Spaniards.

This is coolbert:

Here are instances of Spanish Republican fighters, fugitives from Spain in the aftermath of the victory by the Nationalist forces of Franco, contributing to the anti-fascist cause during the Second World War [WW2]!

This is a little known and unappreciated aspect of WW2?

1. Devoted readers to the blog will remember Cadix. The joint radio intercept/cryptanalytic effort, involving Spanish/French/Polish personnel!!

Spaniards, exiles, skilled practitioners of radio intercept and cryptanalysis, brave men, continuing the fight in their own particular way, in denied territory, behind enemy lines, in a manner UNHEARD OF, at great risk their own life.

2. Spanish irregulars too, continued the fight as guerrillas as part of the anti-fascist cause. Waging insurgency warfare against the forces of the German/Vichy!

These were the Spanish Maquis.

"The Spanish Maquis were Spanish guerrillas exiled in France after the Spanish Civil War who . . . [contributed] to the fight against Nazi Germany and the Vichy regime in France during World War II."

[from the wiki] Referring to the contribution of the Spanish Maquis to the French resistance movement:

"During the German occupation of France, the Spanish Maquis engineered more than four hundred railway sabotages, destroyed fifty-eight locomotives, dynamited thirty-five railway bridges, cut one hundred and fifty telephone lines, attacked twenty factories, destroying some factories totally, and sabotaged fifteen coal mines. They took several thousand German prisoners and - most miraculous considering their arms - they captured three tanks. In the south-west part of France where no Allied armies have ever fought, they liberated more than seventeen towns."

Spanish maquis consisted of a disparate number of groups, best characterized as "left", "red", "pink":

* "communists"

* "socialists"

* "anarchists"

3. And as for the FIRST FRENCH TROOPS TO ENTER PARIS [1944]:

"This party was commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne, and was given the honour to be the first Allied unit to enter Paris ahead of the 2e Division Blindée. The 9th company of the 3rd Battalion of the Régiment de Marche du Tchad was made up of Spanish volunteers."

Again, Spanish Republican fighters, fugitives and exiles from Nationalist ruled Spain, joining the Free French Exterior [FFE], seeing combat as conventional troops, under the FRENCH flag.

With regard to Cadix, the combined efforts of Spanish/French/Polish radio interceptors and analysts continued to do yeoman work against Vichy French, German, Italian, and perhaps fascist Spanish [Franco] radio traffic. Producing intelligence for the allies, and doing so from behind enemy lines!! Unheard of!

And those Spanish must have been [??] privy then to the the ability of the allies to "read" the German Enigma crypto machine? If so, this info might have been passed to the Soviet intelligence services by those Spaniards that were "left"? The historians are divided on this issue. How much did the Soviets know about Enigma, Ultra, etc.! The ability of the Soviets to read Enigma traffic also is a matter of debate.

The entire subject of Spanish Republican exiled and fugitive fighters aiding the allied cause during WW2 is glossed over by the historians? A side-show of a side-show?

coolbert.