SPAIN: Cheers, Whistles, Shouts

Nazi propaganda in Spain has never ceased. Last week in Madrid cinema theatres Adolf Hitler was loudly cheered and Neville Chamberlain derisively whistled at when the Nazi film Baptism of Fire was released “against British warmongers.” With the fall of France, Germans in & out of uniform went hustling into Spain, where they were seen everywhere last week. Some went to villages behind Gibraltar, possibly to man the big guns covering it, installed by Nazis during the Spanish Civil War. Adolf Hitler also sent the Grand Cross of the Order of the German Eagle to Francisco Franco and waited for him to speak up.

El Caudillo finally spoke: “Spain has 500,000 heroes who lost their lives in fighting for the nation’s unity,” he cried, “and 2,000,000 soldiers ready to face any one and support Spain’s rights!” Harking back to Christopher Columbus’ patroness Queen Isabella, El Caudillo continued, “From that initial period this duty and mission has been left us as a people: the command to hold Gibraltar, African expansion, and maintenance of unity, the command of Isabella’s will which, after four centuries, is still in force. . . .”

New British Ambassador Sir Samuel Hoare took no offense, joined Generalissimo Francisco Franco next morning on a reviewing stand to watch an impressive three-hour parade headed by units of the now reorganized Spanish Army. It proved surprisingly strong in highly mechanized equipment and gleaming field artillery. As Generalissimo Franco stood side by side with imperturbable Sir Samuel, they ignored excited Spanish shouts: “We want Gibraltar! We want Gibraltar!”