In the German Federal Military Archives in Freiburg [Bundesarchiv Militärarchiv Freiburg , hereinafter BA-MA] you can find two photo albums compiled by an anonymous sailor who served on the battleship Graf Spee [1]. These albums are full of snapshots that collect various events that this sailor considered relevant within the four voyages he made [2]. In addition to numerous photographs of the ship and her crew, the two albums feature numerous images of the cities visited by the battleship. As if it were a catalog of tourist photos, you can see snapshots of a «monument to Franco» in Cádiz, of a sailor in front of a mosque in Melilla, of La Concha beach and the Buen Pastor cathedral in San Sebastián, and the port of El Ferrol from the sea. The impression that one acquires when contemplating these snapshots is that the sailor enjoyed some interesting vacations, visiting numerous points of the Spanish geography[3].
However, this time we will deal with a poem that the author of these albums wrote on one of the maps that detailed the journeys to Spain. This poem, with the title "Admiral Graf Spee" points out his particular view of the experiences gained during his service. Analyzing the writing, we will obtain a sample of the perspective and experiences of a sailor during the Spanish conflict, which will help us to show how the German Navy actively intervened in the civil war , this being one of the factors that historiography has generally ignored.
The lines say[4]:
Reading the writing one can perceive a vision of adventure, of freedom, almost of romanticized piracy, which goes well with the tourist photographs in the albums. Now, the first question that assails us is, why did a German Navy battleship sail four times into Spanish waters during the civil war, going from one place to another, "as soon [...] in El Ferrol, as in Santander”? The reasons were various. As is well known, General Franco asked the German government to send military material to collaborate in his fight against the forces of the Republic. The German dictator accepted this request, also deciding to send a group of soldiers to serve in Spain in favor of the rebel cause; the well-known Condor Legion[6]. It is not so well known, however, that both the military supplies sent to the rebel military as well as the Condor Legion were transported to Spain by sea. For this, merchant marine ships called “special transports” were used, these being escorted by ships of the military navy, among them, the Graf Spee[7]. At the same time, several German ships –among them the aforementioned battleship– were sent to Spanish waters to evacuate German citizens who were in what the authorities of this country considered dangerous areas, that is, Republican Spain[8 ]. But, as you can see, the anonymous sailor's poem does not refer to any of these missions.
The Graf Spee in action
The only direct reference to an operation carried out by the battleship is found in the third stanza, in which the kidnapping of the Spanish merchant Aragón is clearly exposed. . The document points out here the retaliation that the German Navy carried out against republican merchant traffic in January 1937. This retaliation was in response to the arrest of the German merchant ship Palos by the Euzkadi Auxiliary Navy, which interned the merchant ship in the port of Bilbao, where an undocumented Spaniard traveling in it was detained, and part of the goods were confiscated, which were considered contraband of war[9]. Telegrams immediately followed from the German cruisers Königsberg and Karlsruhe –which patrolled the area–, demanding the automatic release of the ship and its merchandise, which were answered by the Basque authorities defending their right to confiscate the material considered contraband[10].
The reaction of the German government, which described the actions against the Palos as an illegal kidnapping, consisted of ordering its ships that were sailing in Spanish waters –either evacuating Germans or escorting merchant ships – to take republican merchant ships as prey until the cargo stolen from the Palos and her Spanish passenger were released [11]. As a result of this order, several merchant ships were seized:the Sotón via the Karlsruhe, the Marta Junquera via the Königsberg and, as the poem says, the Aragón via the Graf Spee[12]. Probably this reaction was due both to the belligerence of the German regime against the republican as well as a wake-up call, a warning to show that in a similar situation the German government, through its Navy, would act with force. This was shown months later when two republican bombers attacked the battleship Deutschland causing 31 deaths and 75 wounded[13]. The German response consisted of the bombing of the city of Almería , in which 31 people died[14]. It is possible that the kidnapping of the republican merchant ships was also ordered keeping in mind the threat that similar actions could pose to the system of "special transports" that supplied military material to both the military rebels and the Condor Legion.
This simple anonymous poem serves as a tool to elucidate that the role of the German Navy in the Spanish civil war was greater and more important of what historiography has given us to understand, intervening in favor of the cause of the revolted military. Without the collaboration of this branch of the German armed forces, it would have been highly unlikely that the Condor Legion would operate in Spain. We must also add the pressure that the German military Navy exerted on the republican government, as in the case of the Aragón. In this way, the German ships became a useful means through which the German regime tried to influence the outcome of the Spanish fratricidal conflict. The testimony of this sailor is, therefore, valuable, because thanks to him we can see his perspective of the role of the Graf Spee as one of these agents that influenced the war, and opens new paths for research, allowing us a better understanding of the conflict. .
Notes
[1]BA-MA, RM 134/522 and 523.
[2]The crossings took place from December 12, 1936 to February 13, 1937, from March 1, 1937 to May 6 of the same year, from June 26 from 1937 to August 7 of the same year and from February 6 to 19, 1938. These movements are marked in detail on maps that the sailor designed, showing each stop of the ship and with the date included. It can be affirmed that both albums were made by the same person due to the chronological, stylistic as well as calligraphic continuity.
[3]This perspective is reminiscent of the one exposed by Stefanie Schüler-Springorum in War as adventure. The Condor Legion in the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939 , Alliance, Madrid, 2010, p. 160-163
[4]BA-MA, RM 134/522 The translation in some verses is figurative, not literal.
[5]The German word Heimat it has a difficult translation because it is a diffuse term without direct translation into Spanish. Although on numerous occasions it is translated as "homeland" or "country, homeland", the meaning is more complex since it refers to the relationship between the human being and a space that shapes the identity, mentality and worldview of the person. Given the context of the author and the scenario described, the term "port" has been chosen.
[6]For a detailed account of the chain of events that led to this decision:VIÑAS, Ángel. Franco, Hitler and the outbreak of the Civil War:background and consequences . Alliance, Madrid, 2001
[7]On «special transports», ALPERT, Michael:The Spanish civil war at sea , Critique, Barcelona, 2007, p. 164 et seq.
[8]An approach to the evacuations of foreign citizens during the civil war:FRANK, Williard C., Jr.:«Multinational Naval Cooperation and the Spanish Civil War», Naval College Review , no. 47, p. 31-46
[9]ROMAÑA, J. M.:History of naval warfare in Euskadi , volume 3, Friends of the Basque Book, Echavarri, 1985, p. 794. Copies of the report made by the Basque authorities in the port of Bilbao, both in German and Spanish, can be found in BA-MA, RM 20/1302, pp. 7-9
[10]Karlsruhe Operations Log , BA-MA, RM 134/63
[11]BA-MA, RM 94/48, p. 15 It was also authorized to attack any submerged Republican submarine detected near their ships, as well as to respond to any attack by the Republican Navy.
[12]GONZÁLEZ ECHEGARAY, Rafael:The merchant navy and maritime traffic in war civil, San Martin, Madrid, 1977, p. 127 et seq.
[13]Battleship Operations Log Deutschland , BA-MA, RM 134/36
[14]QUIROSA-CHEYROUZE MUÑÓZ, Rafael:«The German intervention:the bombardment of Almería», in GÓMEZ
OLIVER, Miguel Carlos, RUIZ-MANJÓN CABEZA, Octavio:The new historians before the Civil War
Spanish , Granada Provincial Council, Granada, 1990, p. 175-186