Fall of the City

Heavy snow was falling in Madrid early this week. The city was without fuel, disease was rampant, 1,000,000 Madrilenos were half-starved. No restaurant served meals, no bars had drinks. Lentils and dried beans were all anyone could get to eat, and precious little of them. A daily average of 2,000 were reported dying of hunger and sickness. Communications with Valencia, Alicante, Cartagena-- warmer cities on the coast--had broken down. No railroad trains ran for there was no coal. No buses moved, for the gasoline supply had given out. Order, direction, organization had broken down.

The lingering hope of the dispirited defenders of Madrid was for an honorable, merciful peace. But from General Franco's headquarters in Burgos had come no promise of quarter, only a repeated demand for unconditional surrender--the white flag over Madrid. Then, last Tuesday morning, white flags began to flutter wanly over the ramparts of Madrid, the last symbol of Spanish resistance to the advance of Fascism.

From the 15-story La Prensa (Press) Building, a great white flag was hoisted.From the 16-story Telefonica, Madrid's tallest building, the red-&-gold banner of the old Monarchy, now the Franco flag, invited the conquerors in. The weary Loyalist defenders backed out of their trenches, leaving their arms behind. From scattered balconies draped old Monarchist flags, mantillas with Bourbon emblems.

By noon the occupation of the city had begun. In the van were the Italian legion, behind them came the Civil Guard in their famous three-cornered hats, and behind them--truck loads & truck loads of food.

General Jose Miaja, the "Savior of Madrid," his war minister, Segismundo Casado, political and trade union leaders and others who feared reprisals had fled to Valencia. Over the Madrid radio Foreign Minister Julian Besteiro, British-backed negotiator who was largely responsible for turning the face of Madrid from defiance to surrender, counseled: "Madrilenos! . . . The moment has arrived for avoiding further bloodshed. . . . Let us all be calm and serene, at present, accepting the surrender of Madrid as the best means of salvation. . . . Viva Espana!" Thus ended, after two years, four months and 21 days, one of the most heroically defended seiges in history.

Whether or not surrender was the best means of salvation, it was the better part of valor. In the south, through Cordoba and Toledo, the Franco main armies were reported advancing, meeting with no resistance. At Valencia it was reported that Loyalist troops had been ordered to withdraw without risking further bloodshed. All that seemed to remain was Franco's own triumphal entry into Madrid and the mopping up of the south, a procedure that in Catelonia required only a few weeks following the collapse of Barcelona.

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