(2 of 3)
Pitifully few escaped. Old General José Miaja, Madrid's famed defender, flew with his staff from Valencia to Oran, Algeria. There he predicted that Republican rule would return to Spain "sooner than one might expect." Julián Besteiro remained in Madrid, was arrested, taken to Burgos and was expected to face a military trial early this week. Colonel Casado, chief figure in ousting the civil government of Dr. Juan Negrin from power four weeks ago, escaped to Marseille aboard a British ship. As his last official act he had issued a bogus proclamation to Communist leaders to mobilize for a last-ditch stand. When they reached their headquarters he had them arrested and carted off to jail to await the arrival of the Franco troops.
That not much mercy will be shown to Communists (who compared to the Anarchists were a moderate faction of Loyalist Spain) was indicated by New York Times Correspondent George Axelsson in a dispatch filed just after leaving Valencia shortly before that city fell. Wirelessed Newsman Axelsson:
"Some say there are 10,000 [Communists] waiting in jail to be handed over in their chains to the victorious Nationalists. . . . Why are they there? They are being held as ransom. With their lives they will probably pay for the lives of those who put them in prison while they negotiated surrender. . . . One might compare their lot to that of a bull, worn out by picadors, helplessly waiting for the matador to enter with a fanfare of trumpets to give it the coup de grâce. This war, which has been incredibly cruel on all sides since its commencement two-and-a-half years ago, seems likely to end in an orgy of cruelty."
Secret Police. Members of the military tribunals which will try all Loyalists accused of various and sundry "crimes" arrived in Madrid soon after Franco's troops. An 8 p. m. curfew was clamped down; in many a Spanish home the knock of the secret police was momentarily expected and feared. Far from forgetting the Loyalist excesses of the last two-and-a-half years, Nationalist Spain was in a mood for wholesale reprisal and punishment. The new Government's authorities claimed that 250,000 of their sympathizers had been murdered by the Loyalists; they wanted "justice" in each case.
The bulging, well-documented Franco index (said to contain some 2,000,000 names) was being annotated from the personal memories of the Fifth Column. Moreover, a large portion of the Loyalist population was being forced, under the threat of punishment, to become informers. The Serenas, picturesque night watchmen who let people into their homes late at night for a small tip, were ordered for questioning. The two oldest inhabitants of any building in which ''murder, robberies, looting, arrests or any other offenses were committed" were ordered to appear before military courts. All those possessing documents, pamphlets, court records, books or newspapers of the Republic were ordered to surrender them. Anyone who acquired property since July 18, 1936 was ordered to prove that he had acquired it "legally."