The old defenses of Fuerteventura: the batteries of Corralejo and Matas Blancas

@ElentirENG ES 8·19·2022 · 23:46 0

The Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands has historically had a great strategic importance that led to fortifying them to avoid possible invasions.

Mjösjöfortet: a strange and huge fortress built in 1910 and today plunged into darkness
A curious bunker from the World War II built in the face of a cliff

The most recent fortifications were built in two phases: one at the end of the 19th century, in order to prevent an American invasion during the Cuban War, and the other during World War II, to prevent the allies from taking over the islands (the British, in fact, raised a possible occupation of the archipelago, known as Operation Pilgrim, which was ultimately not carried out).

During World War II, dozens of forts were built on the island of Fuerteventura grouped into several coastal artillery batteries. One of them, the Corralejo Battery, equipped with Ordóñez 150 mm cannons and two Skoda 76.2 mm cannons, was located in the extreme north of the island and construction began in 1941. Another of The positions were the Matas Blancas Battery, located next to the battery of the same name, in the south of the island, and was equipped with 152.4 mm Russian cannons. The always interesting channel Aventuras Entresierras has explored these ancient fortifications, disassembled today (the video is in Spanish, you can activate the automatic subtitles in English in the bottom bar of the player):

You can see some screenshots of the video here. We start with an access ramp to one of the Corralejo Battery forts (in the video you can see images of the interior of the tunnels). As you can see, its aspect is very similar to the positions of Lanzarote, explored by Aventuras Entresierras two years ago:

One of the Corralejo canyon wells, today dismantled and partially buried.

One of the bunkers located in the dunes of Corralejo.

A command post of the Matas Blancas Battery, very well blended with its surroundings.

Bibliography:

• "XI Jornadas de estudios sobre Fuerteventura y Lanzarote (2003). Proyectos de artillado para Fuerteventura y Lanzarote, 1940-1943". Juan José Díaz Benítez.
• Defensa de Canarias. El Plan Pilgrim. El Gran Capitán.