me Santander was going to be attack.
The Bombing of Santander:
Cantabrian coast and specially Santander sometimes was bombed by Spanish warships that they were blocking the Cantabrian harbours and people were getting used to that.
But something different was going to happened the 27 of December, when the people was in the streets enjoying a peaceful day, when the kids were without school enjoying Christmas holidays. The first bombing of a city -for sure in the north including the world know Gernika- was going to happened.
Up to near 20 planes appear in the skies of Santander. At that time the people didn’t saw many of them and for sure they didn’t fell the threat. The planes were going around in the air and the people were looking at them curious… Suddenly they start to the thrown dozens of bombs many of them fire bombs. The people tried to reach the anti-air refuges but many never get into them. In some cases even the anti-air refuges places were attacked with fire bombs. The horror was huge. Houses falling in many working class neighbourhoods, fires everywhere, dozens (more than probably hundreds) of bodies dead and mutilated in the streets, most of them women and children….this was the result of the coward attack. Germans planes of the Legion Condor, at the service of Spanish Fascism had the “honour” of attacking a city and make a massacre in the middle of Christmas time.
The day after hundreds of furious persons went to a ship-prison in the Santander’s bay, where they were hundreds of fascist prisoners and they killed more than a hundred in response to the coward massacre of the day before.The feelings of the People were boiling with anger and hate.
But a good new was going to come thanks to the old republicans planes based in La Albericia airfield, in Santander. So old that even most of them have to drop the bombs manually.
Since near the 18 of July Cantabria was suffering a hard sea-blockade by the Spanish fascist navy. Also fishing boats and fishing men were kidnapped by the war ships. The most important ship of all their Navy was the battleship “ España”. Also its artillery was reinforced in German shipyards. The battleship was involved along with other war ships in many bombing of Cantabrian coast and of Santander itself.
One day when it was pursuing a merchant ship that was trying to reach Santander, was sighted by the Coast defence of the Cantabrian Army. Then the attack began from La Albericia airfield, where no many planes start the attack. The planes went to the battleship, dropped the bombs and went back to the airfield for more bombs. They were hit many times by the heavy anti-air artillery of the warship but they managed to continue. Many people were looking from the coast line without breathing.
At one point one of the bombs dropped hit the target. A huge explosion was heard even from the coast and the battleship started to get water. Then another bomb hit again. This was the end of the “ España”. Slowly went east (Euskadi direction) trying to reach a save harbour but he disappear in the waters of the Cantabrian Sea few miles and minutes later, taking with itself many lives of fascist sailors.
The people were really happy and celebrated the sink of this battleship symbol of the Spanish fascist navy.
We reach the middle of 1937. Franco’s mind was focused in the North, The fascist themselves said that here was the key for the victory.
The front line was in the beginning in the south of Cantabria, the east of Euskadi and the west of Asturias. The situation was this: in the West of Asturias the resistance was big, and were still fights around Oviedo, attacks and counter attacks. In the south of Cantabria the geography was an allied of the antifascist defenders and made the attack much more difficult. The east of Euskadi was then the most predictable way.
Then the fascist started attacking in that direction. But surprisingly the resistance wasn’t hard. The fascist move forward very fast and reached San Sebastian and conquer Gipuzkoa. Then the Basque Government order to leave the city without battle. The Basq