Slightly Out of Focus

Article by Sanchia Zucker Rodriguez. Edited and Researched by Rob Russell.

My grandfather, Jesús Rodríguez, survived many certain death like a cat with nine lives. In 1939 sitting under a tree with his comrade indulging in vino tinto and chorizo, Jesús turned around to look at the ambulance in which they had been making their escape. Franco’s soldiers surrounded it. Ducking from sight and death, he knew that now he had to take the Pyrenees passage to France by foot with only the shirt on his back. Despite the long call of: ‘No Pasarán!’ the Republic had indeed been passed-over.

From shepherd-boy origins in the Spanish mountains of Galicia, Jesús, at just 14, left for the bright lights of Madrid and worked in his uncle’s butchers shop. Becoming quickly politicised within the Unified Socialist Youth (JSU), he was swept up in a Church burning on the 18th July 1936, where they uncovered hundreds of bodies of nuns and newborn babies in the smouldering church’s catacombs. Deep below, the bodies had been preserved but Jesús described the way in which the “mummified remains simply floated off in the wind as powder when unearthed”. For the Republicans, this sight was evidence of the Catholic Church’s duplicity. Jesús was quick to join the militia and soon after the Republican army to quell the Nationalist advance. However, he wasn’t just a soldier in 46th division infantry, he served in close ranks with the people making the decisions, a staff sergeant under both Enrique Lister and the feared El Campesino. It was these close relationships that allowed him to survive many of the most brutal battles including the Battle of Madrid, Brunete, The Aragón Offensive and The Battle of the Ebro.

One of the worst struggles which he survived was the turning point Battle of Teruel between December 1937 and February 1938. Later likened to the Battle of Stalingrad, both sides fought house-to-house in one of Spain’s harshest winters. With casualties growing and conditions worsening the Republicans found themselves completely surrounded by February 1938. Jesús alongside El Campesino were amongst the last left, desperately hauled-up in Teruel’s bullring. In a nighttime dash, he and two comrades reached an icy river and their only option was to swim out of Teruel. They proceeded to break ice and submerge under the water when they heard Fascist soldiers. Detected, they were ordered out of the river. The two comrades waded in front, made it to the bank and having been asked how many of them were in the river, fearlessly responded: “Just the two of us”. With Jesús having stayed back, frozen but still alive, he heard gunshots as his brave companions were executed. Teruel was not a big strategic city, but 140,000 became grim casualties of it.

Recovering after Teruel, Jesús had a few months resting in Valencia and as he used to say with a big smile on his face “ate lots of oranges”. Having returned to the frontline where he was shot in November 1938, became a Lieutenant as part of his convalescence and was put in charge of a fleet of Chevrolet ambulances – provided by American left-leaning fundraising. With these new responsibilities, his apprenticeship at the butchers shop came into use as he performed amputations in makeshift field hospitals with all but a rudimentary saw and some rough Spanish brandy.

More troubled by the lost wine and chorizos he had accumulated in the ambulance, Jesús along with 500,000 refugees walked into the safety of France in 1939 only to be put into a French Concentration Camp on the beach close to Argelès. Adding psychological torture to the already putrid conditions, the only source of water for the rotting prisoners was direct from the sea. For Jesús to describe his experience in these camps as simply “horrific” gives some idea just what these defeated proud soldiers endured. With friends “dropping like flies”, when the camp’s loudspeaker offered enlistment in the French Foreign Legion, which included a ten-year no-way-out contract serving alongside some of France’s most dangerous convicts, the decision was actually an easy one.

There were still many twists and turns ahead for Jesús including serving in Britain’s top secret Special Operations Executive (SOE). Serving in the French Foreign Legion’s 13th Demi-Brigade, Jesús fought in the Battle of Narvik which saw the Nazis defeated in 1940. In an act of protest against the draconian Legionnaire’s ten year contract, upon the soldier’s return to Liverpool’s the Spanish contingent of this force sat on the docks, refusing to move until the British Army adopted them. Jesús’s training included deadly close combat techniques, explosives, communications, disguise and fluently learnt French so he could fulfil top-secret missions once parachuted into occupied France. This was ‘Allo ‘Allo! Territory but unlike the TV sitcom these missions were not a laughing matter! Luckily many operations were cancelled at the last minute, receiving intelligence that Nazis had already detained the resistance fighters Jesús was on his way to train.

Jesús’s story is a remarkable one which has been forgotten. My father has poured through history and photography books in vain, looking for a glimpse of my grandfather. The exact details of his life and few photographs documenting the 46th division have always been slightly out of focus. Most of what we know is based on the stories he narrated to my father and my aunt whilst growing up, accompanied by SOE files. However, it is certain that he bore witness to some of the most brutal battles during the Spanish Civil War, served in the French Foreign Legion, The British Army and the SOE. He had survived the merciless conditions in Argelès and recovered from being shot twice. Exiled from Spain, he eventually took up the quiet life in a North London three-bed semi and ran a vegetarian restaurant called Raw Deal near Baker Street.

• The Spanish Civil War lasted from 1936-1939 was fought between the legitimate Republican government and the fascist backed Nationalist side led by General Franco.

• The concentration camp at Argeles France held up to 100,000 Republican refugees, after the fall of Catalonia and the end of the civil war.

• The Special Operations Executive (SOE) was a top secret British organization during WWII, which specialized in espionage, raiding, sabotage and reconnaissance of occupied European allies, estimated to be 13,000 strong in numbers.

← Back to Volume 4

← Back to Issue 4