Operation Gisela (i)

Giselle

'Gisela' (i) was a German plan, initially designated 'Ilona' and mandated by the Führerweisung Nr 42, for the use of five divisions (four of them mechanised or motorised) to seize the southern exits of the Pyrenees mountains from German-occupied France into Spain, and also an advance from St Sebastien in south-western France to take the ports along Spain’s north coast (29 May/spring 1943).

As such, the scheme represented the second German response plan, after 'Isabella' (i), for implementation in the event of any British invasion of the Iberian peninsula or, from the beginning of 1943, further significant successes by the British and US land forces in North-West Africa.