Vive la France!

[Sierra Charriba]

The french 2?®me Division Blind?©e (2nd armoured division) was the most famous military unit of De Gaulle's troops. Called "Division Leclerc",and totally equiped as an us army armoured division, was the first in arrive to Paris (you know the film "Is Paris burning?"), with a combat team composed almost completely by spanish volunteers. The uniform of division armoured infantry was the same that US infantry, with some tipically french details, as the headress (the "qu?©pi" and the "bonnet de police) or the elegant "ch?®che", the cotton scarf of colonial troops. Here, some photos of this interesting impression.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/Normanda.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/TENIENTE.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/9880449c.jpg

 

[Miss_Bella_Hell]

Happy Bastille Day

 

[tallyho]

My grandfather was a member of the french marines during the war. he was originally a reagular sailor until we sank his ship in casablanca. any way, he then joined the french marine comandos and was involved with the landings in southern France until the jeep he was riding in ran over a mine. the other occupants were killed. he said he was attached to the " duesieme division Blindee" but i now beleive he may have actually been with the Premiere Division Blindee. I would love to here from anyone who has any info on this subject.

Merci Beaucoupe!

 

[Sefton]

Those are terrific photos. Thanks for posting them! I especiallly liked the blue cloth cap in the third photo. Interesting and rather unknown (to us in the U.S.,anyway) history.

 

[Sefton]

Sierra Charriba welcome to the Lounge!Are you Spanish or just living in Spain? I'm Spanish (on my mothers side) and I'm reading Orwell's account of the Spanish Civil War right now. If you have any photos or links about that time please post them. It's not exactly WWII although perhaps close enough. Cheers! Sefton

 

[Sierra Charriba]

I'm spanish, and I live in Madrid. I'm reenactor of Spanish Civil War and WWII, and you can see the webs of boths groups in www.lanueve.net and www.aycarmela.net.
"La Nueve" was the name in spanish of th 9th company of R?©giment de Marche du Tchad. This company was almost totally formed in northern africa, in 1943,with exiled republican spanish, veterans of the civil war.
Also, many spanish fougth in the french "r?©sistence" and in the "maquis".
Here, more photos of both topics.
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/6a9ba532.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/3913db69.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/4558d7e2.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/97369421.jpg
http://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m308/sierracharriba/Enelmaquis.jpg

Best wishes

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Do you drink Spanish absenta (ajenjo / absinthe) at your gatherings, Sierra?

.

 

[Salv]

Sierra Chariba - welcome to the Lounge, and thanks for the very interesting photos and the great links.

Monday 17th July will be the 70th anniversary of the start of the Spanish Civil War and I had planned to start a thread on that very subject on the day. The uprising was scheduled to start on the 18th but the plans were discovered on the 17th by the pro-Republican General Romerales in Melilla in Morocco. The General couldn't decide whether to arrest the conspirators or not, but the leader of the rebellion in Melilla acted faster and arrested the general who was later sentenced to death by the Nationalists. The uprising went ahead as planned on the 18th.

For anyone that's interested I can, without hesitation, recommend Anthony Beevor's The Battle For Spain - an exhaustively detailed, massive history of the Civil War, and available from amazon.com for just $11.56. Beevor originally wrote a much shorter account of the war in 1982, but with access to Soviet and German archives he has been able to expand the earlier work and go into much greater depth. According to Beevor 'La Neuve' were commanded by Captain Raymond Dronne. Their tanks had such names as Madrid, Teruel, Ebro, Guernica and Don Quixote.

 

[Lincsong]

Welcome here buddy. My great-grandfather is from Andalusia. He came to the U.S.A. in 1907.

 

[J.B.Saxon]

Hola compadre!

Mui bien photographias! (ooooh, me and my bad spanish[huh] )

Welcome on board. These are great pics.
I don´t know much about the spanish civil war, but it is a pleasure to learn about that from you.
Keep on posting!

J.B.

Semper Fi

 

[BellyTank]

Welcome Sierra Charriba-
Good timing- I believe there has been a lot of interest in the Spanish Civil War brewing here at the Lounge- now we have something and someone to talk about/to.

Great photos and uniforms!

Welcome!

B
T

 

[Absinthe_1900]

Do you drink Spanish absenta (ajenjo / absinthe) at your gatherings, Sierra?

.

Don't forget Pernod Tarragonna.

 

[Sierra Charriba]

The abshenta was forbidden to sell, but now you can buy it without problems, if you find it
...drunken by absentha?: bad, very bad, the morning after.

 

[nightandthecity]

I was also thinking of opening a "70th anniversary" thread on Monday!

Although the Generals' rebellion was always called "the Movement of the 18th July" in the Franco era, as Salv says it really began on the 17th with the "premature" risings in Morocco.

We had some discussion on the Civil War back in March

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?t=7127&highlight=axis

It included the following link to an article on the Spanish Resistance in WW2 France. Although it’s basically about the Maquis there is some mention of the 9th Company of the French 2nd Armoured in Paris 1944.

http://flag.blackened.net/revolt/spain/france_afa.html

For those who know nothing of the war here are two basic online introductions to the subject

http://www.historyhome.co.uk/europe/spaincw.htm
http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/Spanish-Civil-War.htm

I recently found links to some stunning original films made by the Anarcho-Syndicalist CNT, including dramatic footage of the suppression of the rising by the workers of Barcelona. These are viewable online with Quicktime. I’m a bit busy right now, but I’ll try and post them asap!

 

[Sierra Charriba]

OK, let's open a thread abou it! I have A LOT of photographs, originals and reenacted and many things to say. There's a topic that I think can be interesting to Fedora Lounge partenaires: the americans and the Spanish Civil War ( the Lincoln Brigade), and also, the Spanish Civil War-Hollywood connection, including the maccarthism era. Many Hollywood movies of Golden Era are in touch, in any way, with te SCW: for example, Rick Blaine was in Spain before go to Paris ¬øDo you remember it? The Vichy police, yes...

 

[mikepara]

Welcome..

...and thank you for the great photo's. A wonderful effort. I particually like the 1st one with the Kepi on. mike

 

[Salv]

OK, let's open a thread abou it! I have A LOT of photographs, originals and reenacted and many things to say. There's a topic that I think can be interesting to Fedora Lounge partenaires: the americans and the Spanish Civil War ( the Lincoln Brigade), and also, the Spanish Civil War-Hollywood connection, including the maccarthism era. Many Hollywood movies of Golden Era are in touch, in any way, with te SCW: for example, Rick Blaine was in Spain before go to Paris ¬øDo you remember it? The Vichy police, yes...

I'll start one now but actually post it on Monday. I'll write an introduction and we can take it from there. I'm looking forward to reading your comments and seeing your photos.

 

[Lincsong]

I want to hear the Spanish side of the subject. Sounds interesting.

 

[Dahlia]

Just wanted to add my welcome and thank you for the photos, I enjoyed looking through them!

 

[BellyTank]

Hey Sierra Charriba-
Where can I get a cap like this?

B
T