The old Menorcan capital of Cuitadella lies at the western extremity of the island far from the great anchorage at Port Mahon. However, the old city has its own harbour at Cala Blanes, narrow but leading directly to the heart of the city. So, this point has always needed defences. The old octagonal fort known as the 'Castle of St. Nicholas' with adjacent batteries provided this for several centuries. By the time of the War however, it was in serious disrepair, its restoration to its original state being carried out only in the 1990's.

However in 1936, this point required defence to protect the harbour and city, and this Civil War work can still be seen and easily examined. The remains of St Nicholas are surrounded by an eight metre wide ditch, which is around two metres deep and remarkably dry to this day, even though it's only a couple of metres from the sea.

The Republican defenders excavated a dog-leg trench into the limestone leading down at a steep gradient to a bunker cut into the edge of the outcrop. This 'bunker' now in very bad condition, forms a single room some 2m by 3m with a low ceiling. A roughly 'in filled' slit looks out to the sea,and would certainly have enabled an lmg to be mounted here with a high degree of protection. The trench is shown at photo No.2. It would not provide the best of firing positions for riflemen, but a squad might use it with ease; and its not now possible to determine if a temporary firing step had been placed at any other place in the dry ditch-though it seems a likely proposition (see photo No.3).

Alongside the opening of the trench is a low circular concrete stand, with a very low wall in front of it. This mounting is the closest point to the narrow port entrance, and commands it entirely. There is little to indicate what was mounted here, though a heavy machine gun seems most likely since there would not be room to work even a light artillery piece here. Nor with only a 50m stretch of water alongside would anything other than a heavy mg be necessary at this point, and no fixing lugs or bolt points remain visible, and the low wall may have been bolstered with a row of sandbags. Finally, though St. Nicholas was in ruined condition during the war, it remained sufficiently high enough to provide a seaward sentry post if not a firing position, according to the Curator.

Related

The Battle of Majorca 1936

Historical Introduction
Order of Battle