Blood on the Streets

Charles Alan Green

Description

This novel is the story of the early months of those cataclysmic events as seen through the eyes of some of the major contributors to the War, and also from a group of British athletes who just happened to find themselves thrust into the fighting and mayhem of those chaotic days of July, when the first stand against the Totalitarian Right Wing, under the guise of Fascism, was undertaken by the brave and gallant people of Spain. The War was to last from the summer of 1936 through to late spring of 1939 and over 500,000 people were to lose their lives in the fighting and repression that inevitably accompanies any Civil War, especially when a clash of ideological views are involved. The Spanish War was to be overshadowed almost as soon as it had finished, in April of 1939, by world events which happened later that year. It was though, a major conflict in its own right, which had a significant effect on later events. The blood, destruction and misery caused by the Civil War was to all intents and purposes...
“THE PAIN OF SPAIN”.

Sujets

• Historical
• Totalitarianism
• Spain
• Fascism
• Spain (groupe)
• Civil War
• Fiction

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse UK
• Date de parution: 16 mai 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823082716
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Blood on the Streets
Charles Alan Green


AuthorHouse™ UK
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403 USA
www.authorhouse.co.uk
Phone: UK TFN: 0800 0148641 (Toll Free inside the UK) UK Local: (02) 0369 56322 ([phone] from outside the UK)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Charles Alan Green. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse 05/16/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-8272-3 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-8271-6 (e)
 
 
 
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
 
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
 
Cover Image Credit: Agusti Centelles
Contents
Preface
 
Chapter 1The Elections
Chapter 2The Breakfast
Chapter 3The trials
Chapter 4The Plot
Chapter 5Promotion
Chapter 6The Trip
Chapter 7The Dragon
Chapter 8Barcelona
Chapter 9And so, it begins
Chapter 10The Germans
Chapter 11The Rebellion
Chapter 12The Uruguay
Chapter 13Tetuan
Chapter 14The Battle for Barcelona
Chapter 15The day after the day before
Chapter 16The Aviator
Chapter 17Bloody Shambles
Chapter 18Aid for Franco
Chapter 19Durruti
Chapter 20The General
Chapter 21The Radio Broadcast
Chapter 22The Final bullet
Chapter 23The Long Goodbye
Chapter 24The Mouth of Hell
Chapter 25The News is Always Bad
Chapter 26The Assault
Chapter 27Assistance from Hitler
Chapter 28The Airlift
Chapter 29The Montjuïc
Chapter 30Gunnery Training
Chapter 31Mola’s War
Chapter 32The Aragon Front
Chapter 33El Caudillo
Chapter 34Trench Raid
Chapter 35Onto Madrid
Chapter 36Fight for the Library
 
Epilogue
Historical Notes

“Anarquista”
The Agony & Tragedy of the Spanish Civil War.
 
 
Dedicated to the brave men and women of Spain, who fought and died for their beliefs.


Felicia Browne –: the first Briton to be killed in the Spanish Civil War.
Felicia Browne 1904–1936.
Photograph: Joe Humphrys/Oli Cowling/Tate Photography


MAP OF SPAIN SEPTEMBER 1936.
Nationalist Controlled Areas =
Republican Controlled Areas =


Publicity Poster for the Peoples Olympiad


Map of the University City in Madrid
Preface
If you are ever fortunate enough to be spending your time, for either work or on a vacation, in the glorious l country of Spain, relaxing on one of the many wondrous beaches that line the magnificent coast of this beautiful country. Or maybe sat sipping a glass of the local sangria in a quaint taberna, enjoying a dish of the native paella, or visiting one of the many historical and delightful cities she has to offer, or just simply appreciating the peace and quiet of the countryside. It’s worth remembering as you lie back on your sun lounger or take a stroll around one of the many quaint sedate plazas, that Spain wasn’t always such a peaceful and friendly country. In the mid-1930s a savage and brutal civil war broke out, which bathed the country in blood, hostility and hatred, as Spaniard fought Spaniard, and death stalked the street and became a common episode in the experience of the heroic people of Spain.
It is now well over eighty years since those epic, traumatic, and tragic events took place, that eventually and almost inevitably, led to the start of what was to become known as the Spanish Civil War. Most of the combatants and people who lived through this dreadful period of Spanish history have now passed on, and the war is fast passing into the pages of history, rather than living memory. The rebellion in 1936, instigated by the Spanish Armed Forces, and assisted by members of the political right wing, against the recently elected Left Wing Republican Government, ultimately led to the bloody and extended War, which came about when the Military Coup failed to obtain its original objectives in several key regions, and most of the major Spanish Cities.
The origins of the war lie way back in the countries colourful and eventful history. It had been firmly established in the nations psyche that political problems could be resolved by the use of force rather than by debate and diplomacy. The Civil War, which broke out on the back of this failed diplomacy, in July of 1936 was, although by far the most serious, the fourth such conflict since the 1830s. The events that led directly to this particular conflict went back to the early 1930s, when King Alfonso XIII abdicated, and the Second Republic, to the great delight of the masses, was joyfully proclaimed, on the 14 th April 1931.
The abdication of the King and the resulting Republic had followed nearly a decade or so of Military Dictatorship under the auspices of General Miguel Primo de Rivera. This had begun on the 23 rd September 1923 after he had led, with the King’s consent, a successful but bloodless coup. The period of Dictatorship under Primo de Rivera became regarded during the later years of the Republic as a sort of Golden Age by the Spanish middle classes and was looked back on with a certain amount of nostalgia and longing by the diverse reactionary forces on the right.
Despite this colourful if somewhat tainted reflection of his governorship, Primo de Rivera failed to construct a lasting political replacement for the decrepit constitutional monarchy. A genial eccentric, de Rivera governed by a form of personal improvisation, which ensured that he would solely shoulder all the responsibility for his regime’s blunders, misgivings and ills. He eventually resigned at the end January 1930 by which time he had managed to offend, in one way or another, virtually every section of Spanish society.
After the fall of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera, the King turned in desperation to yet another General, this time General Dámasco Berenguer whose mild form of dictatorship foundered in search of a formula for a return to some kind of Constitutional Monarchy. His regime also suffered, throughout its short tenure, from being constantly undermined by several republican plots. Berenguer and his government, under economical and political pressure from home and abroad, eventually was forced into holding municipal elections on the 12 th April 1931 in which the Republicans and Socialists swept the board in all the major towns and cities, whilst the Monarchists only won seats in several of the rural areas. These results meant that it was somehow inevitable that the King would have to abdicate before he was either forced to resign, or was over thrown, and once the King had gone the Second Republic was then proclaimed to the great acclaim of the people, with mass celebrations up and down the length and breadth of the country.
Within weeks of the new Republic being formed, however, it became obvious that the erstwhile supporters of the monarchy and right-wing fundamentalists, as well as the revolutionary elements within the Anarchists movement, for diverse reasons were not going to co-exist with the new regime. This meant that throughout the country there was anything but goodwill towards the new government, which led almost inevitably to a failed coup on the 10 th August 1932. This coup was organised and led by General Sanjurjo who, at the time, was head of the Spanish paramilitary styled Civil Guard. The rising was somewhat of an ad-hoc affair, being organised and instigated at the last minute, so when the left wing called a General Strike and organised resistance against the coup it inevitably collapsed. In the aftermath of the coup Sanjurjo was tried for treason, and was, at first, sentenced to death, which was later commuted to life imprisonment. He was finally released and sent off into exile, which he served in relative luxury in Portugal, on the beautiful Algarve Coast.
In the general elections that followed on from the events of November 1933 the Left was completely divided and failed to fight any form of co-ordinated campaign, the Anarchists in particular making it as difficult as possible for the socialists to fight a fully structured campaign against the Right. All of this bickering and infighting amongst the Left Wing political parties enabled the Right to gain the upper hand, and sweep into power with a determination to avenge the perceived injustices and indignities, which they believed had been forced upon them under the first republican government (Constituent Cortes). The workers and peasants, for their part, had also been driven to despair by the Cortes, because they considered that the reforms and legislation, which had been brought in were inadequate to sufficiently change their lot, plus they were far too slow in being passed into law. Therefore, a new government which was hell bent on destroying and reversing the meagre reforms, which they had gained was a recipe for disobedience.
That first major confrontation with the new regime duly arrived, when the Anarchists called for an uprising on the 8 th December 1933, however the government had been forewarned of this attempt, and a state of emergency was announced, which quickly stopped the uprising in its tracks. Discontent, strikes, occasional street fighting and demonstrations, howe