:00 on the 29th, Number 9 Commando was approaching Rota from the north and came under heavy MG fire. 4 Commando was also pinned down as they approached the small town of Barameda, as another German battalion had come down to bolster that flank.
Only at Cadiz itself was any real progress made. Number 2 Commando chased out the German service troops, secured the docks and quays, but could not push into Puerto Real. The British therefore decided to try and flank the position through the hamlet of Chiclana de la Frontera south of the marshy salt pans, and met little opposition. Yet it was soon clear that this force could not push further inland without substantial support, and that would have to wait for the 29th Brigade Group of 78th Infantry, assembling at Lagos and planning to move by sea that night.
When they landed at Cadiz under cover of darkness and heavy cloud cover, it dramatically changed the calculus of the entire battle in Spain. Thus far, only the motorized infantry regiment of SS Charlemagne had reacted to what appeared to be a strong raid on Rota and Cadiz. Now, with reports of British regulars on the road south of Cadiz and heading for Gibraltar, Hube was compelled to detach the Panzergrenadier regiment of SS Charlemagne, and hasten it south. To do so, he had to shuffle his entire defense of Seville, and under heavy pressure from the British 6th Armored Division backed by 3rd Infantry. He fed in arriving battalions of the 15th Infantry, using them to cover the withdrawal of his own 16th Panzer Division.
Now the entire SS Charlemagne Brigade was rushing south, mostly by road, but II Sturm Battalion managed to find enough rolling stock outside Seville to go by rail. When it arrived at Algeciras near Gibraltar that evening, it was practically the only German unit screening the Rock.
To make matters worse, the British had diverted yet another armored division that had been destined to go to 8th Army in Alexandria. There O’Connor was to receive both the 8th and 10th Armored Divisions, but he only got the 8th. Monty got the 10th, and he landed it at Lisbon, moving it quickly by rail across the frontier into Spain. That heavy reinforcement, along with the 43rd Wessex already on the line, was going to force the steady withdrawal of 327th Infantry Division. In just one day after committing to the raid on Cadiz, the entire situation in Spain had changed, and now Gibraltar was under threat of imminent attack.
That night Royal Marines would make another daring landing at the small fishing port of Barbate, near Frontera on the main road to Gibraltar. They seized that town, and occupied hill 1024 overlooking that road, which now extended southeast through a lowland valley and then into hills leading to Tarifa on the southernmost tip of Spain. From there it would climb beneath the looming highland east of Algeciras, just a few miles to the Rock.
Hube got on the phone to Kesselring, asking him if there was anything he had in the way of air mobile forces that could be sent to Gibraltar.
“What happened to your panzer division?”
“It’s been in a tough fight for days. We had 109 tanks when we entered Spain. Now I have 57 as of this morning. I’m relieving it with 15th Infantry to build up a mobile reserve. Can you send anything?”
“I have two regiments of the 22nd on the airfields at Fez,” said Kesselring.
“Then send one, at the very least.”
“That will be a very hazardous affair. The Allies have fighters up every day now, thick as flees on a camel’s back.”
“Try in any case, and if they cannot get through, then you must get something to Tangier, Ceuta or any other port so they can go by sea. The Führer demands that Gibraltar be held at all costs!”
Kesselring tried, but while Ramcke’s Headquarters unit of the 16 Regiment got through, none of the transports carrying its troops would ever land at Gibraltar. They were pounced on by P-38s, and even though the German Bf-109s exacted a heavy toll, the resulting air battle forced most of the Ju-52s to abort and return to Fez. Those that persisted ran into the new British Seafires over the Straits of Gibraltar off the carrier Victorious, and many went into the sea. The remainder looked for any safe airfield in Morocco to go to ground.
Ramcke got off his JU-52, feeling lucky to be alive when he saw the bullet holes in the tail where a fighter had taken a nip out of them. He stood there on the airfield, beneath the imposing stark cliffs of the Rock, waiting for an hour. At noon he took a car into the city, looking for the local commandant of the garrison, a Colonel Jurgen.
“Greeting’s General,” said Jurgen. “Just in time to stop the British!”
“Oh?” said Ramcke, “Sorry to say that none of my men got through. I suppose I can help a little with my service pistol, but first, I think I will need a stiff drink.”
When Kesselring got the news he swore, throwing a briefcase against the wall of his headquarters in Fez. That was a waste of time and resources. The planes and men that made it back to Fez would now have to regroup, repair, and refuel—either that or the troops would have to find a way to go by road or rail as Hube had suggested. The rail line through Mekenes to Tangier was still open, but Kesselring saw that route as also subject to heavy Allied air attack. He could see that anything he sent that way would most likely have to de-train and move overland about 50 kilometers to the smaller port of Ceuta. Tangier was being watched by enemy submarines hovering off the harbor, and Raeder had no destroyers to go after them. That port was effectively useless to us, he knew. We hold it simply to deny it to the enemy, who would soon use it as a place to spring board towards Gibraltar.
Yet anything I sent by that route will likely be too late to remedy the situation in southern Spain. And if I do send anything, it will likely find itself trapped up there, and forced to withdraw on Ceuta to have any chance of escape. As long as we hold the straits of Gibraltar, at least that port is still operational, but that could change soon. Raeder will not commit Hindenburg to the defense of those straits, and so everything relies on the defense provided by six U-boats, the shore batteries, and minefields. Tangier is outside that wall of defense, Ceuta well inside it.