1939 ends, shit hits the fan:
From
A war to be won, history of the second World War, by Alan Millett; Harvard University Press, 2000
…Even before the finnish debacle, the Red Army already showed the damage the Great Purgues had made to its official corps and how soviet military doctrine had been put twenty years back; in a series of skirmishes and battles with the Kwantung Army in Mongolia and Manchuria known as the Soviet-Japanese Border War. In the escalating battle of the war, fought around the Khalkin River between May and September 1939, a soviet force was unable to dislodge a Japanese force half its size from its position. Commanded by Dimitri Pavlov, the soviets were unable to profit from their superior tanks, and their tactics of mass infantry assaults with little or no combined arms coordination proved useless against the strong Japanese-manchukuo resistance.
…in late 1939 the border war had stagnated into stalemate, since the Japanese did not wish to risk another soviet attack and the soviets were concentrating in Finland. This was instrumental in the Japanese not signing the Neutrality Pact proposal Stalin outlined in April 1941.
Excerpt from
Buenaventura Durruti and the rise of Spanish anarchism, by Joseph Billings, Oxford University Press. 1976.
…In 1939 the CNT and the Iberian Workers’ Party awoke to the fundamental contradiction that Spanish anarchism was harbouring since the 1937 election. How could an organization devoted to ending the state cooperate with said state to the extent that one of his main leaders would be able to succeed the president, should he die in office?
…It was true that the anarchists had transformed Spanish society in two years to an extent unthinkable in other countries, ending quasifeudal practices in the countryside, undermining the church’s power and starting a sexual revolution that predated other European countries by 30 years. Durruti’s term as minister had been moderately successful, while Federica Montseny had built the tenets of a succesful national healthcare system. But this still didn’t address the hypocrisy many base members felt at preaching the destruction of the state while being a part of it. Furthermore, moderate republicans and stalinists were now united in their dislike of the new power the anarchists had.
…The extraordinary Congress of the CNT in May 1939 to address these important points was again one of those pivotal points in the history of the republic. It was also the base of the postwar anarchism that would help shaping Spanish society after WWII; although many radicals even today claim that is not anarchism, but some weird mashup of libertarianism and socialdemocracy. But the truth is that the 1939 congress confirmed the CNT’s cooperation with the government to unknown extents. While not renouncing to the necessity of “direct action” to end with the state, the congress admitted that “revolution from the inside” was also a viable path towards revolution, especially at a time in which revolutionaries and bourgeois had to be together against the fascist menace. Some historians also say that Durruti changed the timing of the congress to make it at the same time of the joint maneuvers the Portuguese and Italian fleets made in the Atlantic between May 15 and 21; but it is more likely that it was just a coincidence.
…Failure at the 1939 congress would have meant, in the words of some counterfactual historians, the breakup of Spanish anarchism and perhaps the return of political violence, which could have led to a civil war.
…It was never very clear what “revolution from the inside” actually meant, and there was almost no time to take any important measure before the start of the war. The most radical change was in the CNT itself when members of the police and military were admitted into the syndicate. It was officially to expand the anarchist ideas among the “repressive forces” themselves, but in the end it proved to be one decisive step turning the CNT into a mainstream force.
From
www.en.commonpedia.org/wiki/Reduit#Meaning_during_the_Second_World_War
During
World War II, "
réduit" referred to the concept of a heavily defended, "untakeable" region of a country which provided a last hard spot of resistance, and hopefully a base for a counter-attack, should a large part of a country be invaded.
In
France, when it became clear that the
Battle of France could not be won against the Nazis, the idea of a "réduit" in
Brittany was suggested as an alternative to letting the whole mainland France at the hands of the invaders and to divert german forces in their advance towards Spain. The Breton reduit would resist for two months before falling.
For
Switzerland, a neutral country then surrounded by a Nazi-occupied Europe and fascist Italy, defence was quickly re-designed and articulated over the idea over a réduit in the Swiss Alps.
In Spain, War Plan 13 featuring a invasion from French territory was drafted in February 1939 and included two reduits; one at the Asturian mountains and another protecting Andalucia behind the Sierra Morena mountains. Fortification works started in September 1939, and would be vital in the Spanish defense during World War II.
From
My War: reminiscences of the Great Independence War, by Enríque Líster, Ed. Espasa, Madrid, 1969
…I am often credited as being the first western general to use effective blitzkrieg tactics. That is simply not true, but at least it flatters me. What I would like to be credited of, though, is with having contributed with a new focus to the Spanish army during the late 30’s. We were forced by circumstances: we had few friends, no money, little resources, and we had to prepare for a total war against enemies that would not stop until they annihilated our nation. We had to think differently, try new tactics, because tanks and planes were expensive, but ideas are for free, and we had plenty of those.
…The 1st of September of 1939, I was awoken by a phone call early in the morning. It was the Minister of Defense, General Miaja. He told me: “It has started, The germans have invaded Poland”. The next day, France and Great Britain declared war on Germany and the worst war mankind has ever experienced started. Italy was of course, our greatest concern. The Italians had spent the past year sending help to the Portuguese, and the joint maneuvers of the Italian and Portuguese fleets in spring had concerned us a lot. But Italy declared neutrality, and we breathed alleviated. Little it would last.
…during that autumn, and while our northern neighbours seemingly forgot they were at war with each other, we kept our rearmament and industrialization program. With the anarchists kept at bay, and the Stalinists having lost all their credit[1], the government was able to pass measures that would otherwise have found little support. I kept training our new tank forces, while plans for a defense of the coast were drafted and refined.
…I was able to meet Franco a lot during my tenure as Chairman of the National Defense Council between October and December 1939. At first we did not go along very well due to our opposed political ideas and backgrounds, but both of us were of Galician origin and in the end we ended up respecting each other. He was at least a competent commander, and his gallant fight and valorous death are the hallmark of what a Spanish soldier should be.
…Italy had been provoking us for years; but when we found out about the Guimaraes Treaty, we knew that both Mussolini and Salazar had gone too far. This must have been around December 17. The next day, the Prime Minister ordered us to start preparations for mobilization.
[1]Due to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the soviet invasion of Finland, which have finished of finishing up the PCE.
From
A military history of Iberia: volume 7, 1898-1945. Harvard UniversityCambridge, Mass, 1987.
…Although Spain had declared neutrality at the beginning of the Second World War, anti german and Italian sentiment grew during late 1939 as Spanish merchants were sank by german U-boats. An incident where a Spanish submarine and a german u-boat fired at each other 500 miles north of Finisterre in October was hidden to the public by fear of forcing a breakup on relationships with Germany
…In December 1939 the Italian and Portuguese governments signed the Coimbra Treaty, allowing Mussolini’s Italy to establish a permanent naval and air presence in Portuguese territory. This was both a provocation to the Spanish government and an active action of Mussolini to enlarge his empire.
…During the rest of December, the Spaniards tried to negotiate with both governments, while anti-italian and antigerman demonstrations stormed the entire country. The Spanish navy started mobilization the 26th, while Spanish divisions were being moved towards the Portuguese border.
…While Britain was less than happy with the Spanish attitude,[1] France promised spain support in the terms of the Casares-Delbos Treaty.
…the 27th, Italian ships loaded with planes and supporting troops crossed the Straits of Gibraltar. The Spaniards, believing that a negotiated solution could be still achieved, let them pass; but negotiations broke out in New Year. That day, the Spanish president issued an ultimatum by which every Italian military personnel should abandon Portuguese territory in 10 days, or “Spain reserved the right to respond with whatever means available to these threats to Spain’s national security”. There was little celebration in the streets of Spain in New Year of 1940, as war was thought to be imminent and the army started its full mobilization.
[1]Churchill still hopes Portugal rejects Mussolini and doesn't view very well Spain's meddling with a traditional english ally.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW?
It’s Christmas day, 1939, and 3 and a half years after the POD have now caused enough butterflies to make significant changes to the lives of important people:
FRANCISCO FRANCO is at his family house in Ferrol, enjoying holidays after another year directing the Zaragoza’s officers academy. Although he still dislikes the Frente Popular government, specially since anarchists are in power positions, he still agrees that most of his fears had no basis. He is also worried about the latest developments regarding the Portuguese question. He is not confident that Spain can win in a war against Italy.
JOSÉ ANTONIO PRIMO DE RIVERA is spending his third year in exile in Rome. He is quite unhappy with his role as Mussolini’s guest, but is confident that things will change for the better with the new decade. Maybe, someday and with Italian and german help, he will be able to make real his dream of a national-syndicalist spain.
FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA has decided to take a break from poetry –where he is already seen as one of Spain’s greatest alive poets- to write his first long novel, a family saga about an andalusian family during the 19th century.
ERNEST HEMINGWAY has just returned to Havana after his second year as a war correspondent in China, reporting about the Chinese resistance to the Japanese. He is considering writing a novel based on his experiences with the Abraham Lincoln brigade of American volunteers fighting in China.
GEORGY ZHUKOV’s corpse has spent the past two years rotting at Lubyanka’s basement. He has no plans to change that for the foreseeable future.
PHILIPPE HAUTECLOCQUE is celebrating Christmas at Tunis after a visit to border positions in the Libyan border and to his new B1 tanks squadrons. With the growing tension between Spain and Italy, war in north Africa seems imminent.
LEON TROTSKY doesn’t celebrate Christmas, but is experiencing a serious intellectual dilemma. During the past two years he has witnessed the Spanish quiet revolution, and his faith in Marxism-leninism is shaking. What if the separation of communists and anarchists at the 1874 congress was a mistake? At his house in Barcelona, Trotsky starts writing his most influential work.
ADMIRAL ANGELO IACHINO of the Regia Marina is inspecting his five[1] battleships at La Spezia. The Duce has warned that war with Spain is imminent, and the fleet must be in perfect order. The Spanish fleet will be an easy prey, and French meddling is unlikely; although the two new british carriers that have been deployed to Alexandria are haunting him.
[1]The Italians have had more money to spend in the navy in TTL, so by early 1940 one of the three battleships they would complete in mid-1940 in OTL is already finished. The French have also invested more heavily in their navy, with their carrier Beárn fully operative by Christmas 1939. In general, with 6 extra months of war preparation, the allies are in a much stronger position than in OTL, specially in the air and in North Africa.
