The participation of

Galicia Galicia may refer to: Geographic regions * Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain ** Gallaecia, a Roman province ** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia ** The medieval King ...

( Spain) in World War II was marked by its location on Spain's Atlantic coast and its mines. Despite the neutrality of Spain during World War II, the country was affected due to its strategic location. The tungsten mines, such as the mine of San Finx, were used for the Axis war industry. Extraction and transport of the mineral was carried out by front companies, such as the Finance and Industrial Corporation ( Galician: ''Sociedade Financeira e Industrial''). Hundreds of Galicians traveled to fight with the Germans on the Eastern Front, in the Blue Division. On the other side, former republican combatants fought with the allies, many of them having been confined in

French concentration camps Numerous internment camps and concentration camps were located in France before, during and after World War II. Beside the camps created during World War I to intern German, Austrian and Ottoman civilian prisoners, the Third Republic (1871–1940 ...

Tungsten

Raw materials A raw material, also known as a feedstock, unprocessed material, or primary commodity, is a basic material that is used to produce goods, finished goods, energy, or intermediate materials that are feedstock for future finished products. As feedst ...

were vital in economic warfare. Tungsten was one of those used to manufacture armaments. Before the war, the main producers were China (36%), Burma (17%) and the United States of America (11%). During the war, British sea power gave the Allied powers access to these countries, and denied them to the Axis powers. Germany had to seek sources in Europe. Spain and Portugal were the only producers, with Galicia accounting for almost 70% of Spanish reserves. This made it the focus of the

Wolfram Crisis The Wolfram Crisis (Spanish: ''Crisis del wolframio'') was a diplomatic conflict during World War II between Francoist Spain and the Allies of World War II, Allied powers, which sought to block Spanish exports of Tungsten, tungsten ore to Nazi Ger ...

Lorenz beam

In 1939, the Germans built a aerial, in Arneiro in the municipality of

Cospeito Cospeito is a municipality of the Province of Lugo in Galicia. It is situated on the plain of Terra Chá. The population in 2007 was 5,349 according to the townhall register (5,609 in 2003). Etymology It is still not clarified as to where the ...

. It carried the communications of the

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...

and Luftwaffe, with a radius of . The station had two repeating lower and auxiliary buildings. It formed part of a German network of nineteen stations. The Allies' sabotage plans were not carried out, since Spain was treated as a neutral country. The

Lorenz beam The Lorenz beam was a blind-landing radio navigation system developed by C. Lorenz AG in Berlin. The first system had been installed in 1932 at Berlin-Tempelhof Central Airport, followed by Dübendorf in Switzerland (1934) and others all over the ...

was also eventually used by the British and Americans.
El sistema Sonne en Galicia

References

{{WWII history by nation Mediterranean theatre of World War II Francoist Spain 20th century in Galicia (Spain) Spain in World War II

Tungsten

Lorenz beam

See also

References