Gibraltar Operation Tracer

The section below entitled General Information has been derived from these various accounts, however further down the page you will come to an exact transcription of the original document from the National Archives.

The plan was for six men to be sealed into a hidden chamber in Gibraltar. There would be no way out and anyone who died within the chamber would have to be embalmed and cemented into the walls. The volunteers, two doctors, three signalmen and an executive officer, would run an observation post which had two vantage points, one looking due east over the Mediterranean and the other over the Straits and harbour. All shipping movements would be radioed to the Admiralty.

In the summer of 1940 after the defeat of France by Germany, General Franco, impressed by the recent triumphs of the Wehrmacht, decided to form an alliance with Hitler. Germany did not have an interest in the control of the Mediterranean until all attempts to get a British surrender had failed. The German state opted for what they called the Peripheral Strategy which hit routes which joined Great Britain with its Empire. It was then, in late 1940, that Gibraltar became a major objective.

As a consequence, an operation to capture Gibraltar was prepared by German High Command, code-named Operation Felix. British intelligence and analysts at the time sensed a very real threat and by the end of the summer of 1941 ideas for Operation Tracer were being discussed.

The plan was so secret that no discussions took place in Whitehall. They were conducted at 36 Curzon Street, Mayfair at the home of Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey then Director of Naval Intelligence. Work in Gibraltar began immediately under Commander Geoffrey Birley and his Chief Engineer, Colonel Fordham. A site was chosen at Lord Airey's Battery high up on the southern ridge of the Rock.

By the end of 1941, construction work was under way on the chamber where the men would live. This would be 45ft x 16ft x 8ft with a water tank containing 10,000 gallons of water and a passage section for the radio, toilets and observation points. Construction work was conducted in secret and the men involved in the tunnelling were unsure of its exact location. All of the workers involved were immediately posted back to England after completion of the project and not deployed overseas again for fear they might reveal the existence of the plan. Rumours have suggested that Irish labourers may have been involved.

As the whole plan depended on the communications system, much thought was given to the radio installation. The equipment would be run from batteries which in turn would be powered by a generator propelled by a bicycle. An aerial eighteen feet long was to be pushed out of an opening when required.

Trials began in January 1942 under the eye of Colonel Gambier-Parry, an MI6 radio expert. Much thought was also given to the type of men needed for such a strange and demanding task. Murray Levick, a member of Scott's ill-fated Antarctic expedition was called up as a Surgeon Commander to advise on survival techniques. There were practical matters such as diet, exercise, sanitation and clothing to consider as well as the psychology of the personnel.

In March a coded message was sent to Commander Gibraltar announcing the arrival of a Lieutenant White asking for full co-operation and reminding everyone that the ultimate success of Operation Tracer depends on absolute security. The rest of the team arrived on the Rock with jobs to cover their presence and signals on the Operation Tracer file announced the appointment of Surgeon-Lieutenants Cooper and Milner, both of the RNVR, who arrived on HMS Cormorant that summer on an operation "on the instructions of the First Sea Lord." The full team were in place by the end of the summer of 1942 and their secret observation post was fully equipped and ready for occupation. A comprehensive manual was prepared on all aspects of the operation and it was considered that similar secret lookout posts should be prepared throughout the world in the event of future wars.

It was not until August 1943, with the pressure on the new Eastern Front and the redeployment of the German Forces that it was decided to put Operation Tracer on ice. The six volunteers were stood down, the stores and equipment removed and the chamber blocked up. However further records show that very similar Tracer-type operations were planned for Malta, Colombo, Trincomalee and Aden. It is almost certain that one was in operation during the Suez crisis. Rumours suggest that six men and two men operations were to take place simultaneously, each not knowing the existence of the other. "Tracer" was for six men and "Monkey" was for two men.

Transcription from Naval Intelligence document. National Archives, Kew. Document reference ADM 223/464, pages268-270
Please note; all wording, punctuation, abbreviations and paragraphs are exactly as appears in the original. The original has a red Top Secret stamp mark at the top right hand corner.

It is probably at this point in the narrative that some account, retrospective as well as forward looking, should be given of the scheme known as Operation TRACER. This was a design by D.N.I. to establish first at Gibraltar and, if possible, in other places such as Malta and Aden, secret observation posts which could be maintained even if the places in which they were situated should fall into the hands of the enemy. Their purpose was to report shipping movements to the Admiralty by clandestine wireless.

The idea originated in the late summer of 1941. Much preliminary spade-work was done, and, on 1st March 1942, D.N.I. reported progress (N.I.D. 001107/42). What had happened up to this time was, in brief outline, as follows:

The S.O.(I) Gibraltar, Cdr. Geoffrey Birley had, in company with the Chief Engineer (Col. H.M. Fordham) and his deputy (Lt. Col. R.A. Hay) made a reconnaissance of the Rock, chosen a site and put the necessary work of construction in hand. His first full report to D.N.I. was dated 4th November, 1941. An existing tunnelling scheme for a shelter at Lord Airey's Battery was to be adopted to provide accommodation for a group of five (later changed to six) men with their wireless installation and all stores and water necessary to maintain them for a year. Birley's report was an elaborate one with appendices on the details of construction, camouflage, sanitary arrangements, wireless requirements, stores and crew. Upon this basis work went on at Gibraltar and D.N.I. entered into consultation with Lord Horder and others on the problems of diet and supply. Col. Cordeaux went out from N.I.D. to inform Birley of the views of the Admiralty signal experts on the feasibility of the scheme and to obtain answers to certain questions that Lord Horder had raised. His report on his visit was dated 27th December 1941. He found excavation in progress but the selected chamber and adjoining compartments many months from completion. The cubic capacity of the chamber in which the proposed party would live was to be 57600 cubic feet; its dimensions 45' x 16' x 8'. It was 1350 feet above sea-level. Ventilation would be provided through two look-out apertures, one looking due E over the Mediterranean and the other W over the straits and harbour, each measuring 12 inches by 6 inches. There would be a 10,000 gallon water-tank available. Priority of construction was being given to the passage-section designed to contain the wireless installation. It was hoped to complete this by 15th February and to undertake experiment on communications without delay.

On 11th January 1942, Capt. Sandwith, D.D.S.D.(Y), having consulted with Col. Gambier-Parry, reported on the subject of communications. A standard Mark 3 transmitter and an H.R.O. Receiver would be supplied from stock. They would view a space "4 ft. wide, 2 ft. high and 18 inches deep". Three small 12 volt 120 ampere hour batteries were recommended together with one bicycle-propelled and one hand-propelled generator. No results could be guaranteed without the use of an outside aerial. A rod aerial 18 ft. long could be thrust out through the aperture when required. The frequency to be used would be about 12 megacycles by day and 7 megacycles by night. Gambier-Parry suggested training a W/T technician at once and meanwhile sending out one of his own men to carry out trials on the site with the apparatus Gambier-Parry already had at Gibraltar.

On 25th January a meeting was held to consider a report drawn up by Lord Horder and Surgeon Commander Levick. D.N.I. presided. Cordeaux & Fleming, as well as Horder & Levick, were present. The report, which owed much to Levick's experience of wintering in an igloo in the Antarctic made recommendations on the choice and psychology of the personnel, on exercise and recreation, clothing, ventilation, sanitation, food, alcohol, tobacco, and the disposal - by embalment and cementing - up - of anyone who died. The meeting having considered the report, decided that the right team was six: one officer as Leader, two doctors and three telegraphist ratings. Horder would look for the right doctors. D.N.I. would go to the 2nd Sea Lord for the rest of the personnel. Levick would draw up a detailed list of stores and D.N.I. would consult D. of V. about sending these to Gibraltar for storage. Levick suggested that there should be a rehearsal, probably in Scotland, to test the temperamental suitability of the personnel.

Another meeting was held at D.N.I.'s flat, 36 Curzon Street, 17th February 1942. Lieut. White, R.N.V.R. was suggested for interview. Levick was to live with the party during the whole period of rehearsal. It was soon after this (1st March) that D.N.I. reported the whole position to the 1st Sea Lord. He hoped to have the whole expedition ready by the end of May, the period of rehearsal of training occupying two months. When the first Tracer party was complete for Gibraltar, he proposed to organise a duplicate and provide all Cs. in C. with the data which would enable them to prepare Tracers in their area - e.g. at Aden.

By 30th April two Surgeon-Lieutenants and three Leading Signalmen had been chosen, but not yet a leader. A site for the period of training had been prepared at Shotley, and training would begin on 16th May. W/T tests had been carried out and stores assembled at the Admiralty. The D.N.I. hoped to have the entire party and its stores established in Gibraltar by mid-July. He drew attention to the value that a Tracer organisation would now have had for us if it had been established at Singapore. "In future," he wrote, "an operation on this pattern should have a permanent place in the defences of all major harbours abroad." The 1st Sea Lord minuted: "I agree. What about Colombo and Trincomalee and Malta." The training took place. During it communications were maintained by special W/T which the Radio Security service failed to detect. C. in C. Eastern Fleet and C. in C. East Indies began to make arrangements for Tracers in Colombo and Trincomalee. Malta was too hard pressed to undertake the necessary new constructional work. At Alexandria, said D.N.I., "events have overtaken us." Here and at Port Said and Aden it would be necessary to rely on the existing S.I.S. reinsurance arrangements.

On August 1st, the Tracer team was in fact established at Gibraltar under the supervision of the S.O.(I) now Commander Pyke-Nott. They were all given jobs to "cover" their presence there. By the end of August the constructional work was almost finished, the W/T had been fully tested and all stores were assembled. A manual for Cs. in C. on the establishment of Tracers was printed in the form of Notes on Hygiene and Fitness - presumably for some Arctic expedition - and D.N.I. began to prepare a second shadow Tracer team.

In fact, even the Gibraltar Tracer was not called upon to go into commission and the story ended a year later when D.N.I., in a Most Secret O.T.P. Message (241521 A/August 24, 1943) ordered a final W/T exercise, the blocking up of the cave and the distribution of the stores. Two things remain of enduring interest. First, the conclusion reached by Admiral Godfrey and the 1st sea Lord that the principle of Tracers should be permanently recognised and that, in future wars, Tracer teams should be organised and Tracer locations prepared throughout the world. Secondly, the manual on the subject, a copy of which is to be found with N.I.D. 1001107/42.

N.I.D. 001107/42, is a valuable study of the whole question. All the problems the construction of the chamber, the choice of personnel, lighting, heating, sanitation etc. - are discussed in elaborate detail, and there are twelve even more detailed appendices on: Food, Equipment, Clothing, Stationary, Library, Games, Sundries, Furniture and Cooking, Utensils, Tools, Medical Stores and Surgical Instruments. The choice of Library is full of entertainment and variety. It ingeniously attributes to Dostoevsky the authors XXXX of "Anna Karenina."