The Forgotten Resistance: The Galician Rearguard 1936-1945: The Example of the Neira Group

For most, Galicia in the Civil War is restricted merely to the role of its troops in the Nationalist rank and file and its supplies to feed that army. Forgotten are the anarchosyndicalist movements of Coruña and Vigo, the liberal tendencies of its bourgeoisie and its nationalist dimension, most visibly expressed in its plebiscite to approve its own statute in June 1936. These currents of opinion did not disappear overnight in July 1936.This paper will examine and focus on the Civil War in Galicia, highlighting the forgotten voices of those left in the Francoist/Nationalist rearguard, fighting and resisting the regime from within, a group overlooked in subsequent histories. It will draw on research conducted with interviews with members of the guerrilla movement in Ferrol, those involved in attempted coups within barracks at Coruña in November 1936 and mutinies on board the cruiser Baleares, as well as the ordinary Galicians who were opposed to the insurrection. In so doing it will reassess contemporary views of the Spanish Civil War, through oral and written testimonies, and touch on the issues of regional nationalism and violence, from a Galician perspective.