The Pete Quiñones Show - Pete Reads 'The Last Crusade' by Warren H Carroll Part 10

Episode Date: July 24, 2024

41 MinutesPG-13Pete continues a reading of Warren H. Carroll's 1996 book, "The Last Crusade: 1936." In this episode, he reads the November/December chapter; 1936.Antelope Hill - Promo code "peteq" for 5% off - https://antelopehillpublishing.com/FoxnSons Coffee - Promo code "peter" for 18% off - https://www.foxnsons.com/The Last CrusadePete and Thomas777 'At the Movies'VIP Summit 3-Truth To Freedom - Autonomy w/ Richard GroveSupport Pete on His WebsitePete's PatreonPete's Substack Pete's SubscribestarPete's GUMROADPete's VenmoPete's Buy Me a CoffeePete on FacebookPete on TwitterBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-pete-quinones-show--6071361/support.

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And Thomas has read books on it and has a lot of information on it, the background on it and everything. And it's a really good job. He does a really good job of providing you, basically bringing you into the movie and bringing you into the story. So head on over to freemammy on the wall.com forward slash movies. And there's a link to it there. Also, Antelope Hill. I have partnered with them. If you enter Pete Q, all lowercase at checkout, you'll get 5% off your order. All right. This is the November and December of 1936 chapter. So let's go. On November 2nd, General Franco wrote proclamation to the people of Madrid, broadcasting it on radio and dropping it into the city from airplanes.

Quoting, Madrid is to be liberated. Be calm and stay away from the combat zones. Keep your families at home, which are noble and disciplined troops will respect and protect. Only those who have deceived you by saying that we mistreat women and children have anything to fear. Militia and workers of Madrid. Throw down your arms and free yourselves from the lying leaders who also deceive you and now abandon you. We will know the guilty, and only on them will fall. the weight of the law. Franco's intelligence was good. It told them that the nerve of the Republican government was cracking, and that its withdrawal from the now beleaguered capital city was already being discussed. A measure of the government's desperation was a startling decision on November 4th to admit anarchists to the cabinet. Not only was this a howling philosophical contradiction, but in practice, the anarchist had

clearly shown themselves as ungovernable, as ungovernable. as their name indicated, and the ungovernable could hardly govern. Famous Catalan anarchist leader Garcia Oliver was made Minister of Justice. His first act was to destroy all criminal records in Madrid. Another anarchist was made Minister of Health, bitter irony in view of the fact that the principal activity of Spanish anarchists since July 19th had been the murder, massacre, and mass imprisonment of their fellow countrymen. On November 5th, after the three days of attempting to use the Russian tanks, the Army of the Republic had little to show for it, since neither the Spanish tank crews nor the infantry supposed to work with the tanks understood this new kind of warfare.

Demoralized by the failure of their tanks, tank attacks, the Republican troops were falling back toward the city until Varela's nationalists had occupied Gatofa Airport and several suburbs and were only four miles from the Puerto del Sol at the heart. of Madrid. One more thrust is all that is needed. A confident General Varela declared that day. As though an agreement with Varela, the government of the Republic that day suffered a complete collapse of confidence, deciding to leave Madrid and retired to Valencia on the east coast. It's wild, sometimes comic opera flight. November 6 seemed for an all too brief moment to spell the end of the war and the immediate victory of the crusade. Largo Caballero proved himself to be what his socialist rival in Delisio Prieto had always called him, no more than a bombastic, egotistical order of limited intelligence and little real leadership ability, despite his immense

yet largely undeserved reputation. He was in such a hurry to get out of Madrid that he did not even wait to deliver personal instructions to the two generals he was leaving behind him. Jose Miaja and Sebastian Posas. He only dropped off letters for them, Mark not to be open until the next morning. fortunate for themselves, Miaja and Pozas opened their envelopes together on the evening of the 6th without waiting for the morning and found that the two letters had been put in the wrong envelopes. When duly exchanged,

they found that Posas was ordered to withdraw 50 miles southwest to Tarakan too far away to be of any help to end the defense of Madrid while Miyaha was to form a junta with remaining civilian leaders and defend the capital as best he could. He immediately began trying to reach selected officers and politicians, finding that many of those he sought also fled. But the commander of the 5th Regiment, all communists, responded with a pledge to defend Madrid street by street and house by house.

That evening, Soviet General Vladimir Goriov joined Miaja's staff. On that same day, a German communist writer named Arnold Vietz von Gelsenau, who himself Ludwig Rörenn, and had been in his own. been an officer in World War I, arrived at the communist camp at Alba Sete, and took command of the mostly German Thayelman Battalion of the international brigades, now ready to go into action at Madrid. Informed that night that Miyaha was now commanding the defenders of Madrid, Borrelas scoffed, he is a poor old grandpa. We will beat him easily. But the officers and men of the Communist International Brigades were far from being poor old grandfathers, and it was

was they who now took charge of the battle. As for the fleeing government, they were stopped at Taracon by a band of anarchists who threatened them with death if they did not stay at their posts in Madrid. Only the insistence of anarchist leaders in Madrid, so curiously emplaced in the Republican cabinet, prevailed upon the anarchist at Tarragon to allow the government to continue fleeing. Meanwhile, the crusading army was gathering for its greatest battle so far. The passionate young men with the red berets and the Sacred Heart badges who had answered Alfonso Carlos's call for the Riquettes on July 19th and made up Juan Ura Lusareza's fourth company of the Bayonne Battalion encamped for three days at the Madrid suburb of Brune.

On the last day's march at the village of Navalaga Mea, Juan had found the parish church with all its holy images smashed and discarded an apprable. pile of masonry. From that pile he had drawn out a representation of Jesus's sacred heart, still intact, though the statue which had borne it was shattered. Now in Brunette, he found its church, as spacious as the cathedral, in a condition even more shocking. Quoting, they had violently torn out from the high and beautiful altar of the church, a figure of Christ of great size, and at the door of the church they had burned it so that almost all the image was blackened, especially the upper part. The right forearm was missing, which, torn from the image, remained nailed to the cross above the altar.

That holy arm, pointing to heaven, appeared to call for justice for so much sacrilege. Writing of this years later, Juan grimly added, Two years later, the town of Brunette was the scene of very bloody fighting and the final great destruction of the godless on the Madrid front. November 7th was a Saturday. General Franco was confident as Varela, said that he expected to attend Sunday Mass in Madrid the following morning. Nationalist troops attacked at the Manzaneras River, a shallow, low-lying stream on whose east bank rises to city center. By an extraordinary coincidence, it was the 19th anniversary

of the Communist Revolution in Russia. Posters exhorted the Madrid militia. Emulatae Petrograd. 7 November of the Manzaneras must be as glorious as on the Neva. Telephone reports to the action from Russian correspondent Michael Cultsov were broadcast to the marchers parading in Red Square in Moscow to commemorate the anniversary. The militia at the Manzanados River bridges resisted strongly. That evening, 2,000 troops from the 11th Communist International Brigade arrived. Germans of the Thelman-Talman Battalion, French of the Paris Commune Battalion, Poles, and some English, marching down Madrid's Grand Via, steel-helmeted, well-armed. in step, making a great impression on the frightened people of the city.

That night, the mass killing of prisoners began in Madrid. Justice in Paris, in the beginning of the reign of terror in the French Revolution in September 1792, when the march of a Prussian-Austrian army toward Paris was made the occasion to kill over 1,400 political prisoners in the city, including 191 priests and religious. So in this bloody November, 1936, in Madrid, over 2,400 prisoners were taken from their cells, helpless to escape or resist, shot, and buried in large trenches. They included at least 200 priests and religious. The killing was mostly done by prison guards with the knowledge but without the orders

or intervention of the few Republican government officials remaining in Madrid. On November 10th, another atrocity against helpless nuns was committed in Madrid. 23 nuns of the order of Adora Tricis, who had been arrested in the apartment in which they had been living after their convent was closed by government order on the incredible charge that one of them had shot a militia man on the street from their window were taken to Madrid to each cemetery and killed there at dawn. At 9 o'clock in the evening of November 7th, General Varellas operations order for what was intended to be the decisive assault the following day fell into hands of his enemies. It was found in the pocket of a nationalist officer killed when the inadequately armored Italian tank in which he was riding. was blown up. Brought to General Miyaha, the operations order told him that Varela's main attack

would be made at the Princesses Bridge over the Manzanis River and on University City. A listen that he would strike again the next morning. After four assaults, Varela's nationalist finally succeeded in crossing the Manzanis River and reaching the heights of University City, but with only a relatively small force of about a thousand. The communist international brigades were brought up to stop them there, and once again they succeeded. November 16th and 17th brought the climax, while both sides continued to fight each other to a bloody standstill

along the banks of the Manzanados River, particularly at Porto de Los Francisco, constantly swept by a crossfire of machine guns. A few of the Moroccan troops fighting for the Nationalists actually penetrated into the heart of Madrid. 6,000 Republican troops, including both the 11th International Brigade and Duroutes, Duruti's column assaulted the thousand nationalists in University City. Hugh Thomas, a premier historian of the Spanish Civil War,

vividly describes the scene. There's so much rugby on sports extra from Sky, they've asked me to read the whole lot at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live Plus action from the URC The Challenge Cup and much more

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Kimberly and Party Box offer available until November 30th. Quoting, The Babel of Tongues, the frequent multilingual singing of the International, the insults exchange between the Nationalists and Republic,

added to the macabre confusion. The marching songs of the German communists brought to the crumbling masonry of the laboratories and lecture halls of Teutonic sadness. Anarchist fratinized with men from the International Brigade. Muffled commands sounded in the darkness addressed to men who had never seen the city which they had come to defend.

Battalion Thelman Fertigmachan Battalion André Marty Descent Descent Sendes vete. Gadebaldi Avanti. Hours of artillery and aerial bombardment, in which neither side gave way, were succeeded by

hand-to-hand battles for single rooms or floors of buildings. In the still-unfinished clinical hospital, the Talman Brigade placed bombs and lifts to be sent up to explode in the faces of the Moroccans on the next floor, and in that building, the Moroccan suffered losses by eating inoculated animals kept for experimental purposes. Great courage was shown on both sides. A company of poles from the Dombrovsky Battalion resisted in the French Institute's Casa de Velasquez to the last man. An advanced guard of Moroccans drove back to Rudy's anarchist once again at the Plaza de Montcloa,

the first square inside Madrid proper, and began to fight their way along the Caye de la Princessa. Some even drove down the Paceo de Rosales to reach the Plaza de Espagna, all were killed, but the rumor that the moors are in the Plaza de Espagna was not easy to staunch. Anyone who thinks or has been told that the Spanish Civil War, at least in its first year, was not really against communists, needs only to read a good account of the siege of Madrid to learn the truth. On November 6, the German Condor Legion had arrived in Sevilla, consisting of four bomber squadrons and four fighter squadrons, and all about 100 aircraft and more than 3,000 support troops. operating under an agreement, placing it under German operational command, but ultimately under Franco's control. The planes were flown to airfields around Madrid. They began bombing it on November 14th and continued to bomb it each day, actually mostly at night, for the next 10 days.

Despite fantastic exaggerations of the time and subsequently, only a relatively small number of civilians were killed in the bombing. 244, along with 875 injured and about 300 buildings damaged. The German pilots and planes were getting the practice Hitler wanted for the blitzes of World War II. Though the casualties were small, the German pilots and planes were getting the practice Hitler wanted for the blitzes of World War II. So he was already planning the blitzes of World War II. He already knew World War II. I'm sorry, Mr. Carroll. This is bad writing. Though the casualties were small, the action was unjust since it does not appear that much effort was made to strike military targets only.

But, Franco, at this critical moment, understandably, if not justifiably, did not try to intervene against it. In any case, the bombing was useless and even counterproductive from the nationalist standpoint. It served only to further infuriate the people of Madrid already, for the most part, hostile to the besiegers. On the 17th, the Nationalist got two more columns into University City,

finally gaining control of the clinical hospital, where the Foreign Legion triumphed after a long and desperate struggle and the Parque del Oeste. Two nationalist tanks clanked down the Caye de la Prinsessa toward the Plaza de España, but were stopped by the defenders before reaching the big square. When the day was done, a somewhat reinforced nationalist contingent of about 2,000 troops in University City faced no less than 12,000 troops of the Republic.

Though many of these were poorly trained local militia, they had been raised to ferocious enthusiasm by the successful resistance thus far. Every night, the communist spellbinder, Dolores Ibaruri, La Pachanaria, was on the radio with her battle cry of no parason. They shall not pass. In the open field, Franco and Varela could probably have won, even against troops as good as the communists of the International Brigade and the six-to-one odds. But in the confining and deadly environment of a great and hot, largely hostile city, it was not possible. Neither side strung to the highest pitch of determination as they were, could at first accept the great battle had ended in a draw. Reinforcements were arriving.

General Mola had come with a substantial force of Ricketts to augment the attackers, but the defenders were being reinforced to, at an equal or greater rate. Spiratic fighting continued in University City, three quarters of which was now held by the national, But the other quarter was still held by the Republic, including the strategically placed Hall of Philosophy and letters, from which the defenders could protect the Plaza de Moncloa, gateways to the heart of Madrid. Trenches were being dug, building strongly fortified at the Santa Cristina Asylum, used by the Nationalists as their administration building in University City and containing a chapel that had not been profaned. Juan Ura Lusaretta and his Rickete commanders formed the choir whose rich young voices rang out every Sunday at mass with the ancient chant beloved of crusaders. Christus vicinced, Christus regnat, Christus imperat. Buenaventura Deruti, commander of the anarchist column from Catalonia, was especially unhappy with the prospect of a draw.

so ultimate a revolutionary that even the communists appeared to him as untrustworthy compromisers, he yearned for complete victory. He had persuaded the more cautious General Miyaha to authorize an attack on November 19th by his battered and decimated anarchists on the towering hospital building, now strongly held by the nationalist. Duruti insisted that the attack proceed despite a torrential downpour of rain. Hearing the two of his companies were flipping coins to decide which should attack first, he flew into a rage and ordered them both to go immediately into action. Then he went back to

the Miguel Anhaas-Han-Hel barracks, where his men had been quartered. There, a little before two o'clock in the afternoon, he received the message that his men were retreating from the hospital. Furious again, he jumped into his car and ordered his chauffeur to drive at top speeds of the battle area. The car stopped near the model prison, from which so many had already been taken for execution, when Duruti saw some of his men fleeing. He leaped from the car, cursed them, and ordered them back into the nationalist fire. Derrude, a big, tall, swarthy man, built like a tree,

was frightening and overpowering in his anger. The men went as he directed. He returns to the car, and he returns to the car. At his door, he suddenly slumped over. He had received a mortal wound and died the next day in the hospital, whispering, keep on fighting. Derrude's admirers and the government spread the story that he had been killed by a bullet

fired from a nationalist sharpshooter from one of the windows of the hospital, but the doctor who examined his wound testified that it was surrounded by such clearly defined powder marks that the bullet could not have been fired from more than 50 centimeters, approximately one foot away from his body. Of the men in the car with Derradi,

the one in the rear seat was never clearly identified. One witness called him Ragar. Others had no name for him, and whoever he was, he promptly disappeared. Derrude's widow, always believed her husband had been murdered, as did many others. Historian Anthony Bivore thinks that the trigger of the machine pistol of one of his escort caught on the door handle, causing it to fire accidentally into Derruti, after which its bearer understandably vanished. But Buenaventura,

Derruti, had cut too bloody a swath across Spanish history for pure accident to seem a likely explanation for his being shot at close range, though it is, of course, possible. His widow said it had been an act of vengeance, so it may well have been. And perhaps a nameless rider in the right rear seat of Jerudi's car simply concluded that this man had killed enough, that it was time for him to reap what he had sown. On the very day Durudy died, November 20th, Jose Antonio Primo de Rivera, leader of the Falunge, who had been imprisoned by the government of the republic since, before the outbreak of the war, was shot in Alicante prison yard with two other Falongus and two carlists. On November 27, on the nationalist of Madrid, made a last attempt to attack the center of the city from the Parque de

El Este, aiming for the model prison, but were beaten back. The next day, Franco held a meeting of his commanders at which it was decided to end frontal attacks on Madrid and try and encircle it instead. This decision necessary that, though it was, extinguished any hope for a quick ending of the Spanish Civil War. It would continue for two and a half more years. There's so much Rugby on Sports Extra from Sky, they've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup and much more. That's the URC and all the best European rugby all in the same

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while stocks last. The belief that the successful resistance in Madrid was a kind of miracle derives from far more from the government's panic at the beginning of the siege and the widespread belief throughout Spain and the world that Madrid could not be held against the nationalist army than from actual military situation. Normally attackers must have numerical superiority over defenders to prevail unless they have unchallenged control of the air. The German aircraft did not have clear control of the air.

That is why their bombing raids on Madrid were mostly carried out at night. And the defenders of Madrid outnumbered the attackers by a wide margin. Only an undisciplined, demoralized defense could have been overcome by the limited forces available to Franco and Varela. That might have happened. Probably would have happened. But the arrival of the Communist International Brigades in the nick of time, whatever could and should be said in condemnation of the ideology and morality, of these men, they certainly fought well and knew what they were fighting for. Such soldiers win battles and wars. They won this battle, but were not to win this war, for the Spanish

crusaders matched them, man for man, as they had matched them in the desperate struggle on November 9th among the Ilex and gum trees of the Casa de Campo. In the end, they smashed them, inflicting such high casualties that the brigades broke up. At least 6,000 of these vicious and deluded young men left their bones in the Spain they could not conquer for communism. On November 24th, once again, Cardinal Isidro Goma, primate of Spain, hailed the crusade in a pastoral letter, quoting, This most cruel war is at bottom a war of principles, of doctrines, of one concept of life and social reality against another, of one civilization against another. It is a war waged by the Christian and Spanish spirit against another spirit. that other spirit of which Cardinal Goma spoke had revealed itself with unmistakable clarity

and two martyrdoms occurring within ten days of the release of the Cardinal's pastoral letter. On November 15th, Juan Duarte E. Martin, a deacon of the parish of Alora in the Diocese of Malaga on the southern coast of Spain was sprayed with gasoline and burned to death by militia after a week's ghastly cavalry during which he was tortured with electric currents to make him blaspheme and castrated. And on the 17th, five brothers of the Christian schools and a parish priest were taken by militia at Lorca in Morcia province to be shot in a sulfur mind, after which the militia danced on their bodies before hurling them deep into a chasm. Following its flight from Madrid early in the month, the government of the Republic had established itself in Valencia, where the Soviet and communist presence soon became overwhelmingly evident, particularly after the success of the international brigades in defense of Madrid. in the words of an American reporter, quoting,

The Russian influence was apparent everywhere in Valencia. Posters announcing communist organization meetings were plastered on buildings and fences. Oleos of Stalin, Lenin, and Marx, and bronze lapel pins fashioned in the shape of a hammer and sickle were on sale on every street corner. Marxist literature predominated at the bookstalls. The only motion pictures were Russian propaganda films. sound trucks blared forth an unceasing stream of communist propaganda in the plazas, and the red flag bide with the anarchist black and red banners on public buildings.

As in Madrid and Barcelona, streets had been renamed to conform to Marxist ideals. Directions were often difficult to find because the residents had not yet become accustomed to the new system of nomenclature. Saints' names by which most streets in Spain are known, and names of former prominent conservative political leaders were removed. The new names included Via Russia, Paceo de Lenin, Avenida della Passionaria, Plaza Rojo, Avenida Thalman, Avenida Libertarian, and other names associated with the revolutionary theme. But they're Republicans. In this atmosphere, it was not surprising that no less than 29 nuns, not only innocent of harming anyone, but virtually incapable of doing.

so were killed in Valencia in just five days from November 20th to November 24th. Priests and religious were still being relentlessly hunted down and killed in Barcelona. On the night of November 24th, Jesuit father Bartolomei Arbona, aged 75, who had been bringing the Eucharist to hidden Christians in Barcelona since the outbreak of the war and hearing their confessions was caught by a militia patrol. The next day, Barcelona militia arrested Father Cirrilla. Monsonair, missionary priests of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had been in hiding in a house of Antonio Dominic since July, sang mass daily for small groups of the faithful. He had written to a priest's friend. I see that though I am not yet worthy to form part of the religious legion of the martyrs, it remains for me now to be in the rear guard. On November 28, Father Montaner was shot at Moncote.

Cemetery. On the next day, Father Arbano joined him in the glory of martyrdom. Just two days later, Archbishop Manuel Iruza of Barcelona in hiding since the firestorm of July was discovered by militiamen in a house-to-house search in Barcelona. At first, the militia thought he was just another priest when they asked him if he had said mass while in hiding. He said he had every day. When they had identified him as the Archbishop of Barcelona, they shot him at once after he had told them. I bless all of you who are in my presence, and I also bless the balls that will bring about my death, for they will be the keys that will open the gates of heaven for me. He was the 11th of 13 bishops martyred in Spain during a civil war.

By December, there were at least 70,000 of de Cates under arms in support of the national. They had their own units and their own officers entirely separate from the infrastructure of the nationalist regular army based on the forces brought from Morocco to the beginning of the civil war. But the Carlist fully acknowledged the authority of Franco and his government on December 12th, Carlist Regent Javier declared publicly that the support of his people for the nationalist cause was not contingent upon a restoration of the monarchy in any form and that a strong military government would be needed for years to come. very smart man after that the carless hope that their traditionalist movement might offer a solution for the perpetuation

of a truly Catholic regime in Spain nevertheless Franco felt uneasy about the independence of the carless early in December he was or professed to be deeply angered by an announcement by Manuel Falcande the general secretary of the traditionalist communion of Spain that a carless military academy

would be set up to train new officers to to command Rakete units, providing instruction both in military strategy and tactics and in carlaced religious and political principles. Falcande had informed Mola of this plan and had received no objection from him, but in an unaccountable and disastrous oversight had not informed Franco or if of it nor received his permission. Franco summoned Falcande to his headquarters at Salamanca and informed them that he must go into exile. Such self-evident overreaction clearly indicated that Franco had been looking for an excuse to bring the Carless under tighter control and knew and resented the fact that Falcande's highest loyalty would never be to him. But it was neither in Franco's interest nor in the interest of National Spain to emphasize that.

Franco and the Carles' leadership needed each other. Neither could have prevailed in the crusade without the other. Franco rightly counted on the continuing loyalty of the rank and file of the Akhetis to him and to his high command while the struggle was actually going on. But in the long run, in Spain, after victory was won, he needed a strong and active carless movement led by Falcande to provide the ideological guidance and continuity to rebuild and maintain a Catholic Spain, which Franco as a relatively unimaginative general, however successful in the field and personally devout, could never provide. By exiling Falcande, thereby signaling his determination to control and restrict the carlist, he deprived Spain of a priceless act. asset. It was the greatest mistake of his life and one of the principal causes for the failure of the Catholic Spain

he led to survive his death 39 years later. There's so much rugby on Sports Extra from Sky, they've asked me to read the whole lad at the same speed I usually use for the legal bit at the end. Here goes. This winter sports extra is jam-packed with rugby. For the first time we've got every Champions Cup match exclusively

live, plus action from the URC, the Challenge Cup, and much more. Thus the U.S. and all the best European rugby all in the same place. Get more exclusively live tournaments than ever before on Sports Extra. Jampacked with Rugby. Phew, that is a lot of rugby. Get Sports Extra on Sky for 15 euro a month for 12 months. Search Sports Extra. New Sports Extra customers only.

Standard Pressing applies after 12 months for the terms apply. Hops and Wild. Wild and hops. The dream team. They're back in Disney's Zutropolis 2. Funny books. This is a make or break assignment. In cinemas November 28th.

No snake has set foot in Zutropolis in forever. Don't miss the wildest adventure of the year. There's a snake. I want the first. books and that rabbit. All right, carrots. Any idea where you want to start? Disney Zootropolis 2 in Cinema's November 28th.

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Great value on these must-have Tato and King Party boxes was 549, now only 499. If you love Christmas, you love Aldi. While stocks last, Kimberly and Partybox offer available until November 30th. On December 20th, the Carlos National War Hunta reluctantly accepted Franco's orders that Falcande must leave the country. The great Carlos leader went to Lisbon and never returned to Spain. Alfonso Carlos's widow, Mary of the Snow's, protested in vain from Vienna. On the same day, Franco decreed that all militias, primarily the Riquete and Falunge, must be fully integrated into the nationalist army

and accept officers from that army regardless of ideology. Carlos writer Roman Ojarzun even called for a union with the Falunge, fundamentally different, though the two groups were, the Carlos being Catholics first and advocating a decentralized government, while the Falangas were statists, most of whom saw the church as having little or nothing rightly to say in matters of public policy. Profound as were the long-term consequences of the exile of Falconde, in the short run it made no difference that Akhetes went on fighting as well as ever. In Andalusia, led by the famous Redondo column, commanded by General Luis Redondo, now known as Terseo of Our Lady of Kings,

that Akhetes defeated the 14th Communist International Brigade, first in an encounter near the village of Montoro and on the day before Christmas, then more decisively in a two-day battle at Lepa, near Cordova, on December 28th and 29. In the Battle of Lepeda, the English communist poet, John Cornford, great-grandson of Charles Darwin, was killed in action, and a mass honoring the dead in this battle. Jesuit Father Copado said, quoteing, The Day of Triumph is near. It pains us to see towns depopulated

houses and ruins, families and agony from village to village, brought low by tyranny and its threats. But it is unquestionable, but that there is no salvation, no redemption without suffering. Jesus means salvation, joy, bright horizons. Thus you, the army of the Red Berets,

may be saviors of Spain, achieving with your blood the sublime title that will be the highest undertaking of your life. Spain has come to ruin by turning her back on Jesus Christ. You have come to resurrect the tradition of Spain that the enemies of religion have covered with horrible scars. Give thanks to God for your sufferings, because through them you are working toward the day of triumph, when Spain will bless you and kiss you on the forehead with recovered appreciation, restored to herself, in new days of health and fame, strolling as queen and lady in the flowering fields of the tradition. In this spirit, the nationalist faced a now inevitable long

continuation of the Civil War as the apocul year of 1936 drew to its end. Knowing that he could not now take Madrid by frontal assault, Franco was trying to outflank it. On December 14, General Varello with 18,000 men began a new offensive north of the capital city, taking and holding the town of Boadilla del Monte. But the Army of the Republic, notably its communist components, buoyed by its successful defense of Madrid, move quickly to stop this first flanking thrust. For four days battle, for four days battle raged near the town of Brunette and ended December 19th in a draw. Franco continued probing for weak points, though moving farther away from Madrid in the process. On Christmas Day, war took no holidays. General Varela, the Carlos friend

who had relieved Toledo and held tactical command of the attack on Madrid, was wounded and had to give up his field command for several months, though he was to return by the summer of 1937 to lead the nationalist forces in another and greater battle at Brunette. On December 15th, the Spanish Communist Party issued a manifesto, which more emphatic, quoting, which more emphatically than any previous party document preached the overriding needs of military defense and rejected anything which might prejudice military efficiency or antagonized potential allies in the war against the nationalists, end quote. It called for iron discipline in the army, tight control over the militia and trade unions, and the use of whatever system of land ownership and control would bring about the highest level of agricultural production. Six days later, the Spanish Republic, as it had then existed, received full written approval and a pledge of support from Joseph Stalin himself.

in a letter to Prime Minister Largo Caballero on December 25th, Stalin said, quoting, We share your faith in the victory of the Spanish people. We consider and shall always consider it our duty to come within our possibilities to the aid of the Spanish government, which is leading the struggle of all toilers of the whole Spanish democracy against the fascist military clique, the Agency of International Fascist Forces. Our experience, especially that of our civil war, may have a certain importance for Spain if one bears in mind the specificity of the conditions of the Spanish revolutionary struggle. That is why we have agreed, to put at your disposal a number of military instructors.

Their task will be to advise and help in military matters, those Spanish military leaders to whom they are assigned. Stalin went on to recommend more agitation among the peasantry, avoiding confiscation of the property of the lower middle class so as not to drive it into the arms of the fascists. Continued cooperation with Azania and his like to avoid creating the appearance of a purely communist republic and respect for property rights of foreigners so as not to encourage them to support the nationalists. He even suggested that it might be well to maintain at least an appearance of parliamentary government and Republican Spain. Replying three weeks later, Largo Caballetto expressed fawning gratitude for Stalin's help, agreed with him about protecting the property rights of the lower middle class and foreigners, and said his government was trying to help and protect the peasants. Unfortunately, he had to admit certain excesses in the countryside could not be avoided, but we earnestly hope that they will not be

repeated. But on one point, he actually dared to express reservations about a suggestion from great Stalin. Whatever may be the future of the parliamentary form, he said, it does not possess among us, or even among the Republicans, enthusiastic defenders. In other words, Francisco Largo Caballero now intended to be dictator of Spain, a position in which Stalin was to decide before the next year was over not to maintain him. But of the now unbreakable bond between the Soviet Union and the Communist Revolution on the one hand, and the Spanish Republic on the other, Stalin's letter left no doubt. Massacres and martyrdoms continued in Republican Spain through December. On the sixth in Guadalajara, northeast of Madrid, 277 prisoners were slaughtered,

including 32 priests, allegedly in retaliation for a nationalist bombing rate on the town. On the 27th in Santander, in the north, 160 prisoners, including 14 priests, were similarly slain after a nationalist bombing raid. And on December 29th, near Santander, Father Miguel de Garajal, a compulsion for Franciscan, who had continued exercising his priesthood under daily threat of death

since the outbreak of the Civil War, was captured with a companion named Bonifacio by a busload of militiamen, taken to kilometer post seven on the highway from Gamma to Santonia and shot there. One of the shots passed through his arm before entering his chest, indicating that he had died, blessing his killers.

Churches. I'm starting to lose my voice. Sorry, guys. Churches throughout Republican Spain, except in its Basque regions, remain closed. American correspondent Edward Nablock reported with amazement how there were no masses at Christmas in the entire city of Valencia, where the government of the Republic was now located. Quite the celebration, Mr. Nablock. On December 11th, Pope Pius I. 11th received the primate of Spain, Cardinal Goma, in Rome,

with great approval for all that he had done. Cardinal Goma presented the Pope with a lengthy written appeal for his formal recognition of the nationalist government of Spain. Pius D. 11 did not immediately do this. He did not want to take sides so openly as long as there was still substantial number of good practice and Catholics on the Republican side, and they were allowed to worship freely, as was still the case in the Basque provinces.

But on December 19th, Cardinal Goma returned to Spain with a specific papal appointment as confidential and semi-official representative to Franco's nationalist government. Ten days later, Franco, as Generalissimo and head of the Spanish state, signed an agreement with Cardinal Goma pledging full freedom for the Catholic Church in all its activities and close cooperation in areas where church and state overlapped. He also promised to bring down Spanish laws into conformity with church doctrine. Thus did Franco confirm his commitment to the victory of the last crusade and its fruits. At the end of the year of death and glory, suffering and martyrdom, triumph and tragedy, 1936 in Spain.

One chapter left. It's called the Roads of Victory. It basically just wraps up the war, 37 to 39. So, all right. That's it. Thanks for keeping on coming back to this. And thanks for the comments. I think a lot of people are happy that I read this. I think some people are sad that I read this and I get it. I get it. This is the second time I'm reading this. So there are ads in this. If you'd like to get the episodes early and ad free and support the show, go to free man beyond the wall.com forward slash support five ways. You can do that right there on my website. Patreon, Substack, Subscribe Star, and Gumroad. And yeah, that's it. One more chapter, and then we're on to a new book.

I bet you're wondering what it is. Take care. Thank you. Bye.