San Andrés Battery

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Sites of memory · Year: 1940

World War II represented a period of imminent invasion danger for the Canary Islands, as the contenders saw the Archipelago as an important base for their naval manoeuvres in the Atlantic. In response, defences were reinforced along the coasts of the Islands. 

In June 1940, a new coastal battery began to be armed on the summit of Montaña de San Roque, near the coastal hamlet of San Andrés, in a location that is a true natural balcony overlooking Las Teresitas beach. 

The defensive complex was established through the placement of different elevated construction elements arranged linearly with respect to the coastline. To the south was one of the two Vickers 152.4/50 cannons, followed northwards by several installations for projectile and device spares. Beyond that was a machine room, then the second cannon (both pieces came from the old cruiser Galicia); finally, the unit captain’s post. To these elements should be added the trench and rifle pits, along with machine gun nests and a bunker on the top of the other slope of the mountain that closes the San Andrés valley. All of this comprised the main defence of this part of the island.

The San Andrés battery had a staff of about seventy soldiers; however, gradually, its function diminished and in 1995, after more than half a century of service, it was disarmed and dismantled. 

One of the cannons it had is currently at the Canary Islands Military History and Culture Centre, in the gardens of the Almeyda Barracks; the other piece, in this case the cannon tube, was moved in 2006 to the Santa Bárbara neighbourhood in the municipality of Icod de los Vinos.

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