Short Rounds

"Chose, Death or Glory?"

In June of 1944 Hans-Ulrich von Luck commanded the 125^th Panzer Grenadier Regiment, which was heavily engaged from the very first day of the Normandy Campaign.  By mid-June his command had been reorganized as a kampfgruppe, to include not only the remnants of his own regiment but elements of several other seriously depleted units as well.  By June 14^th the front to seemed to have stabilized, and at the urging of several senior officers von Luck took a short leave to spend his birthday in Paris with his girl friend

When he returned to headquarters on the morning of June 18^th, von Luck found it in disarray.  Some 2,500 Allied bombers had just subjected his command to a carpet bombing, after which hundreds of Allied field pieces and naval guns had worked it over, and it was under attack by strong British armored forces.  With his second-in-command and staff hopelessly paralyzed by the experience, von Luck headed for the front to take personal charge.

Near the remnants of the village of Cagny, von Luck learned that at least one of his battalions had been totally smashed, and he could actually see British tanks penetrating the German lines, with scores more coming up to support them.

He also spotted a Luftwaffe 88-mm anti-aircraft battery, with its guns pointing skyward, but otherwise unengaged.  Quickly ordering the airmen to engage the approaching tanks, von Luck was startled when the battery commander replied his orders were to engage enemy aircraft, and that fighting tanks was the army's business.

Not hesitating a moment, von Luck drew his pistol, aimed it right into the young captain's face, and said "Either you are a dead man or you earn yourself a medal."

The battery was in action within minutes, and helped beat off the British attack.

The "Spanish Lawrence" Escapes a Firing Squad

On the eve of the Spanish Civil War, in July of 1936, Alberto Castro Girona, a lieutenant general and the second ranking officer in the Spanish Army, was on extended leave awaiting retirement.  He had entered the army at 17, in 1892, and served in Cuba during the insurrection of 1895-1898 and the Spanish-American War, after which he had seen extensive service in Morocco.  One of the ablest officers in the Spanish Army in the early twentieth century, Castro Girona had emerged from the Rif War in Morocco (1920-1926) as something of a national hero.  He had a deep knowledge of Riffian culture, spoke six or seven variants of Arabic and Berber, and was well versed in tribal politics, all of which led to some notable exploits in the field.  He often passed for a Riffian, most notably in October of 1920, when he negotiated the surrender of Xauen after infiltrating the city disguised as a charcoal seller, and his daring during the disastrous Annual Campaign (July-August 1921), had earned him the nickname “The Spanish Lawrence."  Castro Girona also had the reputation for being a liberal, and even republican officer, and had been expelled from the army and imprisoned on charges of conspiracy in 1929, shortly before the collapse of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera.  Restored to active duty on the advent of the Republic in 1931, Castro Girona had held various assignments until being placed "at disposal" to await retirement. 

At the time of the military coup that initiated the Spanish Civil War (July 17, 1936), Castro Girona was living at the home of his daughter, in Valencia.  On July 30^th he was arrested by a group of "armed communists."  Charged with being the "Chief of the Fascist Movement in Valencia," the general was being taken to a "cheka" for examination, when, by great good fortune, he came to the notice of a police official who had been one of his sergeants during the Moroccan wars.  This official managed to get the general released.  For the next few months the general continued to live at his daughter's home.  On October 16^th, he was again arrested.  On the 24^th, in an interview at the War Ministry, Castro Girona was, by his account, offered several possible commands in the Republican Army, which he turned down citing various objections, including his age and poor health.  Released under surveillance, he returned to his daughter's house and took to his bed.  Two days later, on October 26^th, Castro Girona was officially expelled from the army. 

Fearing for his safety, on November 2^nd, with the help of persons unnamed but certainly well-connected in Republican circles, Castro Girona fled to the French consulate, seeking asylum.  Since he was a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, he was taken in, and a few days later transferred to the embassy in Madrid.  Castro Girona remained there until mid-1937, by which time the French Embassy had moved to Alicante, where he was placed aboard a ship bound for France.  From France, Castro Girona made his way to Nationalist Spain, where he returned to active duty, being assigned a succession of administrative posts and even, for a time commander of the defense of the Pyrenees, an important post if France had decided to intervene.  After the civil war Castro Girona served for a time as minister of war and later headed a trade mission to Japan and the pro-Japanese quisling Wang regime in China. 

Although pro-Republican historians have usually classified Castro Girona among the military conspirators of 1936, there is no evidence to support that conclusion.  Indeed, when called upon in 1941 to prepare in a statement of his experiences during the summer of 1936 as part of the official Nationalist investigation of Republican "crimes," Castro Girona made no mention at all of any association with the conspiracy, which strongly suggests he had none.

Although Castro Girona probably had a very close brush with death, he was luckier than the two other two lieutenant generals on the Army list, Pio Lopez Pozas and Jose Rodriguez Casademunt, who at the time of the July coup were also on leave awaiting retirement.  Both were expelled from the army for being "hostile to the government" and shot.  Like Castro Girona, neither can be shown to have had any connection to coup of July 17^th, but are nevertheless usually classified as numbering among the military conspirators.