THE CITY OF MADRID
Gran Via in Madrid today has an intensity and grandeur. The Telefonica Building which rises to 89 metres was used by the Republic during the civil war to observe the whereabouts of Nationalist troops. British war correspondent Geoffrey Cox1 describes Madrid in the autumn of 1936 as a nervy and dangerous city. Although regular community life went on with the cinemas and cafes open, the city had been bombed, rifle shots would go off in the night, guards were on the corners of the streets and cars and lorries had been requisitioned with the initials of the unions and militias on them. Some hotels had been turned into workers’ kitchens or hospitals.
Cyril Cule of Swansea was in Madrid and recounts the time he encountered militia fighters rounding up Fifth Columnists and found himself looking down the barrel of a gun held by someone itching to use it. Madrid had felt what Dolores Ibárruri, the fiery Spanish Communist Party leader known as La Pasionaria (“The Passionflower”) called “the foul breath of the beast in its face”.
​
It was along Gran Via on 8th November 1936 that the hearts of the people were raised as men of the International Brigades marched to join the defence of Madrid. These men were the 11th International Brigade under the leadership of General Kleber, and with them were some early British volunteers of the Commune de Paris Battalion.
​
The Alcázar in Toledo - Photo Author
TOLEDO
Driving up from the south of Spain with his army of Africa, Moors with a reputation of ruthless savagery, Franco diverted to relieve the Republican siege of the Alcázar in Toledo. This was not so much a strategic error but a first indication of his desire to wage a war of attrition in which he would systematically purge the country of adversaries.
Toledo has an old walled city, built on a rocky mound, steeped with Jewish, Christian and Muslim culture and architecture, city gates and bridges. The city is crowned by the majestic Alcázar, a huge fortress rebuilt by Franco after the civil war as a monument to the Nationalist defenders who, under the leadership of Colonel José Moscardó, were besieged there for two months by the Republican army at the beginning of the civil war.
Despite an ultimatum that his son would be shot if he did not surrender, Moscardó is believed to have replied in a telephone conversation with his son: “If it be true, commend your soul to God, shout Viva Espanya, and die like a hero”. Moscardó did not surrender, and his son was shot. It has been said that this event fortified those who were in the Alcázar to face starvation and death.
Franco diverted his army from its drive towards Madrid from the south in order to relieve the fortress and General José Varela succeeded in the attack and took no prisoners. The Alcázar remains today with a military presence in its extensive military museum and a reminder of the status and role of the Spanish military.
​
The photos on the left were taken by myself in the office
of Colonel Moscardó which has been preserved exactly as it was on July 23, 1936. The ceiling is damaged and you can see the bullet holes in the walls. The portrait is that of
Colonel José Moscardó. The furniture remaining includes Moscardó's telephone in a glass case .
All photos by Author
THE ATTACK ON MADRID
The government had effectively lost its authority to govern and eventually handed out arms from the army depots and barracks in a bid to set up a volunteer army which was recruited by trade unions and leftist groups and parties. It was in this context that the slogan No Pasaran (they shall not pass) came to be on the lips of the defiant citizens of Madrid and also of the Welsh volunteers. Inspired to unite by Dolores Ibárruri, La Pasionaria, the people joined with the militias in a battle which was hopelessly one-sided.
Yet the remarkable spirit of the people rendered impossible the boast of General Mola that he would take coffee in the cobbled square of the Puerta de Sol by 19th July. An empty table reserved for the Nationalist General was never taken and the coffee went cold.
​
1936 in Calle de Toledo, Madrid
Courtesy Wikimedia Commons
2019 in Calle de Toledo, Madrid
Photo Author
Casa de Campo today, looking towards the Royal Palace
Photo - Author
​
To the east of the Royal Palace and beyond the river Manzanares lies Casa de Campo, now the largest urban park in Spain. It was from this direction that the Nationalists made their attack on Madrid and here the Republicans repelled the rebels. This was the scene of an intense and bloody struggle between the two enemies.
The first Welshman to engage in battle was Frank Thomas of Cardiff, who was fighting for the Nationalists. He had entered the park through the breaches blown in the 12-foot high walls and describes with some satisfaction how his unit came across a Russian tank and destroyed it before the occupants realised their presence.6 However, most of the park was eventually recaptured and the Nationalists were forced to abandon their direct attack on the city. Yet the cost was high, for within that week a third of the 11th Brigade was left dead or dying in battle.
The bloody battle continued up to 23rd November when Franco realised that he was facing a well-organised and determined force, did not want to lose any more of his best troops, and withdrew. However, the whole of Madrid was now a city under siege from Nationalist artillery bombardment, air raids and militiamen in the streets.
​
The photos on the left and below are of Parque del Oeste today. During the fighting it was in the front line.
Nationalist mchine gun posts in Parque del Oeste. An indication of how close the frint line was to the city of Madrid. Photos - Author
Jack S. Williams of Dowlais was in hospital in Madrid later on in June 1937 and writes home about the continuing appalling situation in the city. He witnessed hundreds of women and children sleeping in the metro stations and lay helpless some nights in his hospital bed as fascist planes dropped their load of bombs, to be then pursued by Republican planes, and women and children screamed. He wrote: “If British workers could experience this they would get together as they did in 1926 during the struggle against the Means Test in order to end the farce of non-intervention".
Children hide in a sewer and people take refuge in the Metro in Madrid during the Francoist bombings
Photos courtesy Wikimeida Commons
VALLEY OF THE FALLEN
Until October 2019 the body of Franco lay in the basilica of the Valley of the Fallen, north west of Madrid, alongside tens of thousands of victims from both sides of the civil war.
​
Ostensibly a memorial to the fallen of both Nationalists and Republicans, in reality it was a place dedicated to Franco's victory. Partly built by Republican political prisoners, it became a meeting place for Franco's supporters and a shrine to his memory.
​
When I visited his remains were still there opposite the grave of the founder of the Falange Española, José Antonio Primo de Rivera. Fresh flowers had been placed on both graves.
​
No photos were allowed inside the basilica.
​
UNIVERSITY CITY
The Nationalists had occupied an area of the University but were unable to advance further.
The university grounds became a bloody battlefield.
​
Volunteers held the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters. They included John Cornford.John Sommerfield and Bernard Knox.
​
The photos here show the part of the Faculty building today, the remains of trenches and some pocked walls.
​
​
The memorial to the Brigades erected by AABI, the Asociación de Amigos de las Brigadas Internacionales
