The Gallant Cause: Canadians in the Spanish Civil War

by Mark Zuehlke

Book by Zuehlke, Mark

Genres: History, Spanish Civil War, Nonfiction, Spain, Canada

280 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1996

About the author

On January 1, 1981, Mark Zuehlke walked away from a journalism career to pursue magazine and book writing fulltime. He has never looked back. In 1992, Mark published his first book—Magazine Writing From the Boonies (co-authored with Louise Donnelly)—and now concentrates almost exclusively on writing of books.

Fascinated by Canada’s military heritage, Mark first set to writing about the role Canadians played in World War II after discussing the Battle of Ortona with several veterans in a Royal Canadian Legion following a Remembrance Day Ceremony in Kelowna, B.C. Discovering no book had been written on this pivotal battle, Mark decided to fill that gap. Ortona: Canada’s Epic World War II Battle was the result. The book’s success encouraged him to develop The Canadian Battle Series, which documents the Canadian World War II experience and has resulted in his being declared by Jack Granatstein as the nation’s leading popular military historian.

Mark is also an award winning mystery writer, whose popular Elias McCann series has garnered much critical praise. Set in storm-swept west coast Vancouver Island village of Tofino, the series follows the investigations of reluctant community coroner Elias McCann. Hands Like Clouds, the debut title in this series, won the Crime Writers of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award for the 2000 Best First Novel and the third instalment, Sweep Lotus, was nominated for the 2004 Arthur Ellis Best Novel.

When not writing, this Victoria, British Columbia resident can often be found tinkering around the Fernwood heritage house he shares with partner and fellow writer Frances Backhouse. He enjoys hiking, backpacking, cycling, kayaking, travelling, and cooking.

Reviews

[spike marlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. I had not read much about the Spanish Civil War and how it was the precursor to World War II. When you think that Mackenzie-King, Canada's Prime Minister admired Adolf Hitler and was about as anti-communist as they come, one understands why Canada stood in the way of Canadians going to fight in Spain, or to support the Republican Government in Spain. This is a easy to read story of men who went to fight to stop the fascist Franco. Many of them had survived the depression and were veterans of the On-to-Ottawa trek. Many, but not all were communists. They were ideologically driven and they went into combat with very little training to fight in a country they knew little about. They were brave and they were naive and they died for a cause that the governments of the day did not want to be involved in. In many ways the western governments hindered the Republican Government, and by doing so allowed Hitler and Mussolini to launch a war that would kill 10's of millions of people. The men remembered in this book tried to do something about it and failed. Maybe if the Western Governments had intervened then, and had stood up to Hitler, the Second World War might have been averted.

[Iain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Digging deeper into the Spanish Civil War, Mark Zuehike examines the contributions of the Canadians who volunteered to go and fight for democracy and their "gallant cause." Approximately 1600 brave souls headed into the conflict that would purvey abhorrent cruelty on soldiers and civilians alike that would essentially be a preview of the Second World War. Many lessons were learned but forgotten but the tales of these Canadians are highlighted in this book.
By summer 1937 some 1,200 Canadians were involved in the conflict and a separate battalion was formed for them in early May. Two months later it was named for William Lyon Mackenzie and Louis-Joseph Papineau, who led the 1837 Rebellions. The battalion was formed at Albacete, Spain under the command of Edward Cecil-Smith, a Montreal-based journalist and trade union organizer. This was the Canadian regiment known as the Mackenzie–Papineau Battalion or Mac-Pacs. They would fight in three major battles: the Battle of Teruel (December 1937 – March 1938), the Aragon Offensive (March–April) more commonly known to the Republican forces as the "Retreats"; though the Finnish-American machine gun companies successfully repelled the Nationalist forces, the collapse of the front on their flanks forced them to join the withdrawal. Their final engagement was the Battle of the Ebro (July–September). The men who fought in these battles are brought to life by Zuehike's telling of their stories.
Upon an invitation from the Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy, Dr. Norman Bethune headed to Spain where he would meet his assistant Henning Ingeman Sorensen, a recent emigrant to Canada from Denmark. He would help Dr. Bethune and his service as a frontline surgeon supporting the democratically elected Republican government during the Spanish Civil War. Bethune's idea was to set up a mobile blood transfusion service by which he could take blood donated by civilians in bottles to wounded soldiers near the front lines. His pioneering method of blood transfusions has been used around the world ever since.

Bethune's poem, composed the night he left Spain...

And this same pallid moon tonight,
Which rides so quietly, clear and high,
The mirror of our pale and troubled gaze,
Raised to a cool Canadian sky.

Above the shattered mountain tops,
Last night, rose low and wild and red,
Reflecting back from her illumined shield,
The blood bespattered faces of the dead.

To that pale disc, we raise our clenched fists,
And to those nameless dead our vows renew,
“Comrades, who fought for freedom and the future world,
Who died for us, we will remember you.”

Finally, the details revealed about the Canadian prime minister at the time Mackenzie King and his rather odd and dangerous view of Adolf Hitler.
"He is really one who truly loves his fellow-men, and his country, and would make any sacrifice for their good. The world will yet come to see a very great man–mystic in Hitler ... I cannot abide in Nazism – the regimentation – cruelty – oppression of Jews – attitude towards religion, etc., but Hitler ... will rank some day with Joan of Arc among the deliverers of his people."

An informative book about the Canadians who were there.

[Ian Burrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating narrative history regarding the Canadians who joined the Spanish Governments against the Fascist rebels in Spain. As well as tales from the conflict the book covers the political situation in Canada at the time and references the international response, particularly the failure of the Western 'Democracies' to support the elected government, favouring Franco and the Fascists.

Recommended.

[Dasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Zuehlke provides insight into many experiences of those who participated in the Spanish War while also tracing labour and political histories that shaped these experiences. However, the book is written in a very..flowery..style. The number one sin one can commit when writing a work of historical non-fiction.

[Yasmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very good book but sad, as this period of history would be. I was astounded by the callous indifference of the Canadian government to the plight of so many Canadians who went to fight for democracy and on the survivors return were treated shabbily. Of course it was the Canadian people that treated them all like heroes on the return, which would have been a comfort. Yet on the way one of the gallant men saw the supplies, ammunition etc. they all needed to have defeated fascism in Spain once and for all! Reading this book has really made me rethink my views on war. I am still against wars, I am still not for patriotism, but I also see more clearly when Gregory Peck as Keith Mallory in Guns of the Navarone you have to fight as nastily as the enemy to defeat them.

[T. Fowler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author has used all the techniques of "creative non-fiction" to construct a narrative which skillfully presents the stories of Canadians who volunteered to fight in this war. While it is not a military history of the war, it gives the reader a good idea of what the war was about and, more importantly, what these men experienced.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great use of primary sources skillfully woven into an engrossing narrative.