Hell and Good Company/ Richard Rhodes; Land and Freedom
One of the things I enjoy most about the Rust is the access to the knowledge of my colleagues and friends there. I have enjoyed researching into the Spanish Civil War. I asked our historian on warfare Henry Elkins for a more anecdotal historical account than the heavyweight Hugh Thomas, Paul Preston and Antony Beevor works, worthy tomes as they are. He recommended a more recent one Hell and Good Company by an American writer Richard Rhodes. It proved an excellent recommendation. Though chronological, it covers all manner of themes and characters. Huge advances were made in treating the wounded and wounds with blood transfusion, casts for fractures, and the triage system of grading injuries. Mobile hospitals were created with imagination and efficiency and the dedication of nurses like Patricia Danton rivalled that of Florence Nightingale. He is also fascinating on artists Picasso and Miro and the symbolism of their anti-Franco paintings notably Guernica. All the great literary characters who were there, Hemingway his lover Martha Gellhorn, Dos Passos and George Orwell are all well depicted.
I had no idea of the number of civilian deaths chiefly attributable to the German Condor strike force whose aircraft could fly low and strafe men, women and children as there was no anti-aircraft flak to counter them. He is on the Republic side rejecting the revisionist argument that atrocities were equally allocatable between both sides during 1936-39. It’s true in the first year, 1936, the Republicans killed some 5,000 priests and nuns but after that, and particularly when the Soviet withdrew its support and France and UK never offered any to the Republicans,the war was going to be determined one way so the Republicans now hopelessly divided and short of materiel could not inflict that much atrocity. Conversely a example of the barbarity of Franco’s forces is reflected by his Moroccan forces displaying genitals on their bayonets. It was a vicious war with some 400,000 military casualties and 100,000 civilian ones.
When I asked Neil Rosen for a film recommendation he sent me the dvd of the Ken Loach film Land and Freedom. This begins with the death of a Liverpool man. His granddaughter goes to his attic and discovers press cuttings and other personal memorabilia following his decision to fight as a communist in the Spanish Civil War for the POUM the most hard line of the Republian forces. He makes his way to the Aragon front where 20,000 men and women, the mainstream Repubilcan force, the International Brigade and the POUM held the line. The POUM had no rank, every decision was voted on, no uniform, the same salary, woman fought alongside men but it did not take long for tensions with the other forces to manifest. The POUM frequently complained of poor arms but the point was made British and French would not supply these to hard line communists. It’s a deeply moving film but not seeped in ideological debate as there are some combat sequences that equal any conventional war film and a love story at the heart of it. That the Republic fragmented and, divided, turned their guns on each other was an important reason for the Nationalist victory.
To sum up two excellent recommendations which enhanced my knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish Civil war after my trip to Madrid.
