The Task my Generation (1936-1945) Faced
A letter from Spanish civil war veteran Carl Geiser to the ALBA mailing list on Fri, 7 Dec 2001, published here with his friendly permission.

"My generation's task was to eradicate fascism, dictatorships by the land owners, the wealthy, and the military and religious leaders. Labor and farm leaders were arrested, jailed, beaten and murdered. Between 1923 and 1931 fascism arose in Spain, Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Yugoslavia. In 1931, the King left and Spain became a republic. Students held first National Student Congress against War and Fascism in Chicago the last week in 1932. On Feb. 27, 1933, Nazis burned down the Reichstag, their capitol, blamed communists, won 44% of vote two weeks later and 17 days later President Hindenburg allowed Hitler to be dictator.

In 1935 French government proposed free hand for Italy in Abyssinia and British government signed Anglo-German Naval Pact allowing expansion of German Navy, thus strengthening two fascist countries. Seventh Congress of Communist International in Moscow urged a worldwide popular front against war and fascism, is rebuffed by all socialist parties except in Spain. United Front in Spain won election in Feb. 1936, exiled fascist General Sanjurjo to Portugal and Franco to Morocco in charge of Moorish Foreign Legion. Fascists realized they could not win democratically. Franco in Morocco began an uprising on July 17. Sanjurjo on July 20 was asked to lead uprising, overloaded small plane with full dress uniform and was killed in crash. July 21 fascists called on Franco to lead uprising. Spanish Navy, loyal to the Republic, barred crossing to mainland. Republic obtained control in most cities. On 25th Hitler was informed by his ambassador in Madrid, all is lost unless something out of ordinary happens. German and Italian planes took Foreign Legion and Franco to areas held by fascists.

In US Father Coughlin in Detroit said we needed a strong man like Mussolini to put things in order, claimed 40 million radio listeners. Nazi Bund, Black Shirts, Ku Klux Klan supported Franco. Joint meeting of Congress voted unanimously with one exception, Rep. John T. Bernard, Farmer-Laborite in Minnesota, for joint resolution to forbid military aid to either side, effective end of January =8C37. Supporters of the Republic loaded Mar Cantabrico with munitions and planes and it got away before ban went into effect. It was captured by a fascist battleship with the permission of British Navy. First 96 American volunteers left New York December 26, 1936, helped stop a fascist drive south of Madrid taking heavy losses. I shall not describe the course of the war in detail. Instead I shall describe why 2,800 went to Spain to fight and another 150 volunteered to staff hospitals and the 101 ambulances that were sent mainly by universities and include some incidental events.

All volunteers were deeply aware of the danger fascism presented to humankind. This was bolstered for not only Jews as a way to strike back at Hitler. Blacks said "This ain't Abyssinia, but it will do." US students showed their concern by holding a one day national student strike against war on Thursday, April 27, 1937 supported by the National Council of Methodist Youth and the National Student Councils of the YWCA and the YMCA, In the Student Advocate of the American Student Union, James A. Wechsler and Joseph P. Lash wrote in an editorial supporting the strike: "If, while fascism throws all its resources into Spain, the allies of the Spanish Government remain inert, the simple and inevitable consequences will be World War in which the chances of American involvement are vast."

Eight hundred volunteers out of 1800 US volunteers gave their lives and were buried in Spanish soil. Ernest Hemingway in an eulogy to the dead concluded, "None entered it more honorably." No effort was made to have their bodies returned in marked contrast to the efforts to bring back those who died in Vietnam.

Polls taken of the public showed 76% of those who had an opinion were in favor of supporting the Republic. The League of American Writers asked its members which side they were on. Supporting the Republic were 406, seven were on the fence and one supported Franco, Gertrude Atherton. Worldwide there were more books written about the war in Spain than about WWI or WWII. Lister told me we were welcome when the civil war changed to an invasion by Hitler and Mussolini.

President Roosevelt's cabinet decided to lift the ban on the Republic's obtaining military equipment to become effective effective May 1, 1938. Secretary of State Cordell Hull leaked the news to NY Times columnist, Walter Lippmann, Over a million cards, letters and telegrams came from Catholic sources opposing the proposed action. This would not have stopped FDR. Representatives from Catholic areas told FDR they would not be reelected if he removed the ban. FDR's majority for his programs in congress was thin, and he canceled lifting the ban.

Worldwide 45,000 youthful volunteers formed 5 brigades, The Germans formed the 11th, Italians the 12th often called the Garibaldi Brigade, Slavs and Poles the 13th, French the 14th and English-speaking the 15th known as La Quince in song.

Role of the French people and government

The people were on the side of the Republic. When we got to Paris, it was the unions that fed us and arranged hotel space, and then arranged our trip towards Spain. The government under socialist Leon Blum put a ban on sale of planes and military equipment and even refused to deliver arms bought before the war. While most volunteers reached Spain safely, one group was arrested, jailed for 21 days, then given eight days to get out of France. They reached Spain with the help of cheering French people.

Role of Anarchists and POUM in Barcelona

The anarchists and the POUM, a Trotskyist organization, prevented the fascists from taking power in Barcelona and drove them out of Catalonia. Then they set out to make the Revolution which involved making more consumer goods and less military hardware. The government in Madrid made up of moderates, a strong socialist party and a small communist party agreed to first drive out the fascists and then vote on kind of government the people want. When fascist forces attacked the Basques, the Anarchists and POUM refused to come to their aid. When I climbed down off the Pyrenees on May 1, 1937 I was held at Figueras, a military post, for five days while Lister lead a group of men routing out the anarchists and POUM holding the telephone building after which Catalonia contributed to the Republic's struggle against the German and Italian forces. It was too late to help the Basques.

Role of the Soviet Union

This sometimes is omitted or falsely reported. When the revolt took place, the Soviet government expected the western democracies to aid the Republic. The Spanish government had begun to negotiate diplomatic relations with Soviet Union in 1933 but Lerroux when elected the next year broke off the negotiations. The Soviet people strongly supported the Republic when the revolt took place. On August 29, 1936 diplomatic relations were restored. The Soviet Union signed the Non-Intervention Committee (NIC) initiated by the French government at the suggestion of the British government and signed by all European nations, except Switzerland, forbidding military aid to either side. That it was a farce was shown when NIC designated Germany and Italy to prevent military aid to the Franco side. The Soviet Union took advantage of every opportunity to support the cause of the Republic, at the League of Nations, and at international conferences. On Oct 7, 1936, the Soviet delegate Maisky at an NIC meeting said if Germany and Italy did not stop sending men and arms, Soviet Union would feel free to do same. They didn't stop.

Madrid was being shelled and bombed daily. The government had fled to Valencia. The people were defending the city. People took the subway to the front lines. The morning of November 6, six German Junker bombers appeared as usual, accompanied by squadrons of Italian Fiat fighter planes. The sirens were still sounding the warning, when a group of planes with the red emblems of the Republican air force appeared in the Madrid sky. Fast, powerful and agile they sped toward the fascist aircraft, The Republican Air Force Commander, Hidalgo Cisneros, afterwards wrote, "No one will ever forget what the Madrilenos saw that wonderful morning."Leaving their shelters, forgetting about the danger, people poured into the streets, people who had been living in fear, suffering day in day out, powerless to defend themselves and their city against the enemy's bombing. Now they were watching with indescribable delight the first air combat over their defenseless city. In the acrobatics of the piloting, in the rattle of the machine-gun fire, the Madrilenos saw the Republican pilots shoot down nine enemy planes one after the other, while the others turned and fled, pursued by Republican fighters." Cisneros was struck that the cheers were for the Soviet Union with an enthusiasm and jubilation impossible to describe. For I was sure we had kept the arrival of Soviet planes secret.

Seven transport ships had brought 50 tanks and 100 planes along with armored cars, rifles, cannons, mounted and light machine-guns, grenade launchers and various types of ammunition from the Soviet Union. Soviet planes and tanks went into action just in time to save Madrid. In December 1936, the Republic asked for 4 military officers. They were sent with this instruction, "...a Soviet specialist, as a foreigner in Spain can be of real use only if he keeps strictly within the limits of an advisor and an adviser alone." In 1937 the USSR supplied the Republic with 457,904 tons of war material worth 92,444,000 rubles, By May 4, 1937, 86 attacks had been made on Soviet ships, 3 were sunk and 5 captured and taken to fascist ports. The fascists attacked and sank vessels regardless of the flag it bore, The Italian Stefani Press Agency claimed Italian military aircraft hit 224 ships of various nations between 1936 and 1938. The commodity circulation between the USSR and Spain in first seven months in 1938 had dropped to half in terms of tonnage and a third in value compared with first half of 1937. The aid given by the democracies was zero. France even sequestered the gold the Republic had deposited in Paris. The Soviet Union, when the Republic could no longer pay, sent the material on credit. It also provided the services for varying periods of 772 airmen, 351 tank men, 222 army advisers and instructors, 77 naval specialists, 100 artillery specialists, 52 other specialists, 130 aircraft factory workers, 156 radio operators and 204 interpreters. The number in Spain at one time never exceeded 800.

The Soviet Union provided Spain with 806 military aircraft, 362 tanks, 120 armored cars, 1,555 artillery pieces, about 500,000 rifles, 340 grenade launchers, 15,113 machine-guns, more than 110,000 aerial bombs, about 3,4000,000 rounds of ammunition, 500,000 grenades, 852 million cartridges. The Soviet Chatos and Moscas were superior to the German planes until Hitler came out with the Messershmit. When they could no longer send material by ship, the Soviet Union tried to send war material through France, but France usually would not let the material cross the border. When the fascists had taken Barcelona. Lister's divisions, holding off the fascists to allow as many civilians to escape into France as possible, received but was unable to use crated armaments. The crates were returned to France. Hitler obtained possession of all held back and those returned when France fell. The Soviets sent about 2,000 officers with the order to help but not to command at army, division and brigade level. I never met a Soviet officer. The Republic would have been overthrown quickly if the Soviet Union had not come to its aid. This gave Britain and US an extra two years to prepare for WWII.

On March 9, 1937, Franco issued a proclamation that all foreigners captured with arms would be shot. Britain sent a stiff note to Franco, threatening "the strongest possible reaction if the 1929 Geneva Convention was not observed." (The first British group captured at Jarama were returned home except for two). The US said nothing. On April 11th, the Republic issued a statement that prisoners lives shall be respected and they shall be delivered immediately to competent authorities and they cannot be tried without previous decision of the Council of Ministers.

After Franco had failed in several attempts to take Madrid, Mussolini was going to do it. On March 8 he began the attack north of Madrid. The first three days went better than planned. With only 500 casualties they had routed ten thousand poorly organized and led troops. It appeared there were no Republican troops in front of them. An Italian scouting patrol met another Italian speaking patrol and asked them how to get to Torija, "We know the way, just come with us." A little farther on they met more Italians and when they realized this was the Garibaldi International Brigade, they were prisoners.

The Garibaldis were fascinated by Italian prisoner Major Antonio Luciano who carried a large map case. It contained Italian General Roatta's plans for capture of Madrid including the manpower and armaments at his disposal. It was rushed to military headquarters. Enrique Lister's 11th Division fought grimly without rest or food in rain and sleet, routing the Italian forces taking 496 prisoners. It was the pressure by Mussolini to exchange Internationals for these prisoners that saved the lives of 16 including myself on April 1, 1938 when the officers commanding the firing squad were informed by Italian officers passing by that Franco had ordered Internationals to be taken alive for exchange purposes.

Herbert Matthews, the New York Times reporter, dashed up to the front, talked with the Italian prisoners, saw the orders in Italian. It was the first hard evidence that Mussolini had sent an expeditionary force. To emphasize this in his cable to the Times he wrote "they were Italian and nothing but Italian." The Times assistant managing editor Raymond McCaw, a catholic, had ordered the copy readers to substitute the word "insurgents" for "Italian" so it read "they were insurgents and nothing but insurgents." McCaw then sent Matthews a cable to send, spot news rather than handout stuff "we cannot print obvious propaganda."

Mussolini sent 100,000 foot soldiers with officers. Hitler sent several hundred officers to obtain war experience flying planes and driving tanks in battle, instructing Franco's officers, setting up transmission lines, for several months. Then he would call them back and send a new group to be "blooded." He ended up with a large corps of officers with war experience.

They did not win the war for Franco. The man who did was US Secretary of State Cordell Hull who was determined to see Franco win. State Dept archives are declassified after 30 years. In 1982 in the National Archives in Washington, DC, I found reports had come from US consuls in Seville and Vigo in fascist territory with slash marks indicating they had come in code and were marked for "Eyes of Secretary only" reporting arrival of gasoline and oil. Today we know Texas Oil Co. shipped over three million tons of gasoline and oil to Franco illegally when both Hitler and Mussolini could not spare any. Ford, General Motors and Studebaker supplied 12,000 military trucks while Hitler and Mussolini could only supply 3,000, Without this aid, we would have pushed Franco and his allies out of Spain. Franco won on April 1, 1939. WWII started exactly 5 months later. It was fortunate we had a backup, the Soviet and US armies. You should be aware the US army crossed the Channel only after the Soviet armies were advancing on all fronts, threatening to free all of Europe except in Italy where Allied troops were attacking. The cost was 50 million lives and NUCLEAR and chemical pollution of our planet. Cordell Hull received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946."

Carl Geiser wrote also a book: Carl Geiser, Prisoners of the Good fight. The Spanish Civil War, 1936-1939, Westport, Lawrence Hill & Company