MI6 kept Spain from Hitler with bribes

[The Straight Story]

MI6 kept Spain from Hitler with bribes

British Intelligence service MI6 bribed senior Spanish officials to stop Spain from becoming Hitler’s ally during World War II, declassified military documents released on Thursday revealed. They spent the present day equivalent of €179 million ($232 million).

Eleven million euros of the day were paid to Spanish senior officials, ship owners and secret agents after Britain’s ambassador in Madrid, Samuel Hoare, warned Winston Churchill’s government that the risk of Spain abandoning its neutral position in 1940 was imminent.

"It may well be that Spain's entry in the war will depend on our quick action," telegraphed Hoare when pushingthe Foreign office in London for an initial $1 million.

"I personally urge authority be granted without delay, and that if you have doubts, the prime minister be consulted.”

“Yes indeed,” telegraphed Churchill in response.


http://www.thelocal.es/20130524/mi6-kept-spain-from-hitler-with-bribes

[Itchinjim]

1. Had Spain joined the Axis,

they might have been rid of Franco sooner.

[independentpiney]

2. I was thinking the same thing

Militarily, Spain joining the axis wouldn't have significantly altered the course of the war and Spain would have been much better off without that fascist asshole hanging on for so long.

[geek tragedy]

3. Agree to the latter not so sure on the former.

Could have made a big difference for North Africa. (how would allied ships get there assuming Spain took over Gibraltar?)

[independentpiney]

4. Good point assuming they could take and hold it.

Which with the British ability to withstand sieges and the weak Spanish military wouldn't be a given. That would definitely have altered the course of the war, but I don't believe it would have changed the final outcome. Unless for some reason it resulted in Germany not invading the USSR.

[geek tragedy]

5. It withstood sieges before the era of the airplane.

Gibraltar was impregnable from land or see. From the air, a sitting duck.

May or may not have changed the final outcome, but would have delayed it at significant cost.

[independentpiney]

6. The same could have been said of Malta

and that held out against sustained attacks by both the Luftwaffe and Regia aeronautica latest technology with a few obsolete biplanes and a couple of hurricanes. The Spanish airforce was a few mid-30's leftovers from the civil war, they wouldnt have made a dent in Gibralter. Maybe it would have made the war longer and more costly and maybe it wouldnt have. It could have resulted in opening the 2nd front in Spain rather than North Africa, getting a faster foothold on the European continent and shortening the war. Pure conjecture on both of our parts.

[geek tragedy]

7. Wise investment on the Brits' parts, I think we both would agree nt

[independentpiney]

9. Absolutely nt

[kenny blankenship]

8. I always wondered about that - why Franco kept his distance from the Fascist axis

after receiving assistance from them in the civil war. So, the "Generalissimo" was for sale, huh?