Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1943-02-20

service IN tnlS
country" he said. but If they
would send me to Africa, I
would enlist today"
He went through the war In
Spain and left Madrid only nine
months ago.
/ asked him how the opposing
factions in Spain regarded each
other-granting that IL would be
hard to give an exact answer,
just rs IL is still impossible 10
describe just how the North and
South regarded each other after
our own Civil War in 1860.
True enough--he couldn't give
an exact answer, but said that
one thing was certain. Span
iards are Spaniards regardless
of disputes among themselves,
and they have certain things I'm
common.
No Spaniard has any stomach
for Dictatorship, he says, and
this applies 10 the victorious
Franco forces rs well as to the
defeated loyalists. He was 10y
alist.
Some combination ~ repub-
lican monarchy. on the order OF
Engiand's government, IL what
the average Spaniard wants,
says La Blanca.
TbA intarxuux,.o sk...I -
Spanish politics still leave such
q complicated pattern that an
outsider hardly has chance of
understanding II, 20 we skipped
politics completely.
----s
His bitterness is directed
against the foreign countries
which used Spain as a testing
ground for war-"like a-what
do you call IL in English Yes.
Spain was a guinea pig for war.
We were an experiment for war.
If they had stayed out, the war
would have been over in three
months"
Behind the loyslist lines were
Franco sy1npathizers Cthe orig
mai fifth column and behind
the rebel lines were loyaliSts.
You never knew" he says,
whether the man upstairs or
next door was really on your
side. In the beginning you tore
of your collar and tie. II wasn't
very safe 10 look like somebody
who might be a Fascist
But beneath IL all lay the fact
that all were Spaniards. The
loyalists shut the churches, and
the rebels, facing them across
no-man's land. would ring their
church bells 10 annoy the 10y
aliSts.
And when they were not as
siduously killing each other,
they found time for strange
but enjoyable comradeship, en-
envy with enemy.
I'VE exchanged newspapers
and cigarets; sang to each other;
traded food sometimes" says La
Blanca, with n PARKWAY look, re-
Numbering the backgrounds Of
Madrid and Teruel.
Outside adrid. FRANCOIS
well-fed troops would taunt the
loyalists with: Were having
ham for supper tonight, and you
you've got nothing but sar-
dimes" The taunts. says La
Blanca. would be followed by a
flag Of truce. and rebel would
come out with a slice of ham TO
prove that they had il. A 10y
alist would carry IL back TO his
lines, and the loyalists would
eat IL.
On the stabilized front be-
tween Aragon and Catalonia. he
says. II reached a point at which
the opposing Armies would send
out football teams 10 play
matches.
And in the University City
sector, La Blanca remembers
when they sang. Somewhere
from the rebel lines came the
voice of a Spaniard singing
minor-key Flamenco song.
"One of our men," SAYS La
Blanca, recognized the voice.
II was his brother singing. We
had 10 hold him down 10 keep
him from running out to see his
brother. Because, Of course, he
would have been shot down.
"He never saw his brother. He
was killed sometime later"
That Is Spain. As Ia Blanca
says, when the king left, every
body cried-and yet, they put
\ him OUT"
For Spain is living contra
diction, although for that mat
ter so is the rest Of mankind
The war was horrible. Peace
Is beautiful. La Blanca knows
n. And yet-"there is fun, in
war. too. I was glad when II
ended. but you know, it's boring
when it's over"
Guillermo La Blanca is a good