Secret Second World War Royal Navy stay-behind observation post in Gibraltar.
Operation Tracer was a secret Second World War Royal Navy stay-behind plan in Gibraltar. Conceived by Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey, it created a covert observation post in tunnels near Lord Airey’s Shelter, overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar and Mediterranean, to report enemy ship movements if Gibraltar fell.
Operation Tracer was a secret Second World War Royal Navy stay-behind military operation in Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory and major military base. Its impetus was Germany’s 1940 plan to capture Gibraltar, code‑named Operation Felix. Rear Admiral John Henry Godfrey, Director of the Naval Intelligence Division of the Admiralty, devised a scheme to maintain a covert observation post even if Gibraltar fell to the Axis powers. In 1941 Godfrey decided to establish the post inside the existing tunnel system of Lord Airey’s Shelter, an underground headquarters just north of Lord Airey’s Battery on the upper ridge of the Rock of Gibraltar, near the present Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Construction began in late 1941 and finished by late summer 1942. The complex, later nicknamed Stay Behind Cave, contained chambers forming a dual observation post, with a slit overlooking the Bay of Gibraltar and a larger opening over the Mediterranean Sea. Six volunteers were selected: an executive officer leader, two physicians and three wireless operators, prepared to be sealed inside and report enemy vessel movements to the United Kingdom. Provisions for a seven‑year stay were stored. The plan was ultimately aborted, the supplies distributed, and the cave sealed.
