Guernica 37

The Spanish civil war saw the left wing supporters of the legitimate, if inefficient, Spanish Republic wage war against the forces of the right, the Catholic Church and the Army. The former became known as the Republicans, fighting for the old democratic system, whilst the latter ‘rebels’ called themselves the ‘Nationalists’. After the convenient deaths of many high profile figures in the ‘Nationalist’ forces General Franco came to lead the fight against the Republicans. Franco, as head of the army and commanding the respect of the church and those parties disillusioned with democracies mistakes during the depression aligned himself closely with a new and exciting brand of politics, one that looked sure to dominant the future. Fascism.

So it was that Germany and Italy offered military assistance to the rebels despite simultaneously signing a ‘Non-intervention’ treaty with Britain and France. While aware of this breach of in the treaty Britain and France were embarking on a campaign of appeasement so allowed it to continue whilst not replying in kind. So these two large powers watched from the sidelines as yet another large European democracy was butchered before its eyes. The Republicans could only rely on support from the Soviet Union, which was, funnily enough, like a red rag to a bull when it concerned the western powers and France promptly closed its border and the Soviet assistance ended.

It was during the course of the civil war that the infamous German attack on Gurnica occurred. It was Monday April 26^th 1937, in an episode your all no doubt familiar with from the discovery channel, that a ‘experimental squadron’ of Heinkel III bombers took off from Nationalist Spain and headed for the small Basque town of Gurnica. The Basque had entered the war on the Republican side since it had offered them significantly improved autonomy and Franco sure as hell wasn’t going to be as lenient. The unfortunate citizens of Gurnica were about to pay the full price. The Germans wanted to test out their new bombers and bombing strategy and what better place to choose than the town of Gurnica? Small enough for a comfortable experiment and culturally significant enough to the Basque people to spread terror through their ranks.

The story has it that a solitary plane flew over the town before hand, alerting the guards who rang the Church bell to warn the townsfolk who quickly headed for their bunkers. This plane dropped a light payload of incendiary bombs and then left. The traditional rules of warfare suggested to the Spaniards that the worst was over, the bombing raid had been and gone. Unknown to them however was that this use of incendiary devices was a new tactic being employed by the Germans to mark out the target in advance of the main wave of bombers. So people were heading back to their homes and work places when the main bulk of the Heinkel III bombers arrived over the town and unleashed havoc. The small bomb shelters built in the town proved to be to weak to survive the larger bombs being dropped so the people began to flee the city in droves, only to be machined gun by the mobile bombers which were praying on anything and everything exposed to the air.

After this devastating attack the Heinkel’s withdrew and the shattered and terrified townspeople began to count their dead. But not for long. Soon the heavy drone of engines could be heard again. This time it was a large fleet of heavy bombers, the Junker 52. Three separate squadrons systematically set about carpeting bombing the town in twenty-minute relays. This went on for two and a half hours.

The Germans had employed various sorts of explosives for maximum devastation. One thousand, six hundred and fifty four civilians died. Eight hundred and eight nine were wounded. The town had been obliterated from the air - remarkably only the large Oak tree in the town square had survived untouched.

To finish with its well-known legacy – The bombing of Guernica had just set a terrifying precedent. One that was to be played out a thousand times all over Europe over the next decade and one in which all sides would embrace as a legitimate means of waging war.

In July that same year Pablo Picasso exhibited his famous painting ‘Guernica’ to the Paris International Exhibition. Paris was to be only one of a handful of European cities to be spared a similar fate to Guernica.

Source: Anthony Beevor ‘The Battle for Spain’

Mannerheim

To continue with the theme of Scandinavian wartime leaders I would like to introduce you to another strapping young chap called Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerhiem. He was Commander in Chief of the Finish army and their President between 1944 and 1946. An (in)famous character and national Finnish hero he led his country to victory against the might of the Soviet Union, not just once, but twice in two separate wars (or one large one according to taste), the Winter War (39 – 40) and the Continuation War (41 – 44).

Mannerheim was born into the aristocracy and, since Finland was still a province of Tsarist Russia he began his military career with the Russian Army serving in the Russo-Japanese war, World War I, the Finish Civil War and then finally in the war against the Soviets during World War II. During which time he secured many decorations, including the Cross of St. George, the highest order in the Imperial Russian Army. So a busy and bloodied feller.

Yet Mannerheim, like most successful characters, was still able to take time out to pursue other interests. He had a passion for anthropology and went on several expeditions into China as well as working hard for the Finish Red Cross and establishing his own Children’s Foundation.

After the Civil War in which, unlike in Russia, the ‘white’ forces won the day -Mannerheim played a major role in Finland’s new government and managed to secure official recognition from Britain and the USA (admittedly this can’t have been hard given Finland’s strategic position in relation to the newly formed Bolshevik government in Moscow).

The war shaped Finland’s immediate future in two ways. It soured relations with the Soviet Union almost from the word go and it also linked Finland to Germany since it assisted the ‘whites’ against the soviet backed ‘reds’. So it was that in November 1939 the Red Army advanced across the Finish border for what was surely going to be an easy victory for Stalin. Yet Mannerheim organised a determined defence of his homeland and his small and lightly armed forces were able to exact large casualties on the advancing Red Army. The humiliation this caused - so rumour has it - gave Hitler the confidence later to believe he could defeat the Soviets in a matter of months. The whole world’s eyes were on Finland during this time because despite the invasion of Poland in 39 and the state of war between Germany and the Allies no real fighting had yet taken place between the great powers and they were both still engaged in a period of ‘phoney war’. Eventually the Allies became concerned over the repercussions that a Soviet controlled Finland might entail and hinted strongly that they might join the war on Finland’s side.

Thankfully, the Soviets did not fancy facing the Allies in Finland so hurriedly arranged a cease fire, which was to last up until Operation Barbarossa and the opening of hostilities between the Nazi’s and Soviets – with Mannerheim and the Fin’s fighting on Hitler’s side. Mannerheim’s position was desperate and Finland at the time had very little choice but to fight with the Nazi’s against the invading Soviets, yet Mannerheim, aware of the nature of Hitler’s regime always took time out to make it clear that while Germany and Finland were fighting the same enemy, that was as far as their co-operation went and never did Finland ally itself with the Nazi regime or embrace any of its doctrines. This obviously made Mannerheim something of a hero in post war Europe, being viewed as a heroic defeater or the Soviets, and not as a Nazi collaborator. Luckily for him.

The 4^th June is a national flag day in Finland in recognition of Mannerheim’s contribution to Finnish independence.

Vidkun Quisling

So, Vidkun Quisling - who was he?

To get the ball rolling I shall refer you to this brilliant quote from The Time’s editorial, April 19^th 1940 it reads:

"To writers, the word quisling is a gift from the gods. If they had been ordered to invent a new word for traitor they could hardly have hit upon a more brilliant combination of letters."

Not a flattering start. So the basics: He was Norwegian, he was born in 1887 and he met a rather unglamorous end in 1945. To understand why a firing squad but him out of his misery it helps if you are also aware that he was the Fascist ruler of Norway between 42 and 45, working in collaboration with the occupying Nazi forces.

Yet before this unwholesome affair he was believed to be such a nice chap that he was awarded a CBE from our dutiful monarch. He also worked in Russia during the 1920’s assisting the relief effort during a period of famine. Combine this with his passion for writing and his lifelong work on a book designed to “ignite a new light for humankind” and we have all the makings of a very curious character indeed.

If we take a brief foray into his personal life we unearth some more fascinating facts on this Commander of the British Empire. When he was thirty-five he got married to a seventeen year old, perhaps a bit bizarre, but it’s not unknown right? However, later in their marriage he had the fortune to fall in love for a second time, this time with someone more his own age. Dilemma you might think? Oh no, not for our Vidkun. Always an ingenious feller Quisling promptly divorced his young wife, married his new heartthrob and then adopted his old bride as their daughter. Incestuous problem solving at its finest.

Quisling was renowned for being a first rate military tactician and graduated top of his class before going on to attain the rank of Major in the Norwegian army. From here he was made Defence Minister between 1931 and 1933. In May of 33 he left the government and founded his own political party, the National Unity party which embraced fascist doctrine. His party was sidelined on the extreme edges of Norwegian politics; the most they ever polled in an election was 2% of the national vote. Quisling was in danger of becoming something of a Kilroy.

Yet fortunately for him on April 9^th the Nazi’s launched Operation Weserübung, a two pronged invasion of Norway and Denmark. This came as the almost inevitable result of more than a year of discussion amongst both German and Anglo-French circles over what to do about Scandinavia. Both had been keeping a greedy eye on its ports and ore deposits whilst keeping another, more nervous eye, on the actions of the other. Germany blinked first and sent in her troops.

At the sight of German ships sailing up the Oslo Fjord the Norwegian Royal Family and Parliament took the sensible option and bolted - taking the Treasury with them. Oslo’s government never officially surrendered and so when Quisling bravely decided to step into the boots left by the retreating royals it was an act of treason against the nation. And the Norwegian people, even during the occupation, would never let him forget that.

Quisling couldn’t even rely on the invading Nazi’s to give him much legitimacy and his hastily formed government lasted only five days before the Germans themselves removed him from any real power and made Josef Terboven the Nazi commissioner and thereby ruler of Norway. Later on Terboven gave Quisling the token title of ‘Minister President’ to keep him and his few followers on board.

Quisling served in this post for the reminder of the war and was continually frustrated by Terboven who had little time for him, so much so that Quisling visited Hitler so often to complain that he attained himself the unenviable record of being the most visited foreigner to Hitler’s office. Quisling supported many aspects of Nazi doctrine and oversaw the transportation of Norwegian Jews to Germany.

Come the end of the war Quisling handed himself in, hoping the new regime would allow him to retire and finish up writing that book of his. They didn’t and he was executed October 24^th 1945.

And that, more or less, is who Vidkun Quisling was.

Sources: Various (meh)

HMS Royal Oak

October 14^th 1939 (sixty seven years ago exactly through some bizarre twist of fate) HMS Royal Oak, an aging capital ship of the Royal Navy, was anchored at Scarpa Flow near the Orkney Islands. A veteran of the Battle of Jutland she had been through a lot in her lifetime and had just been painted dark grey, Atlantic colours, dashing the hopes of the crew who had their hearts set on a Mediterranean tour. On the evening of the thirteenth 1,200 sailors were aboard, including 175 cadets. At one o'clock the following morning most were asleep below deck.

Unknown to them was that for the previous six hours U-boat U-47, under the command of Günther Prien, had been inching its way through the anti-submarine blockade of submerged hulks to the east of the harbour. With only a few feet either side of his boat Prien successfully navigated his way into the bay to surprise the waiting British fleet. Once in he realised to his dismay that the larger ships Hood, Nelson and Rodney were not there – they had been moved out the previous day after a German reconnaissance plane set alarm bells ringing. Only the Royal Oak remained.

At four minutes past one a large explosion rocked the boat. Convinced that nothing could penetrate the anti-submarine blockade, and without any sign of aircraft, the ships watch determined that it must have been an engine room malfunction. Disastrously they chose not to alert the crew. This error was to prove fatal.

Ten puzzled minute’s later three more torpedoes smashed into the ships magazine hold, igniting the explosives. The ship went up in seconds, the keel snapped in two and flame gutted the interior. Hundreds of men were trapped beneath deck and those that managed to escape found themselves choking in engine oil on the seas surface.

Thirteen minutes after the last torpedoes had struck, HMS Royal Oak had vanished beneath the waves, taking with her 833 men and women.

That night U-47 silently escaped, leaving the Royal Navy and the British public in deep mourning. The success of Prein and his crew, sinking a capital ship in a heavily defended harbour, proved to the German high command that the U-boats had potential. This high profile sinking was for many people the opening engagement in what would become the battle of the Atlantic.

833 dead. Put that into today’s context. 40 British service personal have died in Afghanistan since 2001 and 119 in Iraq. In just thirteen minutes in 1939 Great Britain lost 833 sailors. How would today’s government cope with a tragedy like that? Let’s hope we never have to learn.

Source: Andrew Williams, ‘The Battle of the Atlantic’.