High over the rolling mountains northeast of Burgos, a twin-motored Rightist plane dodged last week through thick patches of fog. It was far from any battle front. A young shepherd on a hillside idly watched it come out of the clouds. Few minutes later he stumbled excitedly into the little village of Briviesca. The plane had crashed into the mountainside.* Help was wanted.
Sweating painfully uphill, rescuers soon found the wreckage. All the occupants were dead, two officers, the pilot, and mechanic. Twenty-five yards away they found the mangled body of still another officer, wrapped in a worn tan waterproof coat. Round his waist was a general's sash. It was some time before he could be identified: General Emilio Mola, second in command only to Generalissimo Francisco Franco. Longlegged, broadnosed General Mola was in his stocking feet, for ever since a gypsy told him that he was to die with his boots on, Rightist officers explained, he alwrays took his shoes off in airplanes.
Here was the most serious blow to Rightist chances in mary months. Of all the Rightist generals who have thrown in their chances with Franco, spectacled, bateared Emilio Mola was the one whom officious German and Italian staff officers treated with most respect.
Like many another Rightist leader,Emilio Mola, 49, was not born in Spain. His father was a Spanish officer in Cuba, his mother Cuban. After a mildly distinguished career in the Spanish army he won distinction and his general's sash fighting Abd-el-Krim in Morocco in 1926. Just before Alfonso XIII's flight from Madrid, Emilio Mola was chief of police in Spain, won the title of "the most hated man in Spain" for ordering Civil Guards to fire on the students. No monarchist, he was placed on the retired list in the early years of the republic, was in and out of favor depending on whether the Cabinet was Leftist or Rightist at the time.
When the civil war broke last July, Mola was virtually in retirement at Pamplona. One of the first leaders of the rebellion was General José Sanjurjo who was also killed in an accident, flying from Lisbon. Mola was among the first to recognize the leadership of Francisco Franco, who gave him command of practically the entire northern sector of Rightist activity. At the time of his death, Mola was responsible not only for the siege of Bilbao but for the siege of Madrid as well. With no capable successor to hand, Generalissimo Franco split Mola's command in two. To the Bilbao front went General José Fidel Davila, a desk officer who had been head of the "technical junta." Put in charge of the Madrid, Aragón and Soria fronts was bleary-eyed old General Andres Saliquet, who looks very much like Cartoonist Bruce Bairnsfather's famed Old Bill.
Still in command of the southern armies was hoarse-voiced General Queipo de Llano whose persistent personal broadcasts from Seville have been one of the high spots of the civil war.
"Mola is dead, but his spirit will remain. His death can change nothing!" cried General Queipo de Llano last week.
At Burgos, Generalissimo Franco led the funeral march through the streets while Rightist sympathizers scattered rose petals from the balconies and a muted brass band played Sueño Eterno (Eternal Sleep).