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Digital History Seminar: 20th Century Spain

Walter Warlimont

Photo of Walter Warilmont. Between August and November 1936, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Warlimont served as the Reich War Minister Wehrmacht Plenipotentiary Delegate to the government of Spanish General Francisco Franco in Spain. Reich War Minister Werner von Blomberg directed Warlimont to coordinate German aid in support of Franco's battle against the Spanish government forces.

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Contents of this tag:
2. Tragedy of Civil War (1937)
3. Asistencia social: pro inválidos
4. Ajut als mutilats de guerra
5. Bombardement Guernica - Cinémathèque de Bretagne
6. Messerschmitt BF 109B1
7. Madge Addy March 2nd, 1939 Letters In another one of her letters from March 1939 she would describe their need for certain donations from the Spanish Medical Aid Committee. In one she specifically talks about how they had received 600 men that were wounded and most needed clothing. Because of the supplies sent by the Committee they were not in such a dire need for supplies that they would have been in previously had they not received the supplies. In another section of her letter from March 2nd, 1939 she describes a surgery for a man who was suffering from hemorrhages in his stomach. The doctor had to perform a three hour long surgery due to the fact that this was one of the first times that the doctor had attempted this kind of surgery and lack of better materials. The only had three needles available for the operation. The problem occured when three quarters of the way through the surgery the spinal anesthetic wore off because it was “rotten.” The result of this was that the doctor had to finish the surgery while he was awake. Later on she mentions that she hopes he will recover and that the odd tins of milk and soups they received would help his exhaustion and shock sustained after the surgery. Addy speaks very fondly of those that she was able to help during her time in Spain. She feels better knowing that the people whose lives she impacted will never forget their English nurse.
9. Obrero! Trabaja Y Venceremos
10. Repatriation of Basque Children
11. ¡MUJER...! Tu felicidad conyugal está en tus manos.
12. Bombing of Ares del Maestrat
13. Bolchevismo, injusticia social, politicastros, masones, separatismo, F.A.I.
15. Que Tu Familia No Viva el Drama de la Guerra: Evacuar Madrid es Ayudar a la Victoria Final
16. Revista Vientos del Pozo: número extraordinario homenaje al Padre Llanos
18. Ruins of Belchite The ruins of the town of Belchite mark the location of a brutal battle in which Nationalist forces were defeated by the Republic in 1937. Franco declared the site to be memorialized, while also allowing a new Belchite to be built by Republican prisoner labor. Allowing the town to stand in ruins as a memorial where his forces had been defeated could have been a tactic to compare a Republican victory with scenes of destruction and loss.
21. Letter from Juan F. de Cardenas
22. Repatriation Committee pt 1
25. Guernica The bombing of Guernica (26 April 1937) was an aerial bombing of the Basque town of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War. It was carried out, at the behest of Francisco Franco's nationalist government, by its allies, the Nazi German Luftwaffe's Condor Legion and the Fascist Italian Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen. The town was being used as a communications center behind the frontline. The operation opened the way to Franco's capture of Bilbao and his victory in northern Spain.
26. Congreso nacional de la solidaridad, 1938- Ana Pauker
27. Monument in Tortosa
29. Wolfram Freiherr von Richthofen
30. Pro-conferencia nacional de la dona jove
32. Battle of Santander
33. Homecoming of the Legion Condor
34. Women! Keep War From Britain: Support Spanish Democrats
36. El Generalisimo Francisco Franco Todavía esta Muerto
37. Pro monumento Pablo Iglesias
38. Battle of Badajoz
39. One Hundred Years of Solitude
40. February 1939 - Spain - Barcelona - Associated Press of Great Britain Ltd
41. Hermann Göring
43. Spanish Republican News
45. C.N.T. Comité Nacional A.I.T., Oficina de Información y Propaganda
46. Madrid Food Line
48. Felicia Browne's Anti-Fascism poster for Italy.
50. Battle of Brunete
51. Bombing of Benassai
53. Episode 16- Food Scarcity and Women's Daily Lives in the Early Franco Years Audio Podcast by Historias on SoundCloud discussing the Franco Dictatorship. Immediately following the Spanish Civil War, Spain faced a terrible food crisis. Suzanne Dunai examines how the policies of the early Franco dictatorship brought on this crisis and how ordinary Spaniards, particularly women, dealt with it on a day-to-day basis. From ration cards to bartering, from canning to buying on the black market, Spanish women showed a remarkable resilience as they sought to feed their families in this time of devastating scarcity.
55. Battle of Jarama The Battle of Jarama (February 6–27, 1937) was an attempt by General Francisco Franco's Nationalists to dislodge the Republican lines along the river Jarama, just east of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War. Elite Spanish Legionnaires and Moroccan Regulares from the Army of Africa forced back the Republican Army of the Centre, including the International Brigades, but after days of fierce fighting no breakthrough was achieved. Republican counterattacks along the captured ground likewise failed, resulting in heavy casualties to both sides.
58. Hugo Sperrle
59. Arroyo del Abroñigal
60. Madge Addy March 14th, 1939 Page 1 On March 14th, 1939 Addy talks about how she almost had to leave due to an order from England to return. Addy describes how depressed the idea of leaving would have made her. She had worked very hard and would have felt terrible to leave at that time. She had to pack her things and gave most of what she could away to those who still needed it. Fortunately she was able to stay and explain through rare telecommunication that she would feel much better in Ucles. Her duty to the hospital and to Ucles kept her from wanting to be anywhere else. Many people were overjoyed that she could remain with them. At the end of the letter she describes how Juan, the man who had to undergo the horrible surgery mentioned previously, was doing much better.
61. Evacuación
62. Albocàsser
63. Battle of Madrid The Siege of Madrid was a two and a half year siege of the Spanish capital city of Madrid, during the Spanish Civil War of 1936 to 1939. The city, besieged from October 1936, eventually fell to the Francoist armies on 28 March 1939. Madrid was held by various forces loyal to the Spanish Republic and was besieged and subject to aerial bombardment by the rebel faction under General Francisco Franco. The Battle of Madrid in November 1936 saw the most intense fighting in and around the city when the Nationalists made their most determined attempt to take the Republican capital.
64. Bombing of La Garriga
65. Troops loading aircraft for Spain
67. Walter Warlimont Photo of Walter Warilmont. Between August and November 1936, following the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, Warlimont served as the Reich War Minister Wehrmacht Plenipotentiary Delegate to the government of Spanish General Francisco Franco in Spain. Reich War Minister Werner von Blomberg directed Warlimont to coordinate German aid in support of Franco's battle against the Spanish government forces.
68. Hermann Goering
69. Federació de Cooperatives de Producció Treball de Catalunya
71. Frederica Montseny speaking at CNT in 1977
73. Evelyn Hutchins leaning against her truck.
74. Battle of Teruel
76. Memorial in Rues
78. Ruins of Belchite
79. The Ultraleftist / El Izquierdista
80. Hacia El Ejercito Popular
83. Franco Statue Removal
84. Evacuad Madrid
85. Women, Work for Comrades!
86. Battle of Bilbao Bilbao was the capital of the autonomous Basque area established by the Republic after the war began. The Battle of Bilbao was part of the War in the North, during the Spanish Civil War where the Nationalist Army captured the city of Bilbao and the remaining parts of the Basque Country still held by the Republic. By 11 June 1937 the Basque forces had fallen back to the city of Bilbao, which was defended by a series of rushed fortifications called the "Bilbao's Iron Ring." The Iron Ring was poorly designed for defense.
87. Children's Drawing of Bombing
88. Bombing of Barcelona
89. Monument in Gandesa
91. Felicia Browne holding a child
94. January 1937 - Spain - Madrid - Associated Press of Great Britain Ltd.
95. Francisco Franco's Funeral
96. Mujeres Antifacistas Espanioles
99. Book Jacket created by Felicia Browne for Anatole France's "The Revolt of the Angels."
100. Madge Addy Featured in the Daily Worker
102. ¡Esto es el fascismo! miseria... destrucción... persecución... y muerte
106. Battle of Ebro The Battle of the Ebro (Spanish: Batalla del Ebro, Catalan: Batalla de l'Ebre) was the longest and largest battle of the Spanish Civil War. It took place between July and November 1938, with fighting mainly concentrated in two areas on the lower course of the Ebro River, the Terra Alta comarca of Catalonia, and the Auts area close to Fayón (Faió) in the lower Matarranya, Eastern Lower Aragon. These sparsely populated areas saw the largest array of armies in the war. The results of the battle were disastrous for the Second Spanish Republic, with tens of thousands of dead and wounded and little effect on the advance of the Nationalists.
107. María Pilar Landa
108. Bombing of Durango The Bombing of Durango took place on 31 March 1937, during the Spanish Civil War. On 31 March 1937 the Nationalists started their offensive against the Republican held province of Biscay. As part of the offensive the Aviazione Legionaria and the Legion Condor bombed Durango, a town of 10,000 inhabitants that was also a key road and railway junction behind the frontline. Around 250 people are believed to have died in the bombing.
109. Experimento Stuka- Trailer Oficial
111. Repatriation of Basque Children
112. Sketch of Men's faces from 1936.
113. Monument in Portbou
114. Madge Addy March 14th, 1939 Page 2 These are the last paragraphs of Addy’s letter from March 14th, 1939. She talks again about how she hopes the people she has helped will never forget their English nurse. When thinking about her time in Spain she feels she has accomplished so much and saved many lives. She has made her doctor’s actions effective with her hard work. Even the villagers who she describes as a bad lot now respect her and talk to her sometimes.
117. Bombing of Jaén
119. Photo of Four People in Front of Supplies or Medical Van Including Felicia Browne
120. Vilar de Canes
121. Franco (1930-1939)
122. Poema 17
123. The Habana arrives at Southampton
124. Letter from Felicia Browne
125. Heart of Humanity Camp
128. The Republican Left Thank the Russian People for Help (1937)
131. Monument in Girona
132. North Stoneham Camp
134. Traces of the bombing of Durango
138. Criminales!
139. In England Still
141. Monument in Banyoles
143. Monument in Vegueria de Girona
144. Repatriation Committee pt 1
145. Monument in Valls This monument was commissioned to pay tribute to those nationalists who had given their lives during the war. As with the monument in Cambrils, it was announced as a holiday event. Balconies were to be adorned with the national flag with black ribbons tied to them and service members were to be in uniform. Such shows of force served the double role of projecting unity among the victors and reminding Loyalists of the new status quo.
146. Political Prisors Freed After Amnesty
152. Monument in Viladecans
153. Franco Equestrian Statue
154. Monument in Cambrils
155. Basque Children pt 1
156. Monument in Tarragona
157. Help the Children of Spain
159. Spanish Civil War - 1936 (1936)
162. La marina de guerra inglesa y francesa protegen la evacuación de la población no combatiente.
166. Basque Children pt 2
167. Monument at Prat de Comte This is yet another monument commemorating the losses and actions of the 4th Division of Navarra. The division had been instrumental in the fighting leading up to the Battle of the Ebro, in which they suffered heavy casualties while fighting for the Nationalist army. The amount of monuments to this unit paints them as heroes to the cause, while also ignoring the losses of those they fought against.
168. Siege of the Alcázar The Siege of the Alcázar was a highly symbolic Nationalist victory in Toledo in the opening stages of the Spanish Civil War. The Alcázar of Toledo was held by a variety of military forces in favor of the Nationalist uprising. Militias of the parties in the Popular Front began their siege on July 21, 1936. The siege ended on September 27 with the arrival of the Army of Africa under Francisco Franco.
169. Carteles Murales
170. Aid for Spain
171. Speakers' notes. No. 29 : International Women's Day, March 8
175. Monument in Fatarella
176. January 1940 - England - Middlesex
178. North Stoneham Camp in Eastleigh
179. Ochandiano
183. Spanish Republican News
184. Repatriation Committee pt 2
185. Monument in Terrassa This monument was erected to mark the five year anniversary since the take over of the town of Terrassa by the Nationalists. Like many others, it is in memory to those who died for that cause. However, this monument also feature two soldiers. One of them is a common soldier as would have been present in Franco's army. The other is a knight from the era in which Spain was involved in the Reconquista. The intent of the monument is to equate the two types of warrior while also equating the Spanish Civil War as a "holy" conflict against a corrupting force, as was the case among crusading knights some centuries earlier when they fought the Moors.
186. Hogar Español newsletter, 1944
187. Fighting Our Battle This is a news article that was written by a Spanish author in 1938. Throughout this article it is talking about how the Spanish people had been fighting for their own freedoms for the last few years. Not only did it talk about the Spanish people fighting for their freedoms it also talked about how they were receiving no support from the allies. However, Franko's rebellion was receiving support from Germany and Italy to aid overthrow the democracy government of the Spanish people.
192. Por la conquista de Euskadi y sus riquezas, el invasor siembra el terror haciendo qur sus pacíficos habitants abandonen sus hogares.
193. Sisters of Mercy Arrive to Help Feed Hungry Residents of Madrid
194. Repatriation Committee pt 3
196. The Pyrenees Mountain Range in France The Pyrenees (Les Pyrénées) is one of the seven great mountain ranges of France. They mark the division between France and Spain and stretch from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean coasts in the south of France, with tiny Andorra lying in the middle of the mountains. The range is 430 km (270 miles) long with its widest point of 129 km (80 miles). The highest point is Aneto Peak at 3,404 meters (11,169 ft) in the Maladeta (‘Accursed’) central Pyrenees massif, while there are many other peaks over 3,000 meters (8,842 ft).
198. Kion vi feras por eviti tion? Geesperantistoj el la tuta mondo agu energie kontrau la internacia fasismo!
199. Escaping to France
202. Children's Drawing, Spanish Civil War
203. Fascist Salute
204. Monument in Arenys de Mar
205. Repatriation Committee pt 4
206. ITALIAN INVASION OF ETHIOPIA 1935

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Staff of the Legion
Sperrle joined the German army in 1903 and flew combat aircraft in World War I. In 1936–37 Sperrle led the Condor Legion, the German air force unit that fought on the side of the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. There his forces were responsible for the bombing of Guernica and other Spanish towns. At the outbreak of the World War II, he led the German Luftflotte 3 (Air Fleet 3). This unit saw no action during the Poland campaign, but was committed from May onwards in France, playing an important role as tactical bombing support unit. In July 1940, he was made a Generalfeldmarschall of the Luftwaffe during the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony. Air Fleet 3, stationed in northern France, played a major role in the Battle of Britain from June 1940 to October 1940, and the Blitz, to May 1941. He stayed with his units in France for the next three years, living in luxury at the Luxembourg Palace. His major part in the war, however, was over. Sperrle was captured by the Allies and charged with war crimes in the High Command Trial at the Subsequent Nuremberg Trials but was acquitted. After the war, he lived quietly and died in Munich in 1953 [1].

In the autumn of 1937, Generalmajor Hellmuth Volkmann participated in the Spanish Campaign as Commander of the Condor Legion. Volkmann took over from Hugo Sperrle. Volkmann was not particularly popular, constantly pressing for the Legion's withdrawal. Volkmann's command lasted about a year and returned to Germany in December 1938. For his action, he receives the medal of the campaign of Spain and the Spanish Cross in gold with swords and brilliant. He returned to the regular army but was killed in a car accident on 21 August 1940 while leading an Infantry Division in France [2].

Wolfram Freiherr Von Richthofen joined the German Army in 1913 and served on both the Western and Eastern Fronts during the First World War. In March of 1918, Richthofen, who was a cousin of Germany's leading flying ace "The Red Baron" Manfred von Richthofen, qualified as a pilot with the German Army Air Service. At the end of the war, he studied engineering before rejoining the German Army in 1927. When the Luftwaffe was formed in 1933, Richthofen joined and immediately became one of its chief technical assistants. During the Spanish Civil War, he served with the Condor Legion and by May of 1938, became its commander, where he developed tactics of close air support for ground units. After the outbreak of World War II, Richthofen would command air units in Poland, Belgium, and France. During the Battle of Britain, his 8th Air Corps had the mission of winning air superiority over the Royal Air Force. Richthofen was surprised that the elite British planes could outmatch German aircraft during the battle. His air corps would also provide air cover for German troops in Greece, Crete, and the Soviet Union. As Commander of the Fourth Air Fleet on the Russian Front, on October 17, 1943, Richthofen became Germany's second youngest Field Marshal. From June 1943 to November 1944, he commanded the Second Air Fleet in Italy. He would develop a brain tumor in mid 1944, which would cause his retirement from active duty. As the war was coming to a close, he was arrested and on July 12, 1945, passed away while in American captivity in Austria [3].

Werner Mölders volunteered for service in the Legion Condor and arrived by sea in Cadiz on 14 April 1938. He was assigned to the 3. Staffel (3rd squadron) of Jagdgruppe 88 (J/88) commanded by Oberleutnant Adolf Galland. The unit, stationed at the Valencia–Ebro front, was equipped with the Heinkel He 51, but later switched to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-2. Mölders assumed command of the squadron on 24 May 1938, when Galland returned to Germany. Mölders became the leading ace of the Condor Legion, claiming 14 aircraft in Spain. In recognition of his exceptional performance as a commander and fighter pilot, Mölders was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) on 18 October 1938, effective as of 1 October 1938. He claimed his 14th and final confirmed aerial victory of the conflict by downing a Polikarpov I-16 "Rata" near Mola on 3 November 1938. With the start of World War II, he took part in the "Phoney War", Battle of France, and the Battle of Britain. With his tally standing at 68 victories, Mölders and his unit, the Jagdgeschwader 51 (JG 51), were transferred to the Eastern Front in June 1941 for the opening of Operation Barbarossa, achieving 101 victories by mid-July 1941. Prevented from flying further combat missions for propaganda reasons, at the age of 28 Mölders was appointed Inspector of Fighters. He was inspecting the Luftwaffe units in the Crimea when he was ordered to Berlin to attend the state funeral of Ernst Udet, a Luftwaffe general and World War I flying ace. On the flight to Berlin, the aircraft in which he was traveling as a passenger attempted an emergency landing due to an engine failure. It crashed at Breslau, killing Mölders and two others [4].

Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a German political and military leader as well as one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party that ruled Germany from 1933 to 1945. A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace, he was a recipient of the Pour le Mérite ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (Jasta 1), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as Minister Without Portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo, which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Following the establishment of the Nazi state, Göring amassed power and political capital to become the second most powerful man in Germany. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. Upon being named Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan in 1936, Göring was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sectors of the economy for war, an assignment which brought numerous government agencies under his control and helped him become one of the wealthiest men in the country. In September 1939 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices. After the Fall of France in 1940, he was bestowed the specially created rank of Reichsmarschall, which gave him seniority over all officers in Germany's armed forces. After the war, Göring was convicted of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before the sentence was to be carried out [5].

Walter Warlimont Lieutenant-Colonel of the Wehrmacht, he was sent to Spain to liaise between the Reich War Ministry and the nationalist authorities, and also as head of the German volunteers deployed in Spain. He emphasized in his reports the initial superiority of the Republican camp in planes and tanks, and stressed the need to strengthen Franco in these areas by sending an expeditionary force. On his return from Spain, Walter Warlimont continued his career in the Wehrmacht and the OKW. He was wounded in the attack of July 20, 1944. Judged after the defeat and sentenced to life, his sentence was commuted in 18 years of imprisonment. Released in 1957, he published his memoirs in 1964 [6].