Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
own. Yet he remained mistrustful of military men and avoided being
too closely identified with Franco. Lisbon dealt harshly with some
Spaniards who fled across the border from the rising tide of Falangist
victory, but in isolated rural areas Portuguese villagers often gave shel-
ter to desperate refugees. As so often in the past, relations between the
two countries remained ambivalent, even after authoritarianism had
established itself on both sides of the frontier.
IBERIAN NEUTRALITY IN WORLD WAR II
During World War II both Spain and Portugal remained neutral. For
Franco this status represented a much more complicated relationship
with the belligerents. When the great conflict began in September 1939,
he had been master of Spain for only six months and was still deeply
engaged in consolidating his control, punishing his enemies, and trying
to restore some degree of normality to the country. Yet Germany and
Italy (the latter would enter the war in June 1940) had been invaluable
allies and expected him to repay his debt to them. Hence it was neces-
sary for him to spin a game of feigned cooperation while avoiding for-
mal commitments. Furthermore he had to conserve what remained of
his badly damaged human and material resources. After a year of deal-
ing with Franco, during which the Germans had overrun France and
become, in effect, neighbors of Spain, Hitler met Franco at the border
town of Irún, where the Generalísimo had professed his greatest respect
and solidarity but evaded any real agreements. French and other anti-
Nazi refugees had been slipping across a border that was nominally
closed. A proposal to permit German forces to cross Spain for an assault
on Gibraltar had gone nowhere. What can one expect, the Führer com-
plained to an aide, of a leader who appoints the Virgin Mary to the rank
of captain general in his army? When Germany launched its invasion
of the Soviet Union in 1941, Franco renewed his protestations of friend-
ship, vowed to a shared loathing of Bolshevism, and authorized Span-
ish “volunteers” to join a special force that would fight in Russia. Spain's
División Azul (Blue Division) and a contingent from its air force served
on the eastern front until the tide began to turn against Hitler. They
were then withdrawn for “rest and rehabilitation.” As the fortunes of
the Axis sank, Franco's adherence to the strict letter of neutrality rose.
In Portugal Salazar had been even more canny about his relationship
with countries with whom he had obvious ideological links but no pre-
vious comradeship in arms. His neutrality was formally manifested,
although his capital was infested with spies, diplomats of dubious loy-
alty, refugees, and self-proclaimed journalists. Lisbon's greatest intriguer
Search WWH ::
Custom Search