Gordon Thomas - The Day Guernica Died

The Day Guernica Died

Gordon Thomas
and Max Morgan-Witts

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

Copyright 1975 by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts

ISBN: 978-1-4976-5874-5

This edition published in 2014 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com

Guernica has the happiest people in the world, regulating their affairs by a body of peasants under an oak, and always conducting themselves wisely.

Jean Jacques Rousseau, eighteenth century

Your fight in Spain was a lesson to our opponents.

Adolf Hitler to German

troops returning from Spain,

June 1939

Spain gave me an opportunity to try out my young air force and for personnel to gather experience.

Hermann Gring at Nuremberg

War Crimes Trials, March 1946

The first squadron dropped their bombs, I saw them, but by the time I was over the target, the town was obscured by dust and smoke, so we had to drop our bombs as best we could we couldnt tell what they were hitting.

Hans Henning, Freiherr von Beust,

squadron leader over Guernica,

April 26, 1937, as reported

to the authors, 1974

It is impossible to give an adequate picture of the indescribable tragedy.

Jos Labaura, mayor of

Guernica, on Radio Bilbao, May 4,

1937

Please induce Franco to issue an energetic and sharp denial thatGerman fliers attacked Guernica.

Joachim von Ribbentrop,

German ambassador in London,

to Foreign Ministry, Berlin,

May 4, 1937

Guernica was not bombed by my air force it was destroyed with fire and gasoline by the Basques themselves.

Press release from Franco

headquarters, May 5, 1937

An international investigation of Guernica is to be rejected under all circumstances.

Adolf Hitler to Von Ribbentrop,

May 15, 1937

Guernica was an experimental horror.

Winston Churchill, in

The Gathering Storm, 1948

World War Two began in Spain.

Claude Bowers, U.S. ambassador

to Spain, in My Mission to

Spain, 1953

Guernica can offer nothing of interest to anyone concerned with its past, nor is there any value in discussing what happened then with anyone here.

Gervasio Guezuraga, mayor of

Guernica, to authors, 1974

THE NATIONALIST HIGH COMMAND:

General Francisco Franco, Commander in Chief

General Emilio Mola, Commander, Nationalist Army of the North

Colonel Juan Vign, General Molas Chief of Staff

General Alfredo Kindlan, Commander, Spanish Air Force

General Juan Yage, Commander, Moroccan troops

THE CONDOR LEGION:

General Hugo Sperrle, Commander in Chief

Lieutenant Colonel Wolfram, Freiherr von Richthofen, Chief of Staff

Major Klaus Fuchs, Wing Commander, Flying

Major Heinz Trettner, General Sperrles Adjutant

First Lieutenant Rudolf von Moreau, Leader, Experimental Bomber Squadron

First Lieutenant Karl von Knauer, Leader, No. 1 Bomber Squadron

First Lieutenant Hans Henning, Freiherr von Beust, Leader, No. 2 Bomber Squadron

Captain Ehrhart von Dellmensingen Krafft, Leader, No. 3 Bomber Squadron

First Lieutenant Herwig Knuppel, Leader, Messerschmitt Fighter Squadron

Captain Franz von Lutzow, Leader, Heinkel Fighter Squadron

Lieutenant Hans Joachim, Fighter Pilot

Lieutenant Balthazar, Reconnaissance Pilot

Lieutenant Count Max Hoyos, Bombardier

Captain Klaus Gautlitz, Chief Operations Officer

Lieutenant Hans Asmus, Assistant Operations Officer

Lieutenant Heinz Raunce, Assistant Operations Officer and some five thousand other unnamed officers and other ranks

THE PEOPLE OF GUERNICA

Jos Labaura, Mayor

Rufino Unceta, Arms Manufacturer

Luis Unceta, Augusto Unceta, His Sons

Jos Rodrguez, His General Manager

Father Jos Iturran, Parish Priest, Santa Mara Church

Father Eusebio Arronategui, Parish Priest, San Juan Church

Captain Juan Corts, Chief Medical Officer

Teresa Ortuz, Nurse

Carmen Batzar, Nursing Auxiliary

Captain Juan de Beiztegi, Garrison Commander

Lieutenant Ramn Gandara, Staff Officer, Garrison HQ

Lieutenant Juan Dominguiz, Field Officer, Loyola Battalion

Juan Plaza, Farm Worker

Mother Augusta, Superior, Carmelite Convent

Mother Mara, Superior, La Merced Convent

Juan Silliaco, Bartender / Volunteer Fireman

Isidro Arrin, Restaurateur

Pedro Guezureya, Restaurateur

Juan Guezureya, Cipriano Guezureya, His Sons

Julio Bareno, Bank Manager

Rafael Herrn, Factory Manager

Antonio Arazamagni, Baker

Mara Ortuza, Housekeeper

Faustino Pastor, Soldier, Saseta Battalion and some twelve thousand unnamed townspeople, soldiers, and refugees

Jos Antonio de Aguirre, President, Basque Government

Francisco Lazcano, Presidential Aide in Guernica

Jess de Leizaola, Basque Minister of Justice

Father Alberto de Onainda, Canon of Valladolid Cathedral

On March 28, 1975, four bombs rocked the ancient town of Guernica in northern Spain. It was not the first time, nor the last, that such incidents had occurred, and it provoked a not untypical reaction by the Franco regime. Next day, thousands of Spanish Civil Guards armed with machine guns virtually sealed off Guernica from the rest of the country.

Basque Nationalists had set off the bombs to commemorate an event that had occurred thirty-eight years earlier. This is the story of that eventand hopefully an explanation of why, even now, efforts are being made to distort what happened in Guernica on April 26, 1937, that has made it symbolize the horrors of war to millions of people, inspired Pablo Picasso to immortalize it in his most famous painting, and placed it apart in the annals of warfare.