2.45pm Tuesday 19th January 1937
The offices of the Times, London
Dawson once again read through the report that had been handed to him (complete with picture), and on the back of which he had already been presented with the first draft of an editorial condemning the Republican government and urging recognition of the Nationalists instead.
“CIUDAD REAL LIBERATED
By Kim Philby
Yesterday morning (the 18th) Ciudad Real was liberated by Nationalist forces. I arrived ‘hot-on-their-heels’ and was able to witness the welcome they received from the indefatigable residents of this shattered city.
And let no one be in any doubt: this city is truly shattered. The Communist and Anarchist forces have pulled out leaving a trail of devastation in their wake; barely one house in ten is still habitable in my opinion, and those buildings and services that one would take for granted are in shambolic ruins. The few inhabitants who were not forced to flee by the forces of the left expressed to me their gratitude that the forces of law and order have at long last arrived.
An eyewitness explained to me what happened last week: a convoy of covered lorries arrived carrying men in civilian clothing who identified themselves as displaced miners, they brought with them many boxes upon which an armed guard was mounted. Only after a series of Nationalist air raids directed primarily against the bridge over the Rio Guadiana to the north did the contents of the wooden boxes become apparent to my informant. The air attack alarm remained in place throughout the afternoon and evening and so the bulk of the population remained in their shelters; thus it was all too easy for the Reds to attribute the subsequent destruction to the Nationalist aircraft. In fact the boxes contained explosive mines and equipment for the spraying of petrol. My informant told me that the ‘displaced miners’ set about the systematic destruction of the heart of the city with undisguised glee. As the explosions begun the terrified inhabitants cowered in their shelters, under the mistaken belief that they were the subjects of an intense aerial bombardment.
As night fell on the 11th people emerged from hiding, and some few, realising what was happening, tried to intervene: their bodies are those portrayed in the communist propaganda photo’s. The effects of their handiwork must have surprised even the Anarchist incendiarists and dynamiters: the fires raged out of control, disguising their true cause and creating total panic and confusion beyond their wildest dreams.
The foreign correspondents here, myself included, are agreed that the principal damage to Ciudad Real was caused by the actions of the Anarchists and Reds before they evacuated the city, and that the propaganda of the Republican side has since tried to blame the whole thing on the air service of the forces of law and order.
Fortunately for Spain it looks as through the whole of the province of Albacete will soon be in Nationalist hands. One can only hope that the Republican forces in Madrid will at last see sense, finally stand up to the Communists and Anarchists, and accept the terms of General Franco.
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He riled against Philby’s use of English, particularly his inordinate use of the colon and semi-colon. And of course the whole thing contradicted the information he was getting from His Majesty’s Government. Was it possible H.M.G. was misinformed? Even that elements in the military were attempting to increase the war budget by conspiring to misinform Neville? And at the same time (either deliberately or as a consequence) undermine his policy of appeasement? And thereby risk another war.
‘Whatever the truth of the matter,’ he thought, ‘the main lesson to come out of all this is the need to avoid war…Yes, perhaps Neville is right. We have to keep on aiming to accommodate German needs by sensible compromise, yet the policy of disarmament has failed to inspire them to follow our lead. So maybe disarmament is a dead horse afterall, and if we keep on flogging it we will merely end up boosting the cause of the home-grown warmongers. A careful course of measured re-armament might persuade the Germans that they cannot walk all over us, but rather need to come to an accord with us. But it will be a tricky balancing act as regards signals sent out abroad and at home. Measured strength but with the clear desire to compromise…That’s why the Ciudad Real affair is so problematic to handle…and advice from Neville so helpful.’
He was minded to print Philby’s story – his readers were intelligent enough to realise that the facts lay somewhere between that and the hysterical rantings of the leftwing press. And with an editoral explaining how the conflicting reports coming out of Spain show that truth is one of the first casualties of modern warfare, along with civilians. The death and destruction was real, and the cause was war; war which led normal human beings to be responsible for the most beastly consequences. War had to be avoided. And over the next few weeks his ‘paper would look at past and current efforts to avoid war, and what needed to be done now.
Right. He would get onto his German correspondant straight away to find out more about Hitler’s desire for peace. And he would send a copy of Philby’s report to Neville and outline his own thoughts – any help and advice would naturally be much appreciated. Indeed it occurred to him that a stronger Britian might help Hitler to control those voices on his side who argued for a confrontational line.
