Thread by @sean_f_scullion

83 years ago, the last elements of the Spanish Republican Army were crossing the border to France in what was known as La Retirada. For many it was the beginning of the end of a journey that would last for years even #ContinuingtheFight in the British Army in #WW2. A thread 1/

From the 5 of Feb 1939, French authorities started to allow lines of Republican soldiers to cross over. Between the 9 & 11 Feb most of the Republican Army in the Eastern region of Spain had crossed into France. 2/

In Jan the New York Times correspondent, Herbert Matthews had described the scene "There are not ten square yards anywhere near roads that have not their refugees. Every side road, every field, & even the hills are swarming with unhappy thousands...." 3/

Jaime Trill had fought in the Republican Army

“I passed in front of the French flag, one more step and I was not in Spain; one more step, and I found myself in France, it was 4.30 in the afternoon, of the day of the 12th of February 1939.” 4/

Trill would be interned in France, volunteer to join the French Foreign Legion and eventually serve as a member of 50 Middle East Commando fighting in Crete in the summer of 1941. 5/

Juan TORRENTS ABADÍA had been born in Barcelona in 1911 & was involved in left-wing politics from an early age, fighting in the Spanish Civil War before crossing over to France. In an IWM interview many years later he recalled "The French tried to stop us at the beginning... 6/

....but couldn’t…it was really something that…they (the refugees) organised and built things with corrugated iron and whatever they could find. The first time they brought in a lorry full of bread into the compound there, people just ran at them... 7/

The second time, the lorries stood outside the wire and they threw the bread over the wire. But one thing was that women and children were not there….only men in those camps… "
#ContinuingtheFight 8/

Torrents would go on to join the British after Foreign Legion & further internment in North Africa he volunteered to join the British Army after Op TORCH. By early 1944 he was in 2nd SAS & deployed on operations in France + Germany. At the end of the war he settled in the UK. 9/

Many hundreds more would be #ContinuingtheFight across the breadth of the British Army in many theatres and would serve with distinction. Find out more here as I discuss their story with @WW2TV ....10/

@WW2TV Or maybe on the @WeHaveWaysPod where I talk with @almurray and @James1940 about six of the Spaniards that served with distinction. 11/

wehavewayspod.com/ep-372-spanish…

@WW2TV @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray @James1940 O quizás con @Niebladeguerra1 donde en NdG #166 hablo sobre Españoles en el Ejército Británico en la Segunda Guerra Mundial....12/

podcastaddict.com/episode/122427…

@WW2TV @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray @James1940 @Niebladeguerra1 These Spaniards need to be recognised for their role as they were #ContinuingtheFight
@RichardBaxell

@oiarzabal
@basquechildren
@Civil_War_Spain
@SpainMemoryWars
@civil_spanish
@When_in_Spain
@mmartinezlucio
@michaelheald
@the_worldatwar
@CasusBelliPod
@FELIXLANCHO

@WW2TV @WeHaveWaysPod @almurray @James1940 @Niebladeguerra1 @RichardBaxell @oiarzabal @basquechildren @Civil_War_Spain @SpainMemoryWars @civil_spanish @When_in_Spain @mmartinezlucio @michaelheald @the_worldatwar @CasusBelliPod @FELIXLANCHO Watch this space for more stories. End/
@PirtAsher
@militaryhistori
@AntenaHistoria
@TRUFAULT
@KyleGHistory
@thehistoryguy
@WW2Nation
@PWRR_Museum
@the_worldatwar
@z