The Sandbag Times Issue No: 49

HISTORICAL TOMMY ATKINS
Welsh Miners
to the Rescue
By Peter Macey
The Manic Street Preachers in 1998 released
their album ‘This Is Our Truth, Tell Me
Yours’ which featured a track called, ‘If
you tolerate this, then your children will be
next’ . The song was inspired by the
Spanish Civil War that took place between
1936 and 1939 which involved volunteers
from all over Europe but a large contingent
from Wales.
When unemployed Rhondda miner Harry
Dobson was released from Swansea Prison
in 1936 the first question he asked was,
“How do I get to Spain?” Dobson had been
serving a sentence for leading an anti-fascist
disturbance in Tonypandy in June 1936.
Around two hundred Welsh volunteers,
mainly miners joined the left wing
international brigade and fought for the
Spanish Republic against General Franco’s
fascist militia. Welsh miners were primarily
Labour on communist at that time, largely
from the central valleys. In truth the fight
against fascism in Spain, between 1936 and
1939, drew young men and women from all
over Europe to form something of a rag-tag
army in defence of the democratically
elected Spanish Republican Government.
Dobson was one of just over thirty Welsh
men to be killed serving with the
International Brigades which fought to save
the doomed democratically elected Spanish
Republic Government. This Welsh
solidarity was referred to as taking the form
of an anti-fascist barricade.
One of the first siege’s in the war was at
Gijón. The army in support of the
Republicans attacked the small garrison
between July and August 1936. They laid
siege to the Simancas barracks in the city of
which was defended by nearly two hundred
soldiers and Spanish Police who had signed
up to support Franco’s movement. The
battle was remarkable for its viciousness
and the stubbornness of the besieged.
A Nationalist uprising of July 1936 fared
poorly in Asturias due to the province being
overwhelmingly hostile to Franco. The area
was controlled by an effective council of
state officials which including technicians
and miners. The numbers involved and in
support of the Republic were in the region
of seventy thousand. The military governor
of Gijón, Colonel Pinilla did not to declare
loyalty to Franco but was in the Communist
leader’s pocket. This was known to all and
by late July the outpost was surrounded and
cut off.
The battle for Gijón was marked by Pinilla's
resistance to give in knowing that the
attackers had virtually no weapons to speak
of other than dynamite. But until they
secured Gijón's fall the Republicans could
not concentrate their full numbers on their
siege against the nationalists on Oviedo.
The defenders soon ran out of water but still
Pinilla refused to give in. He believed that
relief was imminent. As the same time the
siege of Alcázar in Toledo was taking place
at which the Anarchists abducted Pinilla's
son and threatened to slay him if the
defenders refused to surrender. Pinilla
ignored the threat and continued his defence
of the city.
By mid-August the miners had stormed the
barracks, hurling dynamite as they charged.
The barracks burned and the defence
crumbled but rather than surrender, Pinilla
sent a message to the Almirante Cervera,
ordering it to open fire on his position. The
order was obeyed and the last defenders of
Simancas barracks died in the flames.
In October the following year Franco’s
troops retook Gijón.
Were any of your relatives involved in the
Spanish Civil War? If so we would like to
hear from you. Please contact us at SBT or
Forgotten Veterans UK (FVUK) and tell us
all about it.
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