The Spanish Civil War (110 page)

(1) There is as yet no adequate study of the creation and character of the nationalist army. Numerous autobiographies and memoirs have, however, been written by or about commanders in that force: among the first, General Kindelán’s
Mis cuadernos de guerra
(Madrid, 1945), and the same author left other papers published after his death (
La verdad de mis relaciones con Franco
(Madrid, 1981); General García Veliño’s
Guerra de liberación española
(Madrid, 1949); and General Martínez de Campos’s
Ayer, 1931–1953
(Madrid, 1970). Among the second are José María Pemán’s life of General Varela,
Un soldado en la historia
(Cádiz, 1954), the biography of Mola by his ADC, Colonel José María Iribarren (
El general Mola,
Madrid, 1945), and numerous lives of Franco. The most complete life of Franco is that of Paul Preston,
Franco
(London, 1993). See also the lives by Tusell, Fusi, and Bennasar. Brian Crozier’s
Franco
(London, 1967) is uncritical. There are some interesting insights in George Hills’s
Franco
(also London, 1967). The life of Yagüe by Juan José Calleja (
Yagüe, un corazón al rojo,
Barcelona, 1963) avoids all the difficult subjects.

(2) The monumental study of Ramón Salas Larrazábal on the Republican Army (
Historia del ejército popular de la republica,
4 volumes, Madrid, 1974) is a mine of information and publishes many interesting documents in the appendices. More manageable and less
parti pris
is Michael Alpert’s
The Republican Army in the Spanish Civil War
(Reading Ph.D., 1973). Memoirs by republican officers are legion: for example, General Vicente Rojo’s
Alerta los pueblos
(Buenos Aires, 1939),
Así fue la defensa de Madrid
(Mexico, 1967) and
España heroica
(Buenos Aires, 1942); Julián Henríquez Caubín’s
La batalla del Ebro
(Mexico, 1944); José Martín Blázquez’s well-written
I Helped to Build an Army
(London, 1939); Colonel Casado’s unreliable tale of his
coup d’état, The Last Days of Madrid
(London, 1939); and the testimony of five senior communist officers—Enrique Lister’s
Nuestra guerra
(Paris, 1969), Juan Modesto’s
Soy del quinto regimiento
(Paris, 1969), Antonio Cordón’s
Trayectoria
(Paris, 1971), Manuel Tagüeña’s excellent
Testimonio de dos guerras
(Mexico, 1973), and Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros’s
Memorias,
2 volumes (Paris, 1964).

(3) The two earliest military histories, Manuel Aznar’s
Historia militar de la guerra de España
(Madrid, 1940) and Luis María de Lojendio’s
Operaciones militares de la guerra de España
(Barcelona, 1940) are still useful for the nationalist army, but much the most satisfactory general military history is now that contained in the numerous volumes edited by Colonel Martínez Bande for the
Servicio Histórico Militar (Madrid, 1968 onwards), even though they are excessively discreet about many aspects of nationalist decision-making. There is also much interesting information in Salas Larrazábal (see [2] above).

(4) Naval matters are covered encyclopedically in José Luis Alcofar Nassaes’s
Las fuerzas navales en la guerra civil española
(Barcelona, 1971). See also, for the nationalist operations, Admiral Cervera’s
Memorias de guerra
(Madrid, 1968) and Admiral Moreno’s
La guerra en el mar
(Barcelona, 1959). A republican naval memoir is Bruno Alonso’s
La flota republicana y la guerra civil de España
(Mexico, 1944) and a suggestive journalistic account can be found in Manuel Benavides’s
La escuadra la mandan los cabos
(Mexico, 1944). The Russian contribution to the republic’s naval presence is well summarized in Admiral Kuznetsov’s contribution to
Bajo la bandera de la España republicana
(Moscow, probably about 1970).

(5) The best history of the war in the air is Jesús Salas Larrazábal’s
La guerra de España desde el aire
(Barcelona, 1969). See also General José Gomá’s
La guerra en el aire
(Barcelona, 1958). A republican pilot’s view is contained in Colonel Andrés García Lacalle’s
Mitos y verdades
(Mexico, 1974). Less comprehensive is F. Tarazona’s
Sangre en el cielo
(Mexico, 1960). The Escuadra España receives epic treatment in Malraux’s wonderful novel
L’Espoir
(Paris, 1937). Other still interesting memoirs by republican fliers are the books by Oloff de Wet,
Cardboard Crucifix
(Edinburgh and London, 1938), and F. G. Tinker,
Some Still Live
(New York, 1938). Nationalist memoirs include those of J. García Morato’s episodic
Guerra en el aire
(Madrid, 1940), Antonio Ansalado’s
¿Para qué?
(Buenos Aires, 1951), and José Larios’s
Combat over Spain
(London, 1966).

Technical information can be found in Salvador Rello’s four little volumes,
La aviación en la guerra de España
(Madrid, 1969–1971), or Miguel Sanchís’s
Alas rojas sobre España
(Madrid, 1956).

There are many accounts by both German and Italian fliers for Franco (for example, Max von Hoyos,
Pedros y Pablos,
Munich, 1941) and some by Russians (see the memoirs in
Bajo la bandera,
mentioned in [4] above). See too Jean Gisclon,
Des avions et des hommes
(Paris, 1969).

(6) The military conspiracy and the Rising are described exhaustingly in Arrarás’s
La cruzada
(mentioned in V above). See for this also Antonio Lizarza’s
Memorias de la conspiración
(Pamplona, 1954), Felipe Bertrán Güell’s
Preparación y desarrollo del alzamiento nacional
(Valladolid, 1939) and the account by Mola’s chauffeur, B. Félix Maíz,
Alzamiento en España
(Pamplona, 1952). The first volume of De la Cierva’s
Historia
(see V above) draws together many of the threads and there is useful comment in the works earlier cited by Robinson, Gil Robles and Stanley Payne (
Politics and the Military
). Luis Bolín’s
Spain, the Vital Years
(London, 1967) contains evidence on Franco’s activities. The work of del Burgo (see above, section IV [8]) is interesting on Carlist atti
tudes. See García Venero’s
Madrid, julio 1936
(Madrid, 1973) for the débâcle there. Luis Romero’s
Tres días de julio
(Barcelona, 1967) is a clever attempt to re-create the first days of the war.

(7) Separate battles are described in the books of Martínez Bande (see above, para. [3]). See, however, also Robert Colodny,
The Struggle for Madrid
(New York, 1958) for the fighting round the capital; Esmond Romilly,
Boadilla
(new edition, London, 1971) for an account of that battle; Olao Conforti,
Guadalajara
(Milan, 1967); R. Casas de la Vega,
Brunete
(Madrid, 1967) and
Teruel
(Madrid, 1975); Luis María Mezquida,
La batalla del Ebro,
2 volumes (Tarragona, 1963), and the same author’s
La batalla del Segre
(Tarragona, 1972), and Henríquez Caubín’s book on the Ebro previously cited (see para. [2] above). For Guernica, see Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan Witts,
Guernica
(New York, 1975), an exciting account which, however, leaves some questions unanswered. Colonel Martínez Bande’s
Los cien ûltimos días de la república
(Barcelona, 1972) throws light on nationalist intelligence at the end of the war, as does José Bertrán y Musitu’s
Experiencias de los servicios de información del nordeste de España
(
SIFNE
) (Madrid, 1940). Cecil Eby’s
The Siege of the Alcazar
(London, 1966) is the most balanced account of that incident. Julio de Urrutia,
El cerro de los héroes
(Madrid, 1965) is a careful though passionate account of Santa María de la Cabeza. Luis Romero’s
Desastre en Cartagena
(Madrid, 1971) tells the tale of the revolt in that city in March 1939.

(1) The political history of nationalist Spain still awaits its historian. In the meantime, some information can be derived from the various lives of Franco and Ramón Súñer’s
Entre Hendaya y Gibraltar
(Madrid, 1947). Hedilla’s life as told to, and edited by, Maximiniano García Venero (
Falange,
Paris, 1967), is interesting, especially when read in conjunction with Herbert Southworth’s commentary
Antifalange
(Paris, 1967). Hedilla’s subsequent correction of García Venero has appeared as
Testimonio de Manuel Hedilla
(Barcelona, 1973). Dionisio Ridruejo’s
Escrito en España
(Buenos Aires, 1962) has passing references to the war. On the Falange, the work of Payne (see section IV [9] above) remains the best introduction. The works previously cited of Ansaldo (see section VI [5] above), del Burgo (section IV [8]) and Bolín (section VI [6] above) are helpful. The Carlists are treated exhaustively in Julio Aróstegui’s
Los Combatientes Carlistas en la Guerra Civil Española,
2 vols. (Madrid, 1991).

(2) Far the best social history of nationalist Spain is Rafael Abella’s
La vido cotidiana en la España Nacional
(Barcelona, 1973). Some contemporary journalistic accounts throw light: for example, Eddy Bauer,
Rouge et or
(Neuchâtel, 1939).

(3) The repression in nationalist Spain is amply chronicled in Antonio Bahamonde’s
Memories of a Spanish Nationalist
(London, 1939), on Seville, Antonio Ruiz Vilaplana’s
Burgos Justice
(New York, 1938), Jean Flory’s
La Galice sous la botte de Franco
(Paris, 1938),
Franco’s Rule
(London, 1937), and
El clero vasco frente a la cruzada franquista
(Bayonne, 1966).

(4) The economic side of the ‘crusade’ can be found in Carlos Delclaux’s thesis
La financiación de la cruzada
(Deusto, thesis unpublished,) and J. R. Hubbard’s article ‘How Franco Financed His War’,
The Journal of Modern History
(December, 1953). See also, if you can find it, Juan Sardá’s ‘El Banco de España (1931–1962)’ in
El Banco de España
(Madrid, 1970), and Glenn T. Harper,
German Economic Policy in Spain
(The Hague, 1967).

(5) The victors sought to prove the legality of their rebellion in
Dictamen de la comisión sobre la ilegitimidad de poderes actuantes en el 18 de julio de 1936
(Barcelona, 1939).

(6) Post-war repression is covered in
Catalunya sota el règim franquista
(Paris, 1973), Melquesidez Rodríguez Chaos,
24 años de la cárcel
(Paris, 1968), Miguel García,
I was Franco’s Prisoner
(London, 1972), Arturo Bray,
La España del brazo en alto
(Buenos Aires, 1943) and also Ronald Fraser,
In Hiding
(London, 1972). Also see Santos Juliá’s book mentioned in section V above.

(7) For the church, see Guy Hermet’s
Les Catholiques dans l’Espagne Franquiste
(Paris, 1981) and Frances Lannon’s
Privilege, Persecution and Prophecy
(Oxford, 1987).

(1) For general studies on the republic, see Diego Sevilla Andrés,
Historia politica de la zona roja
(Madrid, 1954) and Burnett Bolloten,
The Spanish Civil War
(New York, 1991). For a personal but informed view at the time, see Franz Borkenau,
The Spanish Cockpit
(London, 1937).

(2) The vanishing centre is not well covered. See, however, the diaries of Azaña previously cited (section IV [6]), the autobiography of Angel Ossorio y Gallardo,
Le España de mi vida
(Buenos Aires, 1941) and Azaña’s famous dialogue,
La velada en Benicarló
(in volume III of his
Obras completas,
several other editions). Casado’s memoir (section VI [2] above) expresses the frustration of a loyal army officer.

(3) The socialists also lack a detailed analysis. But see the works of Largo Caballero, Zugazagoitia, Prieto and Saborit (on Besteiro) previously cited. Julio Álvarez del Vayo wrote several autobiographies, of which the most useful is
Freedom’s Battle
(New York, 1940). See also Justo Martínez Amutio,
Chantaje a un pueblo
(Madrid, 1974), and the last volume of Antonio Barea’s
The Forging of a Rebel
(New York, 1946).

(4) On the anarchist experience in the civil war, see Diego Abad de Santillán,
Por què perdimos la guerra
(Buenos Aires, 1940) and José García Pradas,
Cómo terminó la guerra de España
(Buenos Aires, 1940)—both personal accounts. The most useful survey is that in José Peirats,
La CNT en la revolución española,
3 volumes (Toulouse, 1951–1953), which has much interesting documentation. On the ‘politics’ of anarchism, see César Lorenzo’s
Les Anarchistes espagnols et le pouvoir
(Paris, 1969) and Vernon Richards’s
Lessons of the Spanish Revolution
(London, 1953). On the revolution, see F. Mintz’s
L’Autogestion dans l’Espagne révolutionnaire
(Paris, 1970) and Gaston Leval’s
L’Espagne libertaire
(Paris, 1971). See also Cipriano Mera’s
Guerra, exilio y cárcel de un anareco-sindicalista
(Paris, 1976), ‘El movimiento libertario español’, supplement,
Cuadernos de Ruedo Ibérico
(Paris, 1974), Albert Pérez Baró,
Trenta mesos de colectivisme a Catalunya
(Barcelona, 1974), and Ricardo Sanz,
Los que fuimos a Madrid
(Toulouse, 1969). The previously cited books of Brademas, Paz (section III [1]), Borkenau and Bolloten are helpful and Juan Peiró’s
Perull a la reraguarda
(Mataró, 1936) testifies to anarchist realism at the time. A work by Carlos Semprún Maura,
Révolution et contre-révolution en Catalogne
(Torus, 1974) makes some good points.

(5) The communists have, or have provided themselves with, an ample bibliography. The two most serious historical analyses are D. T. Cattell,
Communism and the Spanish Civil War
(Berkeley, 1955), and Burnett Bolloten,
The Spanish Civil War
(New York, 1991). Communist memoirs include the books of La Pasionaria (Dolores Ibarruri),
They Shall Not Pass
(London, 1967), Hidalgo de Cisneros, Lister, Cordón and Modesto (cited in section VI [2] above). Some information can also be found in Santiago Carrillo’s
Demain Espagne,
a conversation with Régis Debray and Max Gallo (Paris, 1974). Ex-communists who have criticized their old comrades are Jesús Hernández,
Yo, ministro de Stalin en España
(Madrid, 1954), Enrique Castro Delgado,
Hombres made in Moscú
(Barcelona, 1965) and El Campesino (Valentín González), whose books are
Comunista en España y anti-Stalinista en la URSS
(Mexico, 1952) and
Listen, Comrades
(London, 1952). Togliatti’s despatches from Spain to Moscow have been published as
Escritos Sobre la Guerra de España
(Barcelona, 1980). Manuel Tagüeña’s book (cited above in section VI [2]) approaches the theme with serenity. Criticism of or comment on the communists in the civil war can be found everywhere in political studies or memoirs of the civil war. See in particular the books of Barea, Martínez Amutio and Borkenau (cited above, in [1] and [3] and also see the paragraph below on Russia [IX (7)]). Recent studies of importance are Antonio Elorza and Marta Bizcarrondo,
Queridos Camaradas
(Barcelona,
1999) and Ronald Radosh, et al.,
Spain Betrayed
(New Haven, 2001). Both sustain the thesis that the Spanish communists were controlled by the Comintern. The last-named work presents an invaluable collection of papers from Soviet and other communist archives.