Churchill's Spaniards: The untold story of Spaniards and their fight against the Nazis during WWII

An often-overlooked aspect of the history of the Second World War is the virtually unknown story of 1,200 Spanish republicans who served in the British Army from 1940 to 1946 in the fight against Hitler.

Up to this day, the exploits and experiences of this disparate group of soldiers have mostly slipped from the pages of any history book.

A new volume written by Séan Scullion, entitled ‘Churchill’s Spaniards’, seeks to shed a light on the contribution of these Spanish republicans who started their military careers fighting against Franco’s forces during their country’s 1936 to 1939 civil war and continued the fight in British uniform. Gibraltar features heavily in the story.

“Spaniards served across the European theatre, from Narvik and D-Day, to North Africa and the Middle East as well as Italy,” Séan Scullion said, a 55-year-old serving British army officer who was raised in Spain and has served in Gibraltar.

“A number were with the Special Operations Executive [the sabotage unit formed by Churchill “to set Europe ablaze”] and over a dozen served in the SAS.”

He adds: “They were very often at the very centre of the fighting. Some even brushed shoulders with Ian Fleming and Kim Philby whilst training as agents. They also trained as commandos in the Middle East.”

“But it is also important to understand the story of how over 500 of them settled in Britain after the war.”

Spaniards rest below the Great Sphynx on a visit to the Pyramids of Giza, Egypt in 1940. (Manuel Surera collection)

The uncovered stories of the 1,072 Spaniards in the book, published last Monday by Helion & Company, tell of the toils that many of them encountered after crossing the border into France from Spain or getting to Gibraltar after defeat at the hands of Franco.

Following the outbreak of the Second World War, many were forced into French labour companies or into military service, from which they escaped to join British forces after the capitulation of France and creation of the Vichy government.

Many of the first Spaniards to join brushed with a handful of illustrious and infamous names.

These were the over 100 members of No.1 Spanish Company of the Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps (AMPC), which was the only unit made up entirely of Spaniards to serve in the British Army for a significant part of the war, trained with SOE. Another member of the company was José Robba, a Gibraltarian who joined the company in August 1941 and served in it until its disbandment in1946.

These 100 men were part of a unit for potential operations behind enemy lines in Spain and Portugal if Franco had entered the war.

“The training and potential use of the Spaniards involved a plethora of people working in the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), amongst whom were Ian Fleming and Kim Philby,” Mr Scullion said.

“Fleming was involved in planning operations, but Philby directly trained Spaniards”.

In Egypt, over 75 Spaniards joined the Middle East Commandos in 1940 after serving in the French Foreign Legion.

Another Gibraltarian, James Russo, would lead many of them during the battle of Crete in 1941 during which he and half of the Spaniards were captured.

Born in Málaga, Francisco Geronimo was taken prisoner while fighting in Crete in 1941 but then escaped and evaded capture for 11 months before he was rescued.

He then returned to combat, notably seeing action as a member of 2nd SAS Regiment, parachuting behind enemy lines in France in 1944.

Francisco Geronimo on the right with an unknown soldier wearing a tam o’shanter, in Crete in early 1941. (Francisco Geronimo collection

Over a dozen Spanish Republicans served in the SAS fighting behind enemy lines in France, Belgium, Germany and Italy. They all changed their names.

On Operation TOMBOLA in Italy in 1945, Rafael Ramos, another Spaniard in the SAS, won the Military Medal for his actions during an attack on a German headquarters.

His medal citation records that Ramos braved fierce fighting to kill “at least six German officers” and, with another soldier, carried a wounded British officer “through heavy machine-gun fire and an area alive with angry Germans, six miles to a cottage”.

An iconic photo of Ralph Ramos helping to train the partisans prior to the attack on the HQ of the 51st German Mountain Corps as part of Operation TOMBOLA in 1945. (Dr Grizi Collection

Ramos was the only Spanish SAS member not to take an English name which was intended to avoid the Spaniards being sent back to Franco’s Spain if captured.

Phil Williams, the grandson of Francisco Geronimo, said that while his grandfather’s compatriot Balerdi was given permission to change his name to Robert Bruce, his grandfather’s request to be known as Francis Drake and that of another Spaniard to be called Walter Raleigh were refused.

The majority of these Spaniards spoke little or no English. Aware that they risked being returned to Spain if captured, the captured members of the Middle East Commandos pretended to be Gibraltarians. Others tried to pass themselves off as French.

One Spaniard, when asked his name, replied ‘Bonjour’ and the British Army enlistment clerk dutifully recorded him as Private 13803102, Jacques Bonjour.

“All wanted to continue the fight against fascism. They quickly overcame prejudice, proving themselves as tough soldiers who particularly excelled at commando work and really showed remarkable endurance.” Scullion said.

Members of the Spanish Ex-Servicemen’s Association gather on Whitehall before moving to the Cenotaph to lay a wreath in 1975. Luís Portillo is in the second row, second from the left. (Agustín Roa Ventura collection)

Most fought all the way through to the end of the war and about half of them settled and assimilated in Britain, mostly in the London area.

Francisco Geronimo, for example, worked and settled in South Wales.
Some ten of them worked in the steel industry in Middlesborough.
Another tough commando, Fernando Esteve, who fought all the way to northern Germany, became a chef at the legendary London restaurant Le Caprice.

With the Franco regime still intact, many felt let down that Britain did not try to go for Spain next.

By the late 1950s they formed the Spanish Ex-Servicemen’s Association and Michael Portillo’s father – Luís – an exiled Republican, joined them for marches against the Franco regime.