When news reached Barcelona on January 23 that Franco had reached the River Llobregat to the south of the city, an enormous exodus began. Approximately half a million men, women and children trekked towards the French border. Historian Paul Preston describes the horrible scene: “Women gave birth at the roadsides. Babies died of the cold, children were trampled to death. A witness summed up the horror of that dreadful exodus: ‘At the side of the road a man had hung himself from a tree. One foot had a rope sandal, the other was bare. At the foot of the tree was an open suitcase in which lay a small child that had died of cold during the night.’ It is not known how many people died on the roads to France.” Around 20,000 wounded Republican soldiers were left behind in Barcelona, their injuries and missing limbs marking them out at once to the advancing fascist army for deadly reprisals.
Posted on: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 06:00:00 +0000