BIBLIOTHEEK DER
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT
Published by the Spanish Press Services Limited., 99 Regent Street. London,
W.l and printed in Great Britain by the " Bedfordshire Standard" Limited
at 8 Howard Street, Bedford.
CHAPTER I
For the last few months Europe has been kept in turmoil and
Its peace gravely threatened by the repercussions of the
bpanish Civil War. From the beginning it was clear that in
the self-control of the Popular Front Government of France
lay the one hope of localising the conflict. A neutrality agreement
honourably kept, could alone promise a speedy issue of this trade
struggle and, at the same time, safeguard the peace of Europe. It
IS time to cast up the account.
THE FRENCH PLEDGE
Through the initiative of M. Blum, Prime Minister of France
ïu Powers made a collective declaration of neutrality\'
The French Government published its engagement on August 8
and 9 On the 15th M. Yvon Delbos, Minister for Foreign Affairs
paraphrased it m a note to Sir George Clerk, the British Ambassador
stating the Government\'s decision to abstain strictly from all
intervention, direct or indirect, in the internal affairs of Spain
More recently, again through the initiative of France, the signatories
of the non-intervention pact have been approached with a view to
making the engagement really effective by putting a stop to the
constant flow of volunteers to both fronts in Spain.
Now at the very time these declarations were being made
Ministers and other important servants of the French Republic\'
the Popular Front and of the various Communist organisations
composing it, m some cases with the open approval of the French
authorities, in others with their complacent connivance, were
supporting the communist and anarchist savagery, by the direct or
indirect export, the re-export and the transport to Spain of arms
munitions, war material, of airplanes either assembled or in Darts\'
of money and men. \'
France, through the duplicity of the Popular Front
Government, has shamelessly broken the non-intervention
pact and stands convicted before Europe as a nation that has
broken her word.
This unusual behaviour cannot be passed over in silence • it
must be held up to the scorn of all nations by a disclosure of the
actual facts. The double-dealing of the Popular Front Government
under the orders of the Komintern, is prolonging the resistance
of the armed gangs who with unheard of synicism call themselves
1
RIJKSUNIVERSITEIT UTRECHT
1417 4225
-ocr page 4-" the legitimate and democratic Government of Spain " and are
still, in the towns of the East Coast, decimating without pity the
inert mass of non-combatants.
In possession of irrefutable proofs, I feel bound to protest in
the cause of truth.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
maintaining the closest relations with the Spanish anarchists and
Communists, of supplying them directly and indirectly with all
softs of war material, money and men before the declaration of
August 15, after that date and even now as I write.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
permitting and even making it easy for the Spanish Ambassador
in Paris to act as the " recruiting sergeant" of his Government
with the connivance of the communist mayors of various towns.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
allowing the armed bands (militia) from Red Spain to occupy (in
the military sense) French territory with a view to controlling the
frontier towns between France and Nationalist Spain, to seize
Spanish ships and carry out military operations.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
having placed the subsidised transport service " Air France " at the
disposal of the Madrid Government on various occasions.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
having treacherously handed over to the Popular Front censorship
all the correspondence addressed to the Spanish Nationalists with
the result of further assasinations of defenceless people.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government through
voluntary omission, of allowing French employees to work overtime
in factories and workshops to make war material for the Madrid
Government.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
placing public platforms at the disposal of the Spanish Com-
munists.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
giving or allowing to be given every possible moral support to the
anarchists and communists who are destroying Spain.
I ACCUSE the French Popular Front Government of
allowing the gold which has been stolen fron the Bank of Spain
by the Madrid Government to be accepted in France and placed
in danger of being finally lost by its rightful owners.
2
-ocr page 5-PROOFS
I. The Supply of Arms, Munitions and War Material.
List of French Aeroplanes.
On July 20, 1936, the Spanish Ambassador in Paris, by the
express order of the Spanish Foreign Minister, visited the French
Prime Minister, M. Blum, and asked him to send them at once
abundant supplies of war material including 13 bombing planes,
to be delivered that afternoon in the aerodrome of Prat del
Llobregat (Barcelona); 50 light machine guns ; 2 million machine
gun cartridges; 1 million Lebel cartridges; C 75 cm. guns with
appropriate shells and 20,000 gas bombs.
The French Government, at a Cabinet meeting, agreed
to the demands of the Spanish Government but stipulated
that the method of obtaining and despatch of this material
be in accordance with the administrative provisions of
French law.
It was on this occasion that the military attaché to the Spanish
Embassy, Don Antonio Barroso, rather than assist in this matter,
refused to sign the necessary papers and sent in his resignation.
The Counsellor of the Embassy, Don Cristobal del Castillo, also
immediately resigned, refusing to sign papers and the cheque,
carefully prepared beforehand by the Embassy. Don Cristobal sent
a note to the press explaining his motives for leaving the diplomatic
service.
When the facts became known so great was the public outcry
that the French Government thought it better to suspend the
despatch of the war material for the moment. But already the
Madrid Government had sent two air officers to Paris, Major Aboal
and Captain Barleta; and they were even then in touch with the
French Ministers for Air and for War.
As a result of their attitude, Messrs. Barroso and Castillo were
closely watched by the French police and a few days later were
compelled to leave French territory as were also the Spanish consul
at Bayonne, Mr. Bermejo, and the vice-consul, Mr. Erice, who had
both refused to sign the papers of the Spanish merchant vessel,
Arar Mendi, which had come to Bayonne solely to load war
material.
FRANCE ACTS
On August 6, 1936, according to Action Française, the French
Minister for War, M. Deladier, sent an order for the immediate
delivery to the Popular Front Government of the following :
8 75 cm. guns; 1,600 cm. shells.
2,000 rifles, 50 machine guns, 6 million cartridges, and 10,000
3
-ocr page 6-airplane bombs of 10 kilos each. There were loaded in the Ciudad
de Cadiz.
The French Government, in its note of August 9, admitted
having exported arms to the Spanish Government but added
that these exports would cease. The order for the cessation
of such exports was from the beginning a dead letter.
On August 30, a train from Toulouse left on the Hendaye,
No. 10 siding, a truck P.L.M., mark F.V. 37661, loaded with
munitions and 20 machine guns. Thereupon an engine, drawing
a Spanish mail van, came on the scene. Six red militia men jumped
out of the van and at once loaded it from the truck. Then the
engine, loaded van and men returned to Irun.
On September 2, there was another truck at Hendaye, again
from Toulouse, bearing the mark K.V.W. 245882 and labelled
" Cerbère, Pascual Ibanez, 1st September, Munitions, Cartouches."
On the upper part of the label was the number 3161 and below
418,820. More than 136,000 cartridges reached the Spanish Reds
by these means.
It was also on September 2, that the Norwegian vessel,
Tourcoing, of the Wilhelm Wilhelmsen Line of Oslo, unloaded
47 cases of machine guns and parts in the port of Le Verdon.
This war material was sent by Huetz and Co. from Hamburg to
Hodeidah via Port Sudan. It was then loaded in two P.L.M. trucks
185081 and 181833 and sent to Bordeaux-Saint Louis and thence
to Hendaye.
On September 4, the trucks came back from Hendaye to
Bayonne because the Irun-Hendaye railway was by then in the
hands of the Nationalists. Now as these machine guns, according
to French law could not become the property of private individuals
nor even be taken into the Government arsenal they left Bayonne
for an unknown destination and could possibly be traced to one
of the Red fronts.
October 9, the Danish vessel, The Bess, reached Trompeloup
(Gironde) with a cargo of arms which was transferred to a Spanish
steamer going to Bilbao.
M. BLUM INFORMED
These incidents were brought to the knowledge of the
Prime Minister of France through the denunciation of the
deputy M. Jacques Doriot.
On October 8, frour trucks from Belgium arrived at St. Nazaire
loaded with 59 tons of " agricultural machinery, ordered by the
Spanish Embassy in Paris." They had crossed the frontier at
Jeumont and the Belgium customs seals were still intact. These
4
-ocr page 7-s
trucks which had been passed by the French Customs without
proper inspection were at once sent on again to Marseilles by the
order of one José Caparros.
Since the beginning of the Spanish Civil War trucks loaded
with arms have been leaving Perpignan for Spain via Monthonos,
two or three times a week. The authorities are perfectly aware of
this traffic and orders have been given that the trucks pass without
hindrance.
For example, on October 14, at 4 p.m., one of these trucks
appeared, labelled from Dordogne and loaded with 1,400 rifles
hidden under a heap of cabbages. It was stopped in front of the
gendarmerie at Olette; but orders came from the Prefecture of
Police that it was to be allowed to pass and naturally the orders
were obeyed.
These facts and others of a similar character were all known
to the Ministers of the Popular Front who nevertheless took no
steps to prevent breaches of the solemn pledge that France would
abstain from all intervention direct or indirect in the Civil War.
In the trenches and on the battlefields abandoned by the Reds
in Castille the Nationalists have found French rifles and machine
guns model 1936.
This needs a section to itself. Since the beginning of the war
the French Popular Front has supplied the Madrid Government
with hundreds of airplanes and to do so it was essential to have the
complicity of Ministers, Civil and Military authorities and of
aerodrome Commanders.
There are proofs extant of the delivery of 129 planes to
the Spanish Reds, and of these 83 are war planes either already
belonging to the French Government or ordered by it.
On July 20, two days after the beginning of the war, four
" Potez 54 " and 17 " Potez 25 " planes, all belonging to the
French Air Force, were sold by the French Popular Front to the
Madrid Government by contract. It was the question of signing
this contract that brought about the resignations of members of
the diplomatic and consular service already mentioned. The attacks
on the Blum Government which followed prevented it from
fulfilling the contract.
Immediately afterwards, the French Air Minister, M. Pierre
Cot, had recourse to a clever stratagem to override all objections
to the sale of French planes. The French firm Bloch were ordered
to supply the French Government with 8 bombing planes, type 130,
5
-ocr page 8-with the stipulation that payment would be made by exchanging
against them 17 French army planes, mark " Potez 25 " which
would be bought from Bloch et Cie by the Madrid Government.
The official order, dated July 28, and signed by M. Volpert,
director of the Technical Department of the Air Ministry, was
published complete in the Paris press.
On August 5 and 6, 13 Dewoitine planes. No. 375, arrived at
Toulouse on their way to Spain. The Air France line undertook
to carry the airmen who were afterwards to take charge of the
machines. About the same date another 6 " Potez 54 " left
Toulouse and landed in Barcelona. On August 8 there was an
article in The Times denouncing this traffic in aeroplanes. The
French newspaper L\'Intransigeant acknowledged the truth of the
accusation but pointed out that they had left Toulouse before
Saturday, August 9 (date of the declaration). This fact can hardly
be considered an excuse since on Friday, August 8, the French
Government had announced its decision to take no part in the
Spanish struggle.
A few days later, however, one of the French Ministers pointed
out the necessity for supplying the Madrid Government with new
planes. In fact on August 27, at 10.55 a.m. a Bloch 210 plane,
fully equipped and carrying 2,000 litres of petrol, left Villacoublay
for\'Spain piloted by M. Lionel de Marmier. The plane was
destined never to return, for it was destroyed on its arrival. The
Intransigeant was obliged to make this admission in its issue of
September 7.
Not many days later 4 Potez planes, brought from Air
France by the Madrid Government, left France for Bilbao.
On October 12, 27 French airplanes arrived at Barcelona.
Three days later Maurice Pujo could say in Action Française
that " nearly the whole of the air strength of the Madrid
Government, material and men, is French."
The entire staff of the Potez airplane factory at Meaulte worked
feverishly at the construction of 14 bombing planes, type 542, twin
motor Hispano-Suiza. On Sunday, October 18, seven of them,
camouflaged to conceal their military character, left Meaulte for an
unknown destination; but they landed in Spain.
List of French Aeroplanes.
At the end of October the following list of French aeroplanes
supplied to the Spanish Popular Front was published in the French
press:
16 Dewoitine
6 Potez 540
1 Bloch 210 with 2 Hispano-Suiza engines
1 Potez Hispano (type a secret)
6 Loire
7 Potez 542 with Oetrel-Lorraine
2 Dewoitine 371.
One Lockheed-Orion (bought by Detroyat in America and
resold to the Air Ministry before the revolution as a model. It
was flown to Spain by Pilot Corniglion-Molinié).
7 Latécoè\'re, the property of Air France Line, which, it is
common knowledge, is subsidised and controlled by the French
Government. These planes were sold to the Madrid Government
by the director, M. Serre, under orders from the Air Minister,
M. Pierre Cot.
25 Potez type, part of the reserve of the French Air Force.
They were included in the first contract drawn up between M. Cot
and the Spanish Government, and after some delay were finally
handed over.
10 Hanriot 182, ordered for the French Air Force and put
aside to be delivered to Spain.
45 Cauldron-Renault apparently ordered by Air France,
armanent Châtellerault.
FINANCIAL AID
In France many funds have been opened for the Spanish
Popular Front with the approval of the Government. The
responsibility of the Government is even greater, for Govern-
ment officials take part in and even organise these funds.
Most of the money thus procured is used in the purchase
of war material and its transport to Red Spain. The organs
of the French Popular Front have publicly announced the fact.
Amongst other writers :
Professor Langevin, André Malraux, J. R. Bloch, André
Chamson, G. Cudenet, Denise Moran, Elie Faure, Francis Jourdain,
and Henri Wallon, all people of note in the Front Populaire, have
made no secret of their attitude. In UHumanité of August 20 they
made an appeal to " all friends of Peace and Liberty to subscribe
immediately for aeroplanes and munitions to be sent to the Spanish
Red militia."
It is quite obvious, therefore, that the French Government, in
spite of its spontaneous declaration of neutrality, tolerated and even
approved of the collections made by the Front Populaire being used
for the purchase of war material and sent, more or less openly, to
the Frente Popular.
Four months after the Civil War started the subscriptions of
7
-ocr page 10-the C.G.T., the Committee of Solidarity and the Communist Party
amounted to eight million francs, i.e., an average of two millions
a month.
11. Recruiting of Volunteers for the Communists.
The French Government which contracted the grave respon-
sibility of allowing the first groups of volunteers for the Madrid
Government to be recruited from French territory and also allowed
volunteers from all parts to enter Spain through France, is suddenly
horrified at the news that Italian and German volunteers are
going to help the Spaniards to save their country from Red
barbarity. But the same government has tolerated something even
more serious in permitting the various Spanish Ambassadors in
Paris since July to act as the recruiting sergeants for the Frente
Popular.
Now for a government to allow the diplomatic representative
of another country in the throes of civil war to recruit men without
let or hindrance for one of the sides taking part in the struggle,
is in itself an evident act of indirect intervention, and yet France
did this before and after signing the non-intervention pact.
On August 7 the French journalist, M. Pierre Jacquier,
published a sensational note which we translate literally.
" On July 26, Le Bureau du Profitern (an organisation
really depending on the Komintern, but under the mantle
of the Internationale des Syndicats Rouges) decided on the
immediate subvention of a million francs for Madrid and
also an International Brigade of Workmen Volunteers. The
first battalion was to consist of about 5,000 men; and the
meeting places fixed were by a peculiar coincidence, all three
in France: Toulouse, Bordeaux and Ferpignan.
" We may add and certify that the first group of volunteers
is already on its way to France and the Communist Party has
already found lodgings in the Red Suburbs for these soldiers
of the International.
" The French Communists have undertaken to find comfort-
able lodgings and good food for the men. They are Vade, Cristofol
and Amelot and are working under the orders of Comrade Mon-
mousseau, President of the European Committee of the Profitern,
by the arrangement of the bureau who called him from Prague on
July 21 by a code telegram.
" Thus France has the sad privilege of becoming merely a
financial and military dependency of Moscow. For can one give
any other name to this recruiting in France of reinforcements on
behalf of the Soviet for the Spanish Communist Government ? "
s
But that is not all; another French journalist, M. Maurice
Pujo, added that in August the Spanish Ambassador, Don Alvaro
de Albornoz, was signing contracts with French airmen who passed
over to the Spanish Government forces on payment of 25,000 francs
a month and an All-in Policy of 200,000 francs.
He went on to say : " To recruit mercenaries, above all for a
civil war, is generally forbidden by the government of any country
because of the responsibility involved. But this recruiting is a grave
infraction of international law (of the laws of diplomatic relations)
when the recruiting sergeant is the very Ambassador of the country at
war. . . . The least that ought to be done is to call the Ambassador
to order. If the government fails to do this, it will prove once more
that it counts as nothing the dignity of France."
And the French Government not only failed to call to order
Alvaro Albornoz, but also Don Luis Araquistain, when he took
the former\'s place as Ambassador. On October 28, Le Jour said
of him : " The Spanish Ambassador in Paris is a mere recruiting
sergeant in agreement with our Communist mayors."
For example, on October 20, 200 volunteers, recruited in
France, were concentrated in Perpignan and thence were taken to
Barcelona in motor \'buses.
The recruiting centres in the north are Lille, La Madeleine,
Marquette, Marquen, Baroeul, and Saint André.
The same paper, Le Jour, reported that from this northern
district alone 1,500 volunteers had been recruited up to November 2.
This slow but steady stream of men from France, Belgium,
Russia, etc., which passes into Spain by the Catalonian frontier or
is shipped from Marseilles, has already reached a high figure.
III. French Territory and French Ports have been
occupied on different occasions by the Red
Militia.
The Spanish anarchists and communists have always enjoyed
the favour of the French authorities. Before Irun and San Sebastian
fell into the hands of the Nationalists, the Red troops were allowed
to cross and recross the French frontier quite freely, whereas this
was absolutely forbidden to the Nationalists. The Socialist member
for Jaen, Senor Alverez Angulo, had established military head-
quarters in Hendaye with the willing co-operation of the
Commissioner of Police, M. Picard, and even of the French
Ambassador to Spain, M. Herbette, who was also in the town.
But towards the middle of August, in order to prevent the
capture of Irun, the French authorities allowed Red militiamen,
armed and in full uniform, to pass freely from Por Bou to Bayonne,
9
-ocr page 12-via Toulouse. These militiamen were sent by the Anarchist
Iberian Federation to fight by the side of the Madrid Government
troops. They crossed the river Bidasoa and attacked the National-
ists in the rear. On August 17, a complete train loaded with war
material arrived at Hendaye from Barcelona and went on to Irun.
The consignor of this war material was the " Civil Governor " of
Puigcerda, and the consignee the Governor of San Sebastian.
There is documentary evidence of this incident.
On August 19, a " government " torpedo boat hidden in the
mouth of the Bidasoa, in front of Fuenterrabia, bombarded the
Nationalist positions; but the waters of the Bidasoa are international
and France may not allow the river to be used for any act of war.
Nevertheless the French Government made no protest whatever.
Has a government which acts in this way the right to
ask the help of England and to demand that other Powers
shall strictly observe the non-intervention pact ?
But this is not all. After the fall of Irun when the entire West
Pyreneen frontier was in the hands of the Nationalists, the French
authorities on occasion allowed the Red militia to establish military
outposts on the bridges of Irun and Behobia, where all who arrived
at the French frontier on their way to Spain were stopped and
examined. UAction Française, on October 19, in an article headed
" An intolerable scandal," formally accuses the French Government
of these acts of unneutral behaviour.
In the ports of France and French Morocco the vessels of
the Spanish Reds were given every kind of facility for loading
contraband war material under a thin disguise.
As a proof of this partiality many cases might be cited in
Marseilles and Bayonne. One will suffice, that occurred in Casa-
blanca in connection with the Campero. When the Cicil War began
this ship entered Casablanca from Port Arthur with 8,000 tons of
mazout. It belongs to the C.A.M.P.S.A. (Compania Arrendataria
del Monopolio de Petroleos S.A.); and the captain tried in vain to
get into touch with the directors of the company. On August 6,
the Spanish Consul in Casablanca informed him that the Govern-
ment of Madrid by verbal order, had decided to seize the Campero
and the cargo. The captain, officers and 30 of the crew refused
to hand over the ship to anyone without a written order to that
effect from the owners. Only 14 of the crew showed themselves
willing to carry out the orders of the Consul.
Thereupon the Civil Governor of Alicante commandeered an
aeroplane of the French line, Air France, and ordered its officers
to take ten Red armed militiamen to Casablanca. This they did
without a protest being raised either by the French company, the
French Consul or the Foreign Minister. These ten militiamen, with
a note from the Alicante governor requesting the French authorities
to help them, seized the Campero. Its captain appealed to the
French Court of Justice but received no redress. The French
authorities sanctioned the departure of the Campero on August 22,
without papers and without officers, and in spite of the reiterated
protests of the captain.
IV. Conduct of the Subsidised Line Air France.
We have just seen how the Air France Line allowed one of its
machines to be taken and used by the Cicil Governor of Alicante.
There is more in this incident, however. That same day on its
arrival at Alicante there alighted the Chief Secretary of the C.G.T.,
M. Léon Jouhaux, and M. Serre, director of the company. It was
the latter who personally gave the order to the French pilots to
carry out the instructions of the Spanish authorities. Le Jour,
commenting on this incident on August 17, said :
" Such complicity could never have existed without the
formal orders of M. Pierre Cot."
Throughout the struggle Air France has protected the interests
of the Spanish Popular Front as far as possible. It is a well-known
fact that in the company\'s workshops at Toulouse-Montaudran
there are as many Spanish machines as French machines undergoing
repair. The landing ground has become an air base for aeroplanes
destined for the Communists. The company has kept up a regular
service between Madrid and Alicante. The planes are constantly
carrying enormous cases for the Governments of Barcelona and
Valencia. At the beginning of October, for example, one carried
14 large cases which the French papers stated contained the parts
of guns.
To sum up, the Air France Line ever since the beginning of
the war has acted on the side of the Spanish anarchists and
communists. And this is no secret to the French Air Minister,
M. Pierre Cot.
V. "A Crying Scandal and a Treacherous Act."
These words are used by an important Paris newspaper in
qualifying the unpardonable behaviour of the Government of the
Front Populaire with regard to correspondence confided to France
and addressed to residents in Nationalist Spain.
It is difficult to imagine that any government could descend to
such depths, that any civilised state should have recourse to such
treachery. Here are simple honest folk who trustingly hand over
their correspondence to the French postal authorities. The letters
are addressdd to Pamplona, Burgos, Salamanca, Seville, etc. But
the postal authorities despatch them to some town in the power
of the Communist Government. It is easy to guess the tragic
consequences of this treachery.
The letters are opened by the anarchist censorship, at Barcelona.
But we shall let the Echo de Paris of November 12, speak :
" Very often these letters contain indications which make it
easy for these assassins, decorated with the name of \' Gouverne-
mentaux,\' to carry out actrocious reprisals."
Thus, trusting people, writing from France, have involuntarily
handed over beloved relatives and friends to the tender mercies of
the Popular Front.
That is bad enough; but there is worse to come. Some letters
sent from French frontier towns to other towns also in French
territory go strangely astray and are known to reach Spanish
territory where they are opened by the Communist censor. These
facts have been publicly denounced by the member for Haute Loire,
M. Augustin Michel.
The Front Populaire Government had gone too far this time
and had to order its minions to put a stop to the treacherous
co-operation with the Spanish Popular Front.
VI. Overtime for Spanish War Work.
The French Government has also violated the non-intervention
pact in allowing the express orders of the C.G.T. to work without
wages in order to supply the Red militia with aeroplanes and war
material. Candide, a French weekly, in its number, November 5,
definitely accuses the Air Minister, M. Pierre Cot, of allowing this
violation of the pact.
One could cite the names of many factories in the provinces
where they are working for Red Spain, but it will be enough to
mention the really important companies.
Bloch factory. The employees of this company have been
working overtime in the building of aeroplanes. At the end of
August there were day and night shifts in order to hurry up the
2 Bloch 200. The man arranging the matter was M. Moulin, one
of the Air Minister\'s trusted assistants.
Etablissments Brandt. Following in the footsteps of the Bloch
factory, the Executive Committee of the Brandt Syndicate Section
adopted this resolution at its meeting of August 29 : " The Executive
Committee have decided to work intensely in order to give efficient
help to our Spanish comrades who are fighting the rebels for the
defence of the Republic, and of peace. Following the example of
our comrades of the factories Bloch, Nieuport, Gnome and Rhône,
we agree to start working hard on the turning out of ten 81 m.m.
guns and 50,000 shells."
Factory Liorê Oliver. The workmen\'s delegates asked the
managers for permission to imitate their comrades of the factories
already mentioned and to make for the Spanish Popular Fyont an
aeroplane type Leo 257 Bis. The managers answered : If the
Minister (of Air) gives his consent we do not see any objection.
And there is no news to the effect that at this time, or any
other, the French Minister made any difficulty.
The French Government has, with evident pleasure, allowed
the platforms of the various parties and organisations which give it
their support, to be used by members of the Spanish Popular Front
for their propaganda, and also to insuh the National Government of
Burgos. On September 3, 1936, there was a large meetmg m the
Winter Velodrome in which took part two Spanish ex-ministers of
the Frente Popular, Marcelino Domingo and Antonio Lara, and
the Communist member known commonly as La Pasionana
From the platform they were allowed to heap insults on the Junta
of Burgos and to cry out with pathetic voices : Help us! You
alone can save us."
On September 28, in the great hall of the Mutaulité (C.G.T.)
M. Léon Jouhaux, Chief Secretary of the Union, declared that
Republican Spain (Red Spain, Communist Spam) had to be assisted
by word and by deed- and Tomas Pascual, Secretary to the Spanish
U.G.T., speaking in Spanish, asked for the direct help of France
and begged M. Blum\'s Government to give to the Frente Popular
Government all the aid to which it had a right to ask.
M Blum and M. Yvon Delbos had solemnly declared on
August 15 that France would refrain from any intervention, direct
or indirect, in Spanish affairs. Is it not, then, intervention to allow
Ministers and propagandists of the Spanish Popular Front to take
part in public demonstrations organised by the government
followers, there to insuh the Burgos Government and to appeal
publicly for definite help in the form of guns and planes ? What
would the French Press have to say, what would the public opinion
of Europe say if Germany or Italy were to organise spectacular
meetings at which Spanish Nationalists insulted the Communist
Government of Largo Caballero, and appealed for arms and
munitions ?
The propaganda organised by the French Popular Front is.
favour of the Communist Government has been open and shamelesn
Here are some of the slogans used : Des armes pour la République
espagnole! (arms for the Spanish Republic!), Des Canonsl (guns),
13
-ocr page 16-Des avians pour Vespagne! (aeroplanes for Spain!), Blum, des
canons (we want guns, Blum!), Blum, des avians! (aeroplanes!
Blum!). At mass meetings at Wagram, St. Cloud, Buffalo, and at
thTpopuTa?°Fron^^ meetings of all kinds of the parties constituting
IX. The Robbery of the Bank of Spain\'s Gold.
On July 25, the Spanish Communists began a robbery on the
largest scale ever known. The Communists and anarchists have
been gradually and methodically taking the gold from the vaults of
the Bank of Spam and sending it abroad. Now, actually this gold
does not belong to the State, or to any government but to the actual
company called the Bank of Spain.
The National Junta of Burgos and the Board of Administration
ot the Bank have published a protest to the various European
governments and, of course, to France, giving a detailed account
of the robbery.
All the gold which has left Spain has been accepted by the
Banque de France in Toulouse or in Paris. Is France, is her
national bank, with its credit stainless up to the present, to allow
this criminal coup, " cette escroquerie gigantesque," as the French
Press calls it, to be carried off successfully In spite of everythine
I cannot believe it. ^ j s>
The following statement was made by Senor Chapaprieta,
Chancellor of the Exchequer in Spain in 1935, to a reporter from
the Journal de Geneve relating to the export of gold from the Bank
of Spam, on October 10, 1936 :
The gold of the Bank of Spain belongs to the holders of the
bank notes. When the latter accepted these bank notes they knew
that these were guaranteed by solid gold, in a certain percentage
ot the total amount they represent.
By the diversion of this gold from the natural end for which
It IS deposited in the safes of the bank, the bank note holders have
been deprived of a guarantee which belongs to them. The Spanish
Government has no right to take the gold from the Bank of Spain.
With regard to this problem we can establish the following
conclusions: °
The gold which the bank holds, according to the law of its
constitution, is destined to guarantee the issue of bank notes.
Second, only in special circumstances can part of this gold be
used to control the international exchange, and even in this case
the State must also contribute in gold an amount equivalent to that
given by the bank.
r o ? therefore, to take this gold from the Bank
ot bpam and employ it abroad, or obtain loans on it, as according
-ocr page 17-to the 8th Chapter of the constitution of the State, this can only
be done by special authorisation of the " Cortes."
f^ .\'li^^ppeai-ance of the gold would cause repercus-
sions in the foreign commerce of Spain, and in the fulfilment of
her foreign contractual obligations.
State^inH\' ft h f \' ^^ ^^ ^^^^^ions with the
the " » J^oWers, is determined by laws voted in
the Cortes which cannot be modified by the Government.
The gold of the Banks of Issue is fundamentally in the nature
1 naSr ^^ \'\' ^^ occupied by
nf Francazal, the airport
of Toulouse, smce August 26, 1936, transported by Douglas pknes
and has been rec^ved by a representative of the Bank of sS
folWin^oVS^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^^^ -
gth August arrival French francs ^ equiv. in gold
31st „ ;; 24;ooo;ooo ;; ;; " " -
2nd September „ 24,000,000 " " "
jth „ „ 24,000,000 ;; " " " \'
1st October „ 22,680,000 , " " " "
4th „ „ 24,000,000 „ ;; ;; " -
8th „ „ 24,000,000 „ " " " "
\' " )) ,, ,, „
Gold proceeding from Barcelona and taken to Le Bourget :
follows^-\'^""\' shipments of French Bank Notes as
2nd October, 1936. 10,000,000 French francs in bank notes,
in five gripsacks.
14th October. 1936. 540,000 French francs in bank notes.
15
-ocr page 18-The following quantities of gold were also sent on to Le Bourget
by plane :
8th September arrival 24,000,000 French francs equiv. in gold
8th „ „ 24,000,000 „ „ „ „ »
9th „ „ 24,000,000 „ „ „ „ „
11th „ „ 17,000,000 „ „ „ „ „
12th „ „ 24,000,000 „ „ „ „ »
15th „ 24,000,000 „ „ „ „ „
16th „ „ 24,000,000 „ „ „ „ „
* Calculating 1 kilogram gold—20,000 French francs.
Apart from all this gold, which arrived under official conduct,
millions of gold, in objects and bank notes, is arriving daily in France
from the Catalonian frontier, and taken to the Communist and
Anarchist organisations of Marseilles, Toulouse, Perpignan, Cette,
etc. This is perfectly well-known to the French police and customs
officials, but they do not seem very alarmed at these interior
revolutionary preparations.
The Bank can verify the exactitude of this information.
My accusation is near its end. But first I want to copy a
signed letter which I have had in my hands, and is now in safe
custody. It was written and signed by the Socialist ex-minister
Fernando de Los Rios, at present Ambassador to the U.S.A. for the
Red Government of Spain. It is addressed to José Giral, then
Prime Minister of the Popular Front Government, and is dated
July 25. The letter shows, more forcibly than I could describe
the double-dealing and hypocrisy with which the Ministers were
prepared to act.
Here it is :
To His Excellency Don José Giral, President of the Council
Paris, July 25, 1936.
Dear friend,--I refrain from entering into details because the
advanced hour at which I start to write this letter, after a last
conversation with the Government, or rather, with some of its
most prominent members, would make it impossible that it should
leave by the Douglas airplane which is to carry it to Madrid so
that it may be delivered personally to you. The fight that the Pans
Press, with the sole exception, perhaps, of three newspapers, had
started against a possible delivery of armaments, from the moment
in which, owing to infidelities, it had knowledge of the coded
telegram you sent to the Government last Monday to Tuesday night,
became more acute when the aviators arrived, was stirred up by news
of my own presence here and as soon as the papers learnt, with
details so minute as to reveal the existence of widespread treachery,
16
-ocr page 19-Photograph of the letter of Fernando de los Rios to Senor Giral
^ , : ^Vv\'^n- fe\'i^^^v- ii^m^.-fA.
m 4 d Mil
-ocr page 20-I ^e^iw ;
"h hCu»^ «i ééu. «
-ocr page 21-I ^J »\'»it*,, iÄ âpt\'s«^, 4* iit» m\' tv* ƒ iliM.^
I. t*^ fpih \'lu^^ft^i^-j ft*i tt (Äi\'\'\'**^
if kfTnn U ul^éulA lijfy.p^Ji if â^^r^^^L-l
#
H^ * tpr,^ it iü ^ï , âs 4
-ocr page 22-. JTÄT^.A \'.hf-^itîét j /M» A« ^-fifii^ Sitnii \' ÜÄ/Ä-
tü/iftM J\'H »t^ H-i^^Ur»^^ m M\'
kl Hr- täi i \'i-\' t-j- ii Jfeem tH^^ii-tM. pf^tv-é^ .
\'f H f 2 4 i\'ij\' \'".nW-ttt^l jtM aêmtMn^i*/. -â*
kfH\'Ê^ Mi^T fi /„.L *\' J, 4Â
il -Jv-^iiJk.-^ htuj tu Cé «.i -fetir^sJjfcj^-^
« # JvV fcj ^^ H ^".fûê- âl i^l it,
-ocr page 23-all and every one of the points embraced by our requests. Last
night, on my return from London, I was urgently summoned by
the Leader of the Government to his house, where I found the four
Ministers x^o as far as we are concerned possess more influence
within the Cabinet, owing to the nature of the Departments they
direct. Ihe conversation was essentially political, and at their
request I made a few considerations upon the character of the
bpanish struggle, which cannot be looked upon as being strictly
national owing to a series of reasons which we analysed; military
frontier m the Pyrenees, Balearic Isles, Straits of Gibraltar,
Canaries, and breakage of the political unity of Western Europe.
Duty, therefore, and direct interest on the part of France to
help us. How ? We examined our demands and, from the attitude
ot the Ministers, I gathered that there existed a divergency of
opinions. A new question arose; that Spanish aviators should come
to Pans to fetch the machines; I pointed out the semi-impossibility
of this owing to our scarcity of personnel and to our intention of
retaining the French pilots. I was told, by one in a position to say
this, that the whole consignment of airplanes and bombs was ready
and could leave in the morning of to-day. ... I retired to sleep
and one hour later I was urgently aroused; the Air Minister, P. Cot
wished to visit me; he had inquired for me at the Embassy, and not
finding me there, I was advised by mutual friends that in order not
to awaken more suspicion, I should go to his house; I went there
and he told me it was impossible to convince the Minister for
Foreign Affairs of the legality of French pilots in taking aeroplanes
to Spain; the formula was to take them to Perpignan, etc. - this is
what I communicated last night, the 24th. \' \'\'
When I went this morning to the Air Ministry everything was
going well; when I arrived at the Potez firm the difficulties seemed
unsurmountable. The Press campaign and the publication of
the documents m which the Counsellor (of the Spanish Embassy)
resigns loom so big, that when Blum went this morning to see the
President of the Republic he found him perturbed and in such a
state of mind that he said : " What is being planned, this delivery
o± armaments to Spam may mean war or revolution in France"
and he asked that an extraordinary Cabinet meeting should be
summoned at 4 o\'clock in the afternoon.
P°.®"ion of the President of the Republic is shared by
several Ministers; the Cabinet was divided in its views and the
17
-ocr page 24-President of the Chamber, Herriot, has seen Blum and begged him
to reflect, for he considers that this has never been done before,
and that it may justify a de facto recognition by Germany and Italy
of any semblance of government set up in a Spanish city and
provide it with arms and ammunition in greater quantities than
those France can supply. From half-past two until a quarter to four
I have been with the Prime Minister and another Minister at the
house of a third party; " my soul is torn," said Blum, who is as
convinced as we ourselves are of the European significance of the
struggle that is being fought in Spain. Never have I seen him so
profoundly moved; " I shall maintain my position at all costs and
in spite of all risks," he said; " we must help Spain that is friendly
to us. How ? We shall see."
At 3.30 I again met some of them; the fight had been stern,
and a great role has been played in the discussion by a secret clause
which fate revealed to me; in the Commercial Treaty or Commercial
Agreement signed in December, 1935, by Martinez de Velasco,
there exists under the form of a confidential note an undertaking
on the part of Spain to purchase from France armaments and
munitions to the value of twenty million francs. The Minister of
War had inquired last night about this, and asked if I knew some-
thing with reference to this caluse, to which I answered " yes,"
replying thus because, speaking in Embassy circles to Senor Castillo
(the Counsellor) he had said something to me in half words which
made me not a little suspicious; I asked for the dossier of the Treaty
and found the confidential note in question, a note which none of
the present French Ministers was aware of, which our Constitution
forbids and which has not been submitted to our Foreign Affairs
Committee.
The resolution of the Cabinet has been to avoid delivery from
Government to Government, but to grant us the necessary permits
so that private industry may deliver to us and circulate such material
as we may purchase. The method of executing this and facilitating
it will be decided by a Committee of Ministers, on which we have
some of our most faithful friends; to-morrow they will hold their
most important and decisive meeting, and they anticipate that
it is almost absolutely certain that we shall be able to take the
aeroplanes out of the country after the 25th on Monday or Tuesday,
and we shall organise, or rather I shall organise, aided by Cruz
Marin and some other Spanish as well as some excellent French
friends, the safe passage of the bombs, a difficult matter, especially
for one who, like myself, is not an astute fox, but we shall see what
necessity makes one capable of. The Potez 54 machines will be
constructed, and we shall endeavour to shorten the terms. As
regards all the armaments I think we can only deal with Hotchkiss.
18
-ocr page 25-"Our Conversations are Overheard."
Our conversations are overheard and everything that you say
is published with slight alterations ; for the good of Spain and the
efficiency of the negotiations, it is advisable to speak with the
utmost reserve, and to resort to pre-arranged words and make only
occasional references to the necessity of employing such or such
means for the struggle.
When you use words such as indispensable, urgent, essential,
etc., you pave the way, given the secret organisation which exists,
for the sabotage of things that matter.
I want to tell you that to-night, acting on a request made to
me by the Prefect of Police, I have taken up residence at a room
at the Embassy; I regret it, but I do not think you will consider
this indiscreet. I think it indispensable that the Ambassador should
arrive quickly and assume the direction of this with full personality
and responsibility.
To all the Cabinet my greetings and my best words of
encouragement and faith in our Spain; for you besides the sincere
embrace of your old friend.
Yours,
(Signed) Fernando de los Rigs.
After that I cannot but feel that it is not France, it is not the
gallant French nation whose destiny has fallen into the unworthy
hands of the Popular Front Government that I accuse. I ought to
accuse and I do accuse the Government of the French Popular
Front.
[This Chapter was first published in " The Catholic Herald"}
-ocr page 26-CHAPTER II
HELP FROM FRANCE HAS NEVER CEASED
iHE preceding chapter deals with the earlier phases of French
intervention on the side of the Spanish Government. It is
clear that on July 25, 1936, with the full complicity of the
French Government, the envoy of the Madrid Government
m Pans was making arrangements, not only for immediate delivery
of arms and munitions but for future deliveries (" the Potez machines
will be constructed,") with arrangements to prevent any implication
of the French Government, which was within a fortnight to suggest
a pact of non-intervention.
On July 26, 1936—six days after the Civil War began—the
"International Brigade of Workmen Volunteers" was formed, and
on August 7, the first group of volunteers was already on its way
to France en route for Spain.
The Spanish Government in March, 1937, submitted to the
League of Nations a statement, supported by documents, on the
subject of Italian volunteers in Spain. The earliest document is
dated December 28, 1936—it is an order of the day to the 530th
Battalion of Blackshirts (not troops) on the occasion of their
embarkation for Spain. Thus the earliest evidence discovered by
the Spanish Government is no less than four months subsequent
to the mobilising of the International Brigade on the side of the
Spanish Government.
The letter, dated July 25, 1936, quoted on page 16 supra
written by the Socialist ex-Minister Fernando de Los Rios to
Jose Giral, the then Prime Minister of the Popular Front Govern-
ment, shows that, in his efforts to get delivery of armaments and
aeroplanes into Red Spain, Senor Los Rios had tried London
before he tried Paris. The letter also expresses the fear that French
action might Justify German and Italian action in providing the
Anti-Reds with arms and ammunition " in greater quantities than
those France can supply."
Mr. Fenner Brockway, the British Socialist leader, at the
I.L.P. Conference in Glasgow on March 29, 1937, said
"he could not tell publicly all he knew, but when the story of
the Spanish War came to be written, it would be found that
the assistance that the French Revolutionary Left Party had
20
1
given to the Spanish Workers in the way of supplies and
enabling volunteers to go through, would be equal to that of
any party in the world."
All this took place a year ago. Since then the world has heard
a great deal of Italian and Ge\' man help given to General Franco.
What of France and Russia ?
In the pages that follow, details are given of the recent in-
tervention on the Red side. The supply of men and war material
from France has never ceased.
In an illuminating series of articles in the French paper
VAction Française (July 14 to September 1, 1937) M. Pierre
Hericourt describes with great wealth of detail the help which has
reached Red Spain through France, or by French agency.
M. Hericourt personally inspected some of the war material
captured by General Franco\'s forces, and says that to obtain a
reasonable estimate of the total his figures should be multiplied by
at least ten. He writes (September 1, 1937) :
" Of the war material captured in the course of military
operations by General Franco\'s troops, I have personally
counted :
318 French machine guns.
938 Russian machine guns.
565 machine guns, various nationalities.
1,358 French automatic rifles.
120,000 charges for the above.
2,600,000 cartridges for the French Lebel rifle.
2,800 French rifles.
12,575 Russian rifles.
886 Czech rifles.
3,852 Mexican rifles.
24 French mortars.
32 French \'75 field guns.
16 Heavy 6 in. French guns.
48 4\'2 Russian guns.
110 Russian tanks.
52,000 French and Russian shells.
4,875,000 cartridges for Russian rifles."
In introducing the series, M. Hericourt says (July 14) that the
traffic in war material over the Franco-Spanish frontier at Cerbère
" has never slowed down since January and February last." He
mentions by name M. Julien Cruzol, Mayor of Cerbère, as a man
who plays a leading part locally in this traffic.
Between June 1 and June 4, says M. Hericourt, the Mayor
sent across the frontier into Spain 174 lorries and carts, 25 motors,
Never since the month of February has the nassaj^e of
volunteers ceased on the Red frontier in the Pyrenees " M Serf
wr x:: »f r ^ ~ ^^
rss^sSHs
cSemS^^^^^^^^^ \' h^ld court > at the
Silla (described\'as the
Soviet political delegate to the " Libertad " military column) dec W
a period of about seven weeks-he had passed over ihe Cata a?
frontier more than 2,800 volunteers." *-ataian
rnntr^" third article in the series states that, in direct
WnTn^- ^ ^ ^^^^^^ published in the FrS
oTthe^S/^ aeroplanes have flow„
— and-
the \' Ai\'S.S\'nV\'^\'?"^\'" r ^^^ P^rt played by
inLence:-^ founded under Lque
Going on to deal with the heavier armament that has b^Pn
passed into Red Spain via France, M. Hericourt state tJat GeneS
Franco s salvage service has set up its own workshops t^adam the
captured arms to the available\'^ammunition and^ the caotured
ammunition to the available arms. captured
these workshops he visited and saw a hundred Russian
machine-guns being repaired. "^^ureu Kussian
On the same occasion he saw English 4-5 inch guns with the
following marks on the breach :
—8—2—20—
—O.F.—4-5 inch—Howr—Mark—
—R.G.F.—1914—
—No. 167—
These guns were captured on the Bilbao front.
In the case of some machine guns, the guns were Russian and
the tripods French. "This implies," says M. Hericourt, "a
previous understanding of a somewhat close character to ensure
that the guns and the tripods should meet on the Madrid front."
" By far the greatest part of the captured material," says
M. Hericourt, " is Russian so far as concerns rifles and machine
guns. After this comes French material—rifles and mitrailleuses."
Next comes material of Czecho-SIovak or Mexican origin.
On board one ship alone, the Sylvia (captured in the Straits of
Gibraltar) there were 250 Maxim machine guns and 10 Schneider
guns.
The Nationalist workshops have a busy time reconditioning
the rifles of every type that have been captured. In one case he
saw 1,800 French rifles, and 1,600,000 rounds of the same calibre.
These bore French official stamps. The Soviet rifles were even
more numerous, and nearly all this material was in new condition.
So with the Czech rifles, which bore marks showing Brno as their
place of manufacture.
In another artillery park, M. Hericourt saw French Lewis
guns of 1917-18 types, and was told he would see similar captures
at Seville and Valladolid. At this park, 558 Lewis guns and 38,000
refills had been repaired. In another park he saw 45 mm. Russian
shells, one type for anti-tank work. Elsewhere he saw big shells
for Russian guns and for French 75\'s.
Captured Russian tanks were seen by M. Hericourt in another
workshop. Very few had sustained severe artillery damage. Experts
told him that from three captured tanks they could put one effective
tank together. In all 110 Russian tanks were taken, from which
28 had been assembled.
On July 17, 1937, 320 aviator pupils arrived from Barcelona
at the Orly Aerodrome. On July 15, 100 volunteers of various
nationalities coming from Marseilles entered Red Spain via Perthus.
" Almost daily lists," says M. Hericourt, " could be given," and
he states that on July 10 the Netherlands Minister in Paris delivered
a Note at the French Foreign Office referring to the passage of
Dutch subjects through France into Red Spain. The procedure,
23
-ocr page 30-said the Minister, is that they leave Holland in groups of four or
five, meet in Antwerp, and with the aid of local Reds cross the
French frontier at Jeumont, for Roubaix. In Paris they are lodged
at the International Red Assistance House in the Rue Mathurin-
Moreau, and they travel by stages (all named) to the Mediterranean
coast where they take passage to Barcelona and Valencia.
The complaint of the Netherlands Minister, dated Julv 10,
was taken so seriously at the Foreign Ministry that the Foreign
Minister at once requested the Minister of the Interior for an
immediate enquiry. The Minister of the Interior ordered the
Surété Nationale and the Prefecture of Police to go into the matter
both in Paris and in the provinces. The enquiry was made, the
Minister was informed, nothing happened, and M. Hericourt
concludes that the Minister\'s inaction " amounts to complicity."
In the course of his examination of this frontier question,
M. Hericourt gives details of day-by-day consignments from
France to Spain thus :
July 17-19. 240,000 litres of motor spirit.
„ „ 2 8-cylinder Ford cars.
,, ,, 64 Ford chassis.
,, „ 87 light lorries.
„ „ 56 6-cylinder chassis.
„ ,, 1 ambulance.
,, ,, 3 lorries with radio and loud-speaker.
,, ,, 4 armoured repair-cars.
„ „ 157 tons of foodstuffs.
Via Cerbère :
July 18. 54 trucks of explosives and war material.
July 20. 60,000 uniforms for the Red Army, made
in France.
20,000 gas masks.
Via the sea :
The Lithuanian ship Marijanpole carried from Havre
14,000 shell cartridges (75 mm., 1900-1915), of normal
charge, from the general reserve of munitions of Leymont
(Ain), 578 cases of shell cylinders, 278 cases of big gun
ammunition. Most of this was from the Schneider
factory, which is as much nationalised as Woolwich
Arsenal is.
On July 20 the Spanish vessel Betis left Marseilles
for Barcelona and Valencia and the French ship France
had an identical cargo.
In Franco\'s " aeroplane cemeteries," M. Hericourt saw the
following types : Portez, Dewoitine, Caudron, Nieuport-Loire,
Farman, Breguet, Khoolhoven, Fokker, Curtiss, Vickers, Lockheed
and Valtec, not to mention the Russian planes.
M. Hericourt publishes a photographic facsimile of a page
from the log of a French pilot, whose war flights are detailed and
countersigned by Chief of Squadron Abel Guidez, formerly military
pilot of the 2nd Regt. d\'Aviation at Strasbourg.
M. Hericourt refers to the activity of the Air Minister,
M. Pierre Cot, and his friends, in organising courses of pilot
instruction for Spanish pilots. M. Hericourt adds that every
effort is being made to recruit French personnel, quoting the actual
instance of a young French mechanic who became a pilot and took
part in several bombing raids until finally crashed on February 11
by one of General Franco\'s chaser planes. He returned to France
to convalesce and to be trained as first pilot. Every facility, says
M. Hericourt, "has been granted him . . . and notably by the
Popular Federation of Aeronautic Sports, whose offices are in Paris,
at 65-67 Avenue des Champs-Elysées." This is the pilot, a page
from whose log book is referred to above.
The sea-borne traffic was found by M. Hericourt to be just
as extensive as that across the Pyrenees frontier. " Nearly every
day ships with contraband of war leave Marseilles for one of the
ports in Red Spain."
Here is a list taken in March and April last :
Mar. 1. Franc, from Port-de-Bouc for Barcelona.
„ 2. Legazpi, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
,, 5. Douce-France, from Marseilles for Red Spain.
„ 7. Ampurdan and Cala-Pi, from Marseilles for Red
Spain.
,, 7. Briquetas-Zorrota, from Bassens for Bilbao.
,, 8. La Corse, from Marseilles for Red Spain.
,, 11. Sac-7, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
,, 12. Bolivar, from Marseilles for Red Spain.
,, 12. Condé, Villa-de-Madrid and Ciudad-de-Barcelona,
from Marseilles for Barcelona.
,, 13. Frutero and Trinidad, from Marseilles for Valencia.
,, 13. Sil, from Bassens for Red Spain.
,, 13. Josina, from Bassens for Bordeaux.
„ 16. Franc, Genoveva and Nogin, from Marseilles for
Red Spain.
,, 19. Auducmendi, from Sète for Red Spain.
,, 19. Vicente-la-Roda, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
,, 22. Cabo-San-Agustin, from Bone for Red Spain.
,, 23. Betis, Francisca-Casonovas and Julio-Casciarro,
from Marseilles for Red Spain.
,, 25. Dover Abbey, from Saint-Louis-du-Rhône for
Barcelona.
„ 29. Antonio, Cala-Morlanda, Inès and Piedad, from
Marseilles for Red Spain.
„ 31. La Corse, Cervera and Ampurdan, from Marseilles
for Red Spain.
Apr. 2. Legazpi, from Marseilles for Red Spain.
„ 5. Genoveva and Le Gaulois from Marseilles for
Valencia.
„ 6. Espana 2, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
„ 8. Aceima, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
„ 9. MacGregor, from Bordeaux for Red Spain.
„ 10. Vicente, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
„ 11. Cala-Portals and Capitan-Segarra, ivoniMsLïs,&ï\\\\&^
for Barcelona.
„ 13. Leonia, from Marseilles for Barcelona.
„ 17. Ciudad-de-Reus and Dover Abbey, from Marseilles
for Barcelona.
„ 24. La Murtra and Inez.
„ 25. Teresa.
„ 26. Ramon-Canada.
„ 28. Cervera.
„ 29. Aceima, Augusto, Carmencita and Ampurdan.
(All these ships named were carrying war material.)
General Franco\'s vessels have made in all about fifty important
captures at sea. Among the materials on board these ships there
were about 100 aeroplanes, 100 cannon, 3,000 machine guns
150,000 rifles, 80,000,000 cartridges, 120,000 shells, 19,000 air
bombs, with war material of all sorts. This does not include
ships sunk.
The s.s. Galdames was captured on April 19, i.e. after the
Non-intervention agreement, by the cruiser Canarias. On board
were found, among other arms and ammunition, several hundreds
of cases of gasmasks, of French manufacture. The boxes bore in
French a label stating : " This apparatus can be sold only if stamped
by the Control of the Ministry of War. It cannot be taken back
or changed." The Control stamp was dated February 5, 1937.
Here is the list given by M. Hericourt of the materials captured
in the s.s. Sylvia, in the Straits of Gibrahar :
Maxim machine guns, 250.
Cartridges for Maxim machine guns, 6,392,850.
Machines for charging the belts, 42.
Schneider 75 guns, 10.
Schneider tractors, 10.
" 75 " percussion shells, 25,088.
" 75 " fuse shells, 9,945.
" 75 " fuses, 8,757.
-ocr page 33-Mortars of 81 mm., 99,
Bombs of 81 mm., 40,731.
Fuses, 81 mm., witli multiplier, 24,330.
Projection cartridges, 34,392. Other cartridges for mortars,
32,485.
Platforms for mortars, 86.
Supplementary charges, 34,460.
Tripods for mortars, 90.
Sub-machine guns, Bergmann, 1,260.
Machines for loading belts, 124.
Spare parts for Bergmann, 25.
Browning sub-machine guns, 100.
Mauser rifles, 7-92 mm., 3,010.
Muskets, 7-92 mm., 1,971.
French sub-machine guns, 4,541.
Cartridges for the same, 13,713,720.
Chargers for the same, 36,078.
Charge carrying bags, 2,160.
Cartridges P. bullets 7-92 mm., 7,298,000.
In the s.s. Rona, captured off Bilbao, the following was
seized :
" Western type " gunpowder, 2,100 kms.
Small filling type gunpowder, 14,150 kms.
"Trilita " type gunpowder, 88,000 kms.
Shells " 75 " with GM fuse, 19,755.
„ with M fuse, 120.
„ (yellow, with 2 large black crosses), 30,422.
„ (yellow, with 1 large black cross), 5,290.
„ (yellow, with 2 small black crosses), 1,827.
,, (yellow, with 1 small black cross), 195.
,, (yellow, with 2 black crosses and 1 white), 1,473.
„ (yellow, with 2 black crosses and 1 white in a
green circle), 760.
Fuses for the same, French type, 40,319.
(Similar lists are given in respect of several other ships.)
The s.s. Mar Cantabrico was a particularly rich prize. Among
the materials which she carried were 50 cases of ammunition for
big-game hunting—explosive and dum-dum bullets. She also
carried 30 aeroplanes.
The material reaching Red Spain by the sea routes is mostly
from Russia and Czecho-Slovakia : liaison between ports in Red
Spain and the Black Sea has been constant since the beginning of
the war. On August 19, 1937, the s.s. Ciudad-de-Cadiz (4,600 tons)
was torpedoed off the Dardanelles by one of General Franco\'s
submarines. " Yet," comments M. Hericourt, " the Soviet
Ambassador continues at the Non-intervention Committee to
protest against this or that initiative of the Italians and Germans
in the Mediterranean."
M. Hericourt\'s details of the participation of the French Air
Ministry in this intervention are remarkably full and well-
documented. He mentions, for instance, the fact that on the day
when the Control was estabhshed, in March last, all the Spanish
pilots being trained at Bourges, were suddenly sent back to Catalonia.
Later, other centres were organised, and on July 30 six of the
Bourges machines were sent to Barcelona.
The Air Company known as Lejeune-Aviation is referred to as
one which founded the Pilot School of Villeneuve-sur-Lot from
which airmen fly solo to Madrid, and M. Hericourt also describes
the Royan School of Flying for the use of the Valencia Government.
They persuaded the Royan Municipal Council, says M. Hericourt,
so as to obtain a subvention, that it was a school for civil aviation and
" aerial tourism." But the Spanish pupils not only pay no fees
they are paid 105 francs a week. \'
In the Municipal Council of Royan, one member. Dr. Moulinas,
protested, before the Council agreed by one vote to support the
school. He asked who paid the " pupils\' " salaries, why all the
trainees were Spanish, and " had aerial tourism in Spain developed
to such an extent during recent months that this training was
necessary ?"
M. Hericourt concludes his survey : " Had I not seen all this
with my own good eyes as witness, and by the indisputable proof
afforded by the capture of material, I could never have believed
that we had sent to Spain to assist in the triumph of disorder and
anarchy so much war material that we must have drawn on our
own safety reserves to some extent."
Mr. Raymond Burns has been contributing to the Northern
Daily Mail, Hartlepool, his impressions of the visit he has just
paid to Catalonia.
He describes how he climbed out of the train at Cerbère, the
French frontier station, and got into a train that was to take him
into Spain. Here is what he says :
"... I think there must have been two score of lorries,
brand new French lorries, standing lashed to trucks in the
sidings, awaiting dispatch into Spain. Our train was pushing
approximately twenty trucks, each laden with one lorry.
These vehicles, as we were soon to learn, are crossing the
frontier by night and by day from France not in scores but in
hundreds."
" . . . Well . . . these supplies are rushing in, and that
IS all there is to it. A student of international law might offer
the defence that lorries are not specific armaments, and hence
permissible, but nobody who has seen—as we were to see_
the military uses to which these vehicles are put throughout
28
in^.
-ocr page 35-Catalonia could possibly regard the supplies as anything but
part of the Spanish Government \' war potential.\'
"... But for the continued support of France and the
Soviet," declared one earnest young American, " we should
now be beaten. I don\'t care if you print that, either."
The New Leader of September 10 gives the text of the charges
brought against the Communist leaders in .Valencia by the " Red "
Government. These charges include " that they exported money
and valuables to France."
The official reply of the P.O.U.M. (Partido Obrero de
Unificacion Marxista—the party to which the accused Communists
belong), states, among many other details :
" The obtaining of arms by political parties was not
illicit, and the only way of obtaining such arms was by
purchasing them from abroad by exporting money and
valuables to France and elsewhere."
Here is an admission by the Communists themselves.
Published by the Spanish Press Services Ltd., 99 Regent Street, London,
W.l and printed in Great Britain by the "Bedfordshire Standard" Limited
at 8 Howard Street, Bedford.
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