Today, the Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, opened an exhibition to mark 80 years since Operation Torch, the retaking of North Africa from Nazi Germany, which was planned from Gibraltar in November 1942.

The exhibition has been curated and set up by the Gibraltar National Archives at the Orange Bastion vaults next to the American War Memorial on Line Wall Road. Members of the public are invited to visit the exhibition free of charge, from 9th to 23rd November.

The Deputy Chief Minister, Dr Joseph Garcia, said: “The strategic and military value of Gibraltar has been recognised for generations. The people of Gibraltar have always enjoyed a close bond with the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and also a special relationship with those of the United States of America. It is an enduring and deep bond which continues to this day.”

General Eisenhower, who was the overall commander of Operation Torch, based his headquarters in tunnels deep inside the actual Rock itself. He was to become President of the United States after the Second World War.

Dr Garcia said that the exhibition was a worthy tribute to all those who lost their lives during Operation Torch. He said that this was part of our history and part of our heritage and added that Gibraltar could be well proud of the part that it played in the cause of freedom, “Not for the first time and not for the last.”

He expressed his gratitude to the Archivist Anthony Pitaluga and to the team at the Gibraltar National Archives “for their curation of a wonderful finished product”, as well as to the volunteers who helped to bring it all together.