Spain's Civil War by Harry Browne

Author:Harry Browne [Browne, Harry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General, Europe
ISBN: 9781317888178
Google: XFygBAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-09-25T16:07:41+00:00

8

THE MILITARY CAMPAIGNS

If the saga of Madrid can be interpreted as the victory of determined amateurs (with a professional leavening) over pure professionals, its sequel reflects in a diluted form similar virtues and similar defects. Government by committee, by party and by trade union slowly gave way to a more familiar, hierarchical system, with little, if any, pressure successfully exerted from below. The new Popular Army, however, still displayed some of its original characteristics even under its new masters. The problems were diverse. Localism and conflicting political loyalties were the most important, exacerbated by an almost universal suspicion of the communists. There were simple difficulties in communication, with Russian commanders able to give orders only in Russian, or International Brigaders speaking little or no Spanish. In the campaigns, what was most disturbing was the failure of the Republic to hold any new ground. There were major offensives, at Teruel and on the Ebro, leading to the occupation of Nationalist territory, but this was followed by its loss, at great human and material cost.

The first major defeat for the Republic was the loss of the Basque Provinces, including Bilbao, one of the two major industrial cities of Spain. The Basque Provinces, profoundly Catholic, nevertheless had opted for the Republic, mainly because of Madrid’s willingness to agree to the Basque demand for autonomy. Their relationship with the Republican government was never easy and perhaps could have been severed by a skilled diplomatic initiative. Indeed, before the Nationalist attack began, the Spanish Primate, Cardinal Gomá, put to Franco the Vatican-inspired suggestion that some accommodation with the Basques might be made. Franco, as ever, was inflexible: nothing must be conceded to the enemy. The Basque campaign began in March 1937, when, leaving Madrid under siege, Franco moved the main bulk of his army to the North. The defence of the Basque Provinces presented two tough military problems for the Valencia government. In the first place, spare troops available in Aragon or Catalonia could not be moved overland to the assistance of the Basques; the only available tactic was the use of diversionary attacks such as that upon Brunete. Again, military-political relations between the Basques and the Largo Caballero government were never easy. There had always been a Republican commander, General Llano de Encomienda, nominally responsible for the Northern front, but the reality was that his orders were virtually ignored by the local commanders. In practice, it was the Basques themselves who took decisions — a crucial factor, particularly in the closing stages of Franco’s attack, when they refused to comply with the Valencia government’s demand that war factories should be destroyed.

The Basque campaign demonstrated the psychological and military importance of superiority in the air. From their base in Vitoria, the Nationalists were free to strafe and bomb, without any Republican response, as the Republican command was unwilling to risk its planes by flying them over Nationalist-held territory. Their bombing campaign was launched against the small towns in the Basque Provinces, of which the most famous victim was Guernica.

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