The Untold Story of Spanish Civil War Veterans in British Military Service during the Second World War

Having spent considerable time studying the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, this reviewer was well aware of the role in the French Resistance and the “Free French” of exiled Spanish Republicans. But I had never heard of Spanish Republican exiles serving in the British Armed forces, which is dealt with in this revealing work by Séan F. Scullion, a British Army engineer officer. This is literally the first book in English to address the hitherto untold story of Spanish Republicans serving in the British armed forces during the World War II, hundreds of men whose role is still largely overlooked.

Scullion picks up the story of these men well before their entry into British service. We get looks into the early lives of some of them, their role in the Spanish Civil War, their lives as refugees from Franco, efforts by many to foster Resistance to his regime, and how they came to enter British Service, initially not welcomed with open arms.

We then get to see the various ways in which these men – Scullion identifies well over 500, and there were probably more – served variously as airmen, infantrymen, commandos, sailors, and more, in virtually all theatres, some in unique all-Spanish formations.

Some of the stories are poignant, such as that of four boys who fled Spain in 1937, the Sauquillo Echevarria brothers, Lucio and Gabriel, then 14 and 11, and the Irala Vara brothers, Josè Maria and Rafael, 13 and 12. The two eldest would die in British service fighting in Normandy.

Scullion follows his account of the role of these men during the war with a look at the postwar lives of some of them, and also the efforts by these veterans to secure recognition and memorialization of their wartime service.

Churchill's Spaniards is a very valuable read for anyone with an interest in the Spanish Civil War and anti-Franco resistance, as well as the role of fugitives from fascism in its defeat.

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Note: Churchill's Spaniards is also available in e-editions.

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