Arming Spanish Republicans by France 39/40

[Andy H]

The Anglo-French Mission to Moscow in August 1939 was a fact finding mission to discuss possible reactions & actions to be undertaken by these countries against German aggression.

On August 13th, the Russian rep Marshal Voroshilov asked some 8 questions, of which No 4 was:-
What forces do French propose to have on the Spanish Frontier?

The French rep General Doumenc responded with:-
As far as he believed that the only troops necessary would be light frontier detachments possibly reinforced by 200,000 Spanish Republicans now in France

I would like to know if there were any concrete plans for arming these 200k Spanish Republicans?, Any paper units formulated?, and Were these 200k even partially concentrated within France or just spread here & there?

Regards

[phylo_roadking]

Andy - I wouldn't have thought the French would have been as stupid as to concentrate them in one place; and if they had been - that's big enough number that we would have heard of it?

1/ housing and feeding a group THAT size in one or even a couple of groups would be a huge undertaking, and

2/ it would be a huge potential...um..."crowd control" problem

Keeping them split into small groups reduces the possiblity of then creating some sort of a border incident, let alone some sort of concerted action like the Czechs in Russia during the Civil War.

BTW - what DID happen to them - after the French Armistice in June 1940??? IIRC I saw some mention of a SMALL contingent of Spanish Republicans during the OLYMPIC evacuations in June, along with French civilians, but I don't think it reached three figures.

[Andy H]

Hi Phylo

I would certainly agree that keeping 200,000 or even 10,000 concentrated would cause logistical probelms. Equally one cannot imagine them being just dotted around as individuals or pairs, given General Doumencs response.

It would seem from his reply that some premlim planning into utilizing this resource was undertaken, unless it was a bluff answer.

Regards

[Andy H]

Just found this:-

The Mauthausen concentration camp was the main place where Spanish political prisoners were incarcerated by the Nazis. By 1941, three years after the main camp opened, 60% of the prisoners were Spanish Republicans. After their defeat by General Francisco Franco's Army in the Spanish Civil War, the Spanish Republicans escaped to France where they were put into internment camps by the French government. After Germany conquered France in 1940, around 30,000 of these prisoners were deported by the Nazis to concentration camps in Germany and Austria because of their anti-Fascist or Communist political affiliation. They were called the Red Spaniards (Rotspanier) because Red was the color of the Communists.

http://www.scrapbookpages.com/Mauthause ... icans.html

Found further information about this Internment process at:-
http://www.ushmm.org/wlc/media_cm.php?l ... ediaId=134

and

http://www.spanishrefugees-basquechildr ... Camps.html

plus this link about Mexico's efforts to give protection to these Republicans

http://www.dimensionantropologica.inah. ... B1o%202001

Finally this:

With the French, 1940
On the outbreak of WWII the French recruited heavily from Republican refugees of the recently ended Civil War. The choice for these men was remain in French internment camps, or join the French army. The French took between 5,000 and 8,000 Republicans into the French Foreign Legion, and 10,000 went to the Infantry. In addition 55,000 Republicans were drafted into labour battalions, and at least some of these saw combat during the Fall of France (1940); English officers saw one Spanish labour battalion attack the advancing Germans with weapons seized from a fleeing French unit. During the course of the war Republicans fought in most theatres, for example at Narvik, in the raid on Brest, with the Long Range Desert Group, Leclerc's 2nd Armoured Division, the British SAS, and the French resistance.

http://www.balagan.org.uk/war/iberia/19 ... rench_1940



Regards

[phylo_roadking]

Hadn't thought about that - one of the Commandos in the Middle East combined under Laycock in 1941 was a Spanish-speaking one. I've read them referred to as Spanish Repubicans - but didn't assume they'd taken the LONG way round via France LOL.

[Andy H]

This from the same titled thread on the AHF

Hello,
the only "Spanish" units created were the Compagnies de Travailleurs Etrangers (CTE) of the French Army, many of them called Compagnies de Travailleurs Espagnols Spanish Labour Companies, first 79 Companies were raised before the war since april 1939, reaching a total of ~226 in june 1940 (according to Lee Sharp each had theorically 230 Spaniards and 30 French NCO's & Officers) stationned mainly in the south (~50 %), west (~25%), others areas of the interior (~15 %), and Northeastern Departments (~10 %).

During the spring 1940 probably 70 000 Spaniards were in these labour companies and 15 000 more in the Foreign Legion and the Régiments de Marche de Volontaires Etrangers (RMVE), 40 000 working in the agriculture and industry.

Regards
Loïc

http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... 4&t=141117

Regards