Pages tagged with: spanish civil war

While New Zealand had no official involvement in the Spanish Civil War of the late 1930s, a small number of New Zealanders fought in Spain (six were killed there), or served as doctors and nurses. Many others supported the Republican war effort through fundraising efforts back home.

The Spanish Civil War was primarily a fight between the nationalist Fascists and the democratic Republicans. 

The deaths of at least six New Zealanders in Spain went largely unnoticed at home. But some groups within New Zealand saw Spain as more than a ‘far away side issue’.

Short biographies of New Zealanders who fought in the Spanish Civil War

Several NZ nurses and least one doctor provided medical assistance in the Spanish Civil War

Ambulance bought by the Dunedin branch of the SMAC for the Spanish Civil War.

A leaflet produced by the Christchurch branch of the Spanish Medical Aid Committee during the Spanish Civil War

Spansih Civil War surgeon Doug Jolly having a quick cigarette during a break from his medical duties.

Maps showing the change in Republican and Nationalist held areas during the Spanish Civil War.

René Shadbolt led the only New Zealand contingent to the Spanish Civil War. She and fellow nurse, Isobel Dodds, cared for wounded soldiers, particularly those from the International Brigades, from July 1937 to November 1938.

Of the small group of New Zealanders who served in the Spanish Civil War, most made their own way to Spain from Britain and Australia. The only organised New Zealand contingent comprised three nurses: René Shadbolt, Isobel Dodds, and Millicent Sharples.

Flag of the Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War

A flag of the International Brigades used during the Spanish Civil War.

No Pasaran! poster recalling the attack on Madrid on 7 November 1936.

Fred Robertson was killed during the Spanish Civil War.

Photograph of New Zealand Communist Party National Committee, 1939.

Tom Spiller, a New Zealand communist who served in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

Women staff at hospital in Huete, Spain, during the Spanish civil war, 1937

Poster advertising a memorial meeting to the New Zealanders who died fighting in Spanish Civil War.

Nurses Isobel Dodds, René Shadbolt and Millicent Sharples made up the only organised New Zealand contingent to serve in the Spanish Civil War.

Griff Maclaurin and Steve Yates were part of the International Column of anti-fascist volunteers who marched into Madrid, bolstering the city's defences against the assault of General Franco's rebel armies. They were killed in battle within two days of arriving

Griff Maclaurin, one of the first international volunteers to be killed in the Spanish Civil War.

Griff Maclaurin was one of the first international volunteers to be killed in the Spanish Civil War. On 8 November 1936, Maclaurin marched into Madrid with the International Column, along with volunteers from all over Europe. Within two days he and his comrade Steve Yates, also reputed to have been born in New Zealand, were killed at their machine gun covering the retreat of a unit in the Casa del Campo.

Geoffrey Cox in 1932, the same year he left New Zealand for Britain on a Rhodes scholarship. Cox forged a successful career as a journalist and authored several books based on his experiences in Europe during the 1930s and 40s.

Obituaries for Sir Geoffrey Cox rightly highlighted his role as a 'TV trailblazer' for his work with Britain's Independent Television News (ITN). Most also draw attention to his role as an eyewitness to momentous events in Europe during the 1930s and 40s. Just how did a boy born in Palmerston North come to witness first hand the impact of Stalinism, the rise of Hitler and the Spanish Civil War?