Keeping the British Liberal Party flag flying high

[pipisme]

I will now return to events in Spain. At their meeting in the Convento de San Esteban in Salamanca on 21 March, the hierachy of the Catholic Church in Spain decided by a large majority to continue to support the nationalists. According to information from a very well informed source which was published in newspapers in the government controlled areas of Spain, the discussions were prolonged and heated. According to this source, the majority in favour of supporting the nationalists was around three-quarters.

After the meeting, Vidal y Barraquer, Archbishop of Tarragona and the leader of the minority faction of the hierachy, said that he repudiated his colleagues' decision. It was more than a mistake, it was a tragedy for Spain and the Catholic Church in Spain. A decision by the hierachy to stop supporting the nationalists would most likely bring the civil war to a speedy end. The decision was also against the desire of the Pope as expressed in his radio broadcast the previous Sunday.

 

[Van555]

Lets hope this madness comes to an end.

 

[Archangel]

Lets hope this madness comes to an end.

I too hope so. The Spanish civil war was a very bloody event.

 

[pipisme]

On 21 March 1939, Cardinal Isidro Goma, archbishop of Toledo, and like minded colleagues in the Catholic hierarchy, issued a statement in defence of their decision to continue to support the nationalists. It opened by recalling the martyred priests and religious killed by the republicans, mostly in the first few months of the civil war, and the destruction of catholic churches. The nationalists were the true defenders of the Catholic Church, of Spain as a Catholic country, traditional civilization and the fatherland. Though there were Catholics in the Madrid government [their term for the Spanish government] they were crypto liberals or marxists, or had been deceived by the enemies of the Church. Christ was on the side of the national cause [the nationalists] against marxists, anarchists, liberals, Jews, Free Masons, and all enemies of the Catholic Church. It ended with the words "Viva Espana! Viva Espana Catolica!

 

[pipisme]

On Thursday 23 March 1939 thousands of leaflets, with the imprint of Catholics For Peace, appeared on the streets of Burgos, Salamanca, Avila and Vallodolid in nationalist controlled Spain. They accused the majority of the Catholic hierarchy of being mouthpieces for Franco and the nationalists, and condemned them for "waving the bloody cassock". They called for an immediate end to the civil war.

 

[pipisme]

There was extensive and favourable coverage in the media in the government controlled areas of Spain of the leaflets by Catholics For Peace. The nationalists condemned them as the work of defeatists and traitors who were too cowardly to give their names.

In the evening of 23 March a university student of chemistry by the name of Enrique Miret Magdalena spoke on Radio Madrid. He said that he was a member of the Catholic youth organisation. In 1936 he had sympathised with the nationalist uprising. He had gone into hiding and sheltered in various refuges in Madrid until March 1937 when he was accepted at the Paraguayan embassy. He stayed there until the end of November 1938 when, with the formation of the government of national unity, he and other refugees in the foreign embassies in Madrid who had pledged their loyalty to the government, left their hiding places.

He described the privations in the Paraguayan embassy, the overcrowding, th lack of heating and the scarcity of food. A devout Catholic, he was shocked when he saw that the majority of his fellow refugees in the embassy didn't care in the slightest about the church or Catholicism. He said "In the embassy I came to see that the clergy had practised a great deception on us by asserting that to be Catholic meant to be conservative, and anti-Catholic to be on the left." The people around him "were concerned with only one thing: revenge. Their fantasies revolved about what they would do when they got out of this situation: 'kill, kill, kill -all the workers, all the republicans, all the reds.' Everything that smacked of social progress was automatically condemned. There was no solidarity whatsoever, even amongst people whose lives were in danger. Each thought only of saving himself and displayed not the slightest concern for his neighbour." [1]

He said that he agreed with the Catholics For Peace leaflets with his whole heart. The people who were responsible for them had his greatest respect, though he did not know who they were. The Catholic Church must be true to the values of the Gospel by advocating peace and social justice.

[1] Enrique Miret Magdalena was a Catholic chemistry student in OTL. Information about him is taken from the book Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War by Ronald Fraser, London: Pimlico 1994. Also his description of the attitudes of his fellow refugees in the Paraguayan embassy and the quoted passages.

 

[pipisme]

After Spanish government forces had captured Bilbao on 18 March 1939, their next objective was the city of Vitoria. [1] This was captured on 24 March by government troops advancing from the north and east. By 29 March all of Pais Vasco [the Basque Country] had been liberated. [1]

In Madrid on Saturday 25 March a press conference was given by four young men and one young woman, who identified themselves as the authors of the Catholics For Peace leaflets. The group included Joaquin Ruiz Gimenez, Miguel Delibes and Carmen Martin Gaite. They said that the majority of the Catholic hierarchy, in its support for the nationalists, did not speak in their name. It was now time for reconciliation between the two opposing sides in the civil war - the nationalists and the government.

[1] Here is a map of the Basque Country: http://spanish-fiestas.com/basque-country. The enclave in orange on the map was also liberated.

 

[pipisme]

On Sunday 26 March 1939, Father Jose Fernandez, a parish priest in Valladolid in nationalist controlled Spain, preached a sermon advocating peace. He said that in July 1936 he had supported the nationalist uprising and did what he could to help the military, but because of the killings by the nationalist regime he could no longer support it. Because the government in Madrid was not anti-religion there was no justification for Catholics to support the nationalists for religious reasons. He urged the armed forces on both sides to stop fighting. [1]

Father Jose Fernandez was a priest in Valladolid in OTL. See the book Blood of Spain: An Oral History of the Spanish Civil War by Ronald Fraser.

 

[Archangel]

Over time, the Catholic hierarchy will have to be progressively replaced for more moderate elements, by the Vatican.
Keep it up, pip!

 

[pipisme]

After Spanish government forces had liberated Merida in Extremadura on 15 March 1939, their next objective was Badajoz, close to the border with Portugal. [1] Their advance from Merida was slow, being bitterly contested by the nationalists. Badajoz was liberated on 28 March. Now nationalist controlled areas in southern Extremadura and Andalusia were separated from those further north.

[1] Here is a map of Extremadura: http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/extremadura/map.htm.

 

[Archangel]

After Spanish government forces had liberated Merida in Extramadura on 15 March 1939, their next objective was Badajoz, close to the border with Portugal. [1] Their advance from Merida was slow, being bitterly contested by the nationalists. Badajoz was liberated on 28 March. Now nationalist controlled areas in southern Extramadura and Andalusia were separated from those further north.

[1] Here is a map of Extramadura: http://www.spanish-fiestas.com/extremadura/map.htm.

I have one minor correction to suggest: it should be Extremadura.

Keep it up, pip!

 

[pipisme]

I have one minor correction to suggest: it should be Extremadura.

Keep it up, pip!

I have now corrected it.

In a broadcast on Radio Madrid on Wednesday 29 March, starting at 6 pm, Salvador de Madriaga, the Prime Minister of Spain, made the following offer:

On behalf of the government and armed forces of the Spanish republic, we offer to our opponents a total ceasefire on all fronts, on land, sea and air, of all armed conflict from midnight on Saturday 1 April/Sunday 2 April for two weeks until midnight on Saturday 15 April/Sunday 16 April. We sincerely hope that the government in Burgos [the nationalists] will accept our offer, made in good faith, of a cessation of hostilities during these most sacred two weeks of the Christian year.

2 April was Palm Sunday and 9 April was Easter Sunday.

The Prime Minister's offer of a ceasefire had the military advantage of giving government troops two weeks of rest and recuperation. But it also had tremendous propaganda value for the Spanish government. A nationalist rejection of the ceasefire offer would be greatly damaging to them in the propaganda war.

The decision was now with Franco, his cabinet and the commanders of the nationalist armed forces, to accept or reject the ceasefire offer.

 

[pipisme]

Pope Gregory VII appealed for a two week ceasefire in Holy Week and Easter Week.

On 30 March 1930, General Franco and his cabinet met in Burgos, the nationalist seat of government, to discuss the Spanish government's offer of a two week ceasefire. Serrano Suner, the minister of foreign affairs and Franco's brother-in-law, and General Fidel Davila, the minister of national defence, pressed strongly for accepting the ceasefire offer. They argued that not to so would fall into a propoganda trap set by their opponents, and it would provide a respite for their troops. General Franco accepted their arguments and his cabinet followed him in agreeing to the ceasefire.

In the evening of the same day Franco broadcast his decision on nationalist radio.

However General Gonzalo Quiepo de Llano, in his fiefdom of Andalucia which was now separated from the rest of nationalist controlled Spain, refused to accept Franco's decision on the ceasefire. In a rant on Seville radio he called upon the people of Spain to overthrow the regime of marxists, liberals and separatists in Madrid. He was a Freemason.

 

[Archangel]

Pope Gregory VII appealed for a two week ceasefire in Holy Week and Easter Week.

On 30 March 1930, General Franco and his cabinet met in Burgos, the nationalist seat of government, to discuss the Spanish government's offer of a two week ceasefire. Serrano Suner, the minister of foreign affairs and Franco's brother-in-law, and General Fidel Davila, the minister of national defence, pressed strongly for accepting the ceasefire offer. They argued that not to so would fall into a propoganda trap set by their opponents, and it would provide a respite for their troops. General Franco accepted their arguments and his cabinet followed him in agreeing to the ceasefire.

In the evening of the same day Franco broadcast his decision on nationalist radio.

However General Gonzalo Quiepo de Llano, in his fiefdom of Andalucia which was now separated from the rest of nationalist controlled Spain, refused to accept Franco's decision on the ceasefire. In a rant on Seville radio he called upon the people of Spain to overthrow the regime of marxists, liberals and separatists in Madrid. He was a Freemason.

I think Quiepo just shot himself in the foot. He may be the first to fall, since his support will plummet faster than Franco's.

Keep it up, pip!

 

[stevep]

I think Quiepo just shot himself in the foot. He may be the first to fall, since his support will plummet faster than Franco's.

Keep it up, pip!

Archangel

I fully agree. Think the mess will be over shortly, although there could be further problems after wards.

Steve

 

[Julius Vogel]

Pope Gregory VII appealed for a two week ceasefire in Holy Week and Easter Week.

On 30 March 1930, General Franco and his cabinet met in Burgos, the nationalist seat of government, to discuss the Spanish government's offer of a two week ceasefire. Serrano Suner, the minister of foreign affairs and Franco's brother-in-law, and General Fidel Davila, the minister of national defence, pressed strongly for accepting the ceasefire offer. They argued that not to so would fall into a propoganda trap set by their opponents, and it would provide a respite for their troops. General Franco accepted their arguments and his cabinet followed him in agreeing to the ceasefire.

In the evening of the same day Franco broadcast his decision on nationalist radio.

However General Gonzalo Quiepo de Llano, in his fiefdom of Andalucia which was now separated from the rest of nationalist controlled Spain, refused to accept Franco's decision on the ceasefire. In a rant on Seville radio he called upon the people of Spain to overthrow the regime of marxists, liberals and separatists in Madrid. He was a Freemason.

Those Freemasons!

 

[pipisme]

General Gonzalo Queipo de Llano, the ruler of Andalusia, was violent and unpredictable. He had ruthlessly suppressed resistance in largely working class Seville. In a decree of 23 July 1936 he included passive resistance as a serious offence.

There was a strong anarchist tradition in Andalusia with its many large estates, latifundia, often owned by absentee landlords. The workers on these estates were hired by the landowner's agent at dawn and paid a low wage. The conditions of the landless labourers in the south of Spain had worsened in the hundred years since the disentailment of the church's lands in 1837, [that is the conversion of its property into private property]. The many small alleviations available in the old inefficient 'feudal' system had vanished with modern capitalist farming. Thus peasants and landless labourers responded to the appeal of anarchism, and by 1920 most agricultural workers in Andalusia were either entirely, or partially, anarchist. [1]

Salvador de Madariaga, the Spanish Prime Minister, said that he deeply regretted Quiepo de Llano's rejection of a ceasefire, but that government troops on the Andalusian Front would assume a defensive posture.

The first major town south of Badajoz is Huelva on the Gulf of Cadiz. The distance between the two towns is 111 miles or 178.6 kilometres. Here is a map of southern Extremadura and western Andalusia: http://calculate-distance.com/Huelva,Spain/Badajoz,Spain. By midnight on Saturday 1 April/Sunday 2 April 1939 government forces had reached a line just south of Olivenza to just south of Almendralejo, then generally east from there. They were still in Extremadura.

Cardinal Pedro Segura y Saenz, the Archbishop of Seville combined intelligence with obstinancy. He was a scholar who had three doctorates. Though an ultra traditionalist, he hated fascism and refused to have the names of dead falangists put on the wall of Seville cathedral, "and [held] himself aloof from the collective madness of war propaganda." [2]

On 30 March he issued a statement welcoming the two week ceasefire and calling upon members of the armed forces in his diocese to observe it.

[1] The information in the first two paragraphs is taken from the book The Spanish Civil War by Hugh Thomas, London: Penguin, fourth edition 2003.

[2] Information and quotation in this paragraph is taken from Thomas.

 

[pipisme]

Civil war in Germany .

The Oder and Neisse rivers formed the boundary between free Germany and Nazi Germany. In Konigsberg, Goering, the head of the Nazi regime; Runstedt the commander-in-chief of the armed forces; and Manstein, commander in chief of the army, decided to launch a massive attack on Berlin from across the Oder. The distance from Frankfurt on Oder to Berlin is only 50 miles or 80.47 kilometers.

At dawn on Tuesday 21 March 1939 the Nazi army crossed the Oder, supported by air cover. The free German army was taken by surprise and Frankfurt on Oder was taken on the same day. The Nazi army advanced rapidly on Berlin from the north-east, east and south-east. They were welcomed by many people, according to Nazi propaganda a large majority of the population. By nightfall on 24 March the Nazis had advanced to a line just past Eberswalde-Strausberg-Furstenwalde-Beeskow. Here is a map of the area: http://www.mapsofworld.com/germany/states/brandenburg.

Starting on 21 March, Nazi planes bombed residential areas of Berlin, day and night. They avoided the city centre with its historic buildings.

 

[pipisme]

German civil war

Of course the commanders on both sides took lessons from the Spanish civil war. The Nazi advance on Berlin had parallels with the nationalist advance on Madrid in September and October 1936. But that advance was diverted by Franco's decision to relieve the fortress of the Alcazar in Toledo for reasons of prestige and propaganda. Perhaps if they had advanced directly to Madrid they would have captured it and won the war.

On 24 March 1939 Major-General Hans Oster authorised the establishment of a people's militia to defend Berlin together with the regular army.

Under the leadership of Colonel-General Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein-Equord, the commander-in-chief of the army, the free German troops greatly reduced the speed of the Nazi advance. However by the evening of 1 April they had reached the line Klosterfelde-Zepernik-KonigsWusterhausen. See this map: http://www.mapsofworld.com/germany/states/brandenburg.

In rants broadcast by Nazi radio stations Goering, Heydrich and other leading Nazis said that Beck, Goederler and other members of the "criminal gang of traitors in Berlin" would all be executed as traitors to the German people, when the Nazi army captured Berlin.

 

[pipisme]

The plan of Manstein, the Nazi army commander-in-chief, was to advance to the centre of Berlin from the north-east. That is through the district of Pankow. See this map: http://www.maplord.com/berlin/districts. To view Pankow you need to pan up.

Pankow was a mixed middle class/working class district. In the election to the Reichstag on 6 November 1932 the National Socialists polled 29.8% of the vote in that district. For all of Berlin their vote was 26.0% in that election. [1]

In the early morning of Sunday 2 April there was a Nazi feint offensive in the south-east from Konigswusterhausen. See this map: http://www.mapsofworld.com/germany/states/brandenburg. But the main offensive was south-west from Zepernick. Pan north and then east on the Berlin districts map.

The Nazi offensive in the south-east was held by free German troops, but in the north-east Nazi troops had advanced to Karow by the end of that day.

[1] Information taken from the book Who Voted for Hitler?, by Richard F. Hamilton, Princeton University Press, 1982.