Word: minorca
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Chamber of Deputies there were shrill demands-mainly from the Left-that France renounce the Spanish non-intervention policy and openly aid the Spanish Loyalists, just as Italy and Germany are openly helping the Rebels. The realistic French General Staff was reported to be contemplating occupying the Island of Minorca and Spanish Morocco if the Italian-backed Rebels win the war. There were scary rumors that the Rebel-held side of the French-Spanish frontier had been fortified. There were predictions that a Mediterranean "Munich," with Italy the victor and France the loser, was in the offing...
...staff officers had deliberated a situation even more critical in the Balearic Islands. Secret agents at Palma, Majorca had noted unusual activity among the Rightist garrison and the 20,000 Italian troops quartered there, reported that an attempt was about to be made to seize the Leftist island of Minorca. The British and French have been thick in the western Mediterranean ever since the Spanish civil war began, and the New York Times was authority for the announcement that "Precautions were ordered that both British and French vessels should be in evidence to prevent any attempted seizure [of Minorca...
Slantwise across the Mediterranean lie the 15 Balearic Islands, of which three-Majorca, Minorca and Iviza-are large enough to show even on small scale maps. For over 200 years, Britain has cast hungry eyes on these islands that parallel her lifeline to the East, and in 1708, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Britain actually captured Minorca, held it on and off for over 50 years and held Majorca almost as long. Three years ago it was no secret to European war offices that British firms and British military engineers were said to be building vast fortifications around...
France too, has a lifeline in the Mediterranean. It crosses Britain's practically at right angles, passes very close to Minorca. To defend her formidable Maginot Line of fortresses against Germany, France must be able to draw troops and supplies from North Africa, from Algiers or Oran to Marseille. Transports on that line pass within plain sight of Minorca...
...Mediterranean about 90 miles off the coastline from Valencia to Barcelona. Of the three largest Balearics, the two westerly ones, Iviza and Mallorca, have been held by the Rightists. Mallorca, with its deep harbor of Palma, has been a main base, especially for sir, of the Italian expeditionary forces. Minorca, the most easterly island, held by Leftists, momentarily expected to be raided last week after the bombing of Valencia and Barcelona...