The Spanish Civil War seen from the USS Omaha. My dad's caption:
This is the village of Caldetas, in Spain, approximately twenty kilometers
north of Barcelona. Picture was taken on morning of the 25th of January,
1939, shortly before the fall of Barcelona and almost two months to the day
from the civil war's end. The small ship at the far right is the French
destroyer "Le Tigre". The ship at the far left, of which only the stern may
be seen, is the USS Badger, a
destroyer, which followed close on the heels of the "Omaha" in making this
hurried run to Caldetas. It was the "Badger" which transported the
consulate staff of Barcelona to Marseilles. Both survived a severe storm
enroute, although the weather-beaten condition of the ships and crew is, of
course, not apparent. At right center is a large volume of smoke caused by
a direct his on what appeared to be an ammunition truck, judging by the
tracer bullets which flew out at all angles. The Capronis [Italian
aircraft] which wrought such havoc are far overhead — invisible. They
were nine in number, flying north from Barcelona, cicling twice and
returning. It was the French "Le Tigre" which mustered up enough courage to
use her anti-aircraft, but she, unhappily, did no damage. The "Omaha" motor
launch was close inshore at the time.
Caldetas is called Caldes d'Estrac or Caldetes in Catalan. I note with some
surprise from the next-to-last sentence that my dad seemed to favor the
Republican side. I found a
web page
saying "During the Spanish Civil War, Caldetes was considered an open city,
having several embassies in the municipality, which meant it could not be
bombed." For this reason diplomats of many countries moved from Barcelona
to Caldetes during the war.