A commentary by Henrik Willem van Loon regarding the massacre and complete destruction of the Spanish town of Guernica in April of 1937 by Nationalist forces who were equipped with German planes and guns and the mass bombings conducted by elements of the German Luftaffe Condor Legion and the Italian Fascist Aviazione Legionaria, under the code name Operation Rügen. The town was being used as a communications centre by Republican forces just behind the front line, and the raid was intended to destroy bridges and roads. The operation opened the way to Franco’s capture of Bilbao and his victory in northern Spain.
But well beyond any military objective, the raid also involved the mass killing of women and children by a military air force. It was regarded by many as the first war crime, although others dismissed it as collateral damage, the unintended cost of war. The number of victims is still disputed; the Basque government reported 1,654 people killed at the time, while local historians identified 126 victims (later revised by the authors of the study to 153). A British source used by the USAF Air War College claims 400 civilians died. Soviet archives claim 800 deaths on 1 May 1937, but this number may not include victims who later died of their injuries in hospitals or whose bodies were discovered buried in the rubble.
Despite Francoist efforts to play down the reports, they proliferated and led to widespread international outrage at the time. Reactions to and condemnation of the bombing of Guernica is regarded by some historians as a turning point in the construction of the modern concept of human rights.
The commentary begins innocuous enough. Van Loon begins with relaying a story of a bird taking refuge on a passenger ship after being lost and how the passengers of the ship all helped to keep the bird alive and nurse it back to health, releasing it after the ship reached land.
About five minutes in, van Loon switches to reports regarding Guernica and the loss of so many children as a result of the German and Italian bombers and how human life in the present situation means very little.
The commentary is powerful and sheds some light on the fears expressed by those convinced a major world war was just around the corner. On May 26, 1937 there were signs, and Spain was the unintentional flashpoint.
