During the Spanish Civil War, the island of Menorca, which had great strategic importance, remained in the hands of the Republican side.<\/p>\n
Menorca was the exception in the Balearic Islands, since the rest of this archipelago was in the power of the national side. The Republican Army decided to install two coastal artillery batteries in the town of Ciudadela, in the west of Menorca<\/strong>, to better protect the coasts of this island against possible attacks from the other side coming from the island of Mallorca . One of these batteries was installed in 1937 in Bajol\u00ed<\/strong>, northwest of the urban area of \u200b\u200bCiudadela. This battery was equipped with four 15 cm Munaiz-Arg\u00fcelles cannons and two 240 mm Ord\u00f3\u00f1ez howitzers<\/strong>, making it a very well defended position.<\/p>\n Further north, the Punta Nati Battery was installed<\/strong>, near the lighthouse in that place, which was inaugurated on September 1, 1913. This battery was equipped with two Schneider Model 1917 howitzers 155 mm<\/strong>, pieces of French origin manufactured for field artillery. The peculiarity of this battery is that its two howitzers were camouflaged under stone constructions that imitate barracas<\/strong>, a typical construction in Menorca whose purpose is to protect livestock from the wind that usually blows on the island.<\/p>\n This Friday, the excellent channel Aventuras Entresierras<\/a> (which I recommend you subscribe to) has published a video touring these two old batteries<\/strong>, which today are dismantled and in a sad state of abandonment (the video is in Spanish, you can activate the automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n
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