Abstract

Spain and North Africa

On November 8, 1942, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt addressed a letter to General Franscisco Franco, the Spanish dictator, announcing that American forces had landed in French possessions in North Africa with the sole purpose of preventing occupation by Germany and Italy, during the World War II. The strategic importance of Spanish Morocco and Tangier is second only to that of the Balearics since these territories face-and threaten--Gibraltar. In the present situation the ports of Spain, particularly those of southern Spain and Spanish Morocco, also demand attention. Cadiz, Arzila, and Larache, all offer points from which offensive action could be taken against shipping and against French African ports on the Atlantic, now under American attack.