The Republican Heartland

I suppose that George Orwell gave me the idea that Catalunya was the heartland of the Republican cause in the Spanish Civil War and, as such was the last city to fall to the conquering rebel armies of General Franco. In fact Barcelona fell in early February 1939 and Madrid on March 27th. The last strongholds of the Republican Government were round here. Alicante went on 30th March and Murcia fell on the last day of the war on 31st March.

Someone had mentioned to me that, towards the end, several key Government figures, like Negrin (one time President) and Dolores Ibarruri "La Pasionaria" used a house about 10kms from Culebrón as their headquarters and that there was an old aerodrome and some underground bunkers on the same site. On the way home I stopped to take a few snaps. It looks as though someone is doing the house up.

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