Republican evacuation to North Africa

The last days of the Republic were chaotic. Demoralization in the army after the fall of Catalonia, along with contacts between several officers and the Fifth Column and Francoist intelligence services, led to the coup d’état of Colonel Segismundo Casado, which began on March 5. Opposition to the coup, led by Prime Minister Juan Negrín and his Communist allies, resulted in a small but bloody civil war in the rear. Despite the hopes of the Republican military rebels, Franco refused to negotiate an end to the war, demanding unconditional surrender. Everyone knew this would mean mass executions or, at best, long prison sentences for tens of thousands of Republicans. The map illustrates the disorganized flight to escape, first to ports on the Mediterranean, and from there to the French colony of Algeria.

When news of Casado’s coup arrived in Cartagena and a pro-Franco uprising broke out, the Republican navy put to sea between March 5 and 7. As the map shows, it was a large fleet (three cruisers and eight destroyers) that could have protected ships carrying refugees or carried more than the barely 750 additional people—beyond the crews—who actually embarked. However, instead of returning to Cartagena or heading to another Republican-held port, the fleet sailed to Algeria. The French authorities interned it in Bizerte, Tunisia.

At the end of the month, with the Francoist fleet prowling around Republican ports, some sixty merchant ships—including the Stanbrook, which carried the largest number of refugees—and fishing boats managed to take about 6,000 more people to safety. Tens of thousands of Republicans were left behind, trapped in Republican ports, especially Alicante. Seeing that no more ships would come to rescue them, some chose to take their own lives. Most were captured and sent to concentration camps. Thus began a pilgrimage of suffering, mistreatment, inhuman conditions, and, all too often, death at the hands of a regime that neither forgot nor forgave.