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A review by komet2020
Mine Were of Trouble: A Nationalist Account of the Spanish Civil War by Peter Kemp
5.0
It was a little more than 2 weeks ago that I became aware of the book "Mine Were of Trouble." It is Peter Kemp's memoir detailing his experiences as a officer in the Nationalist Army during the Spanish Civil War. Kemp was a recent graduate of Cambridge University, where he had studied law, when the Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936. It was a war in which the Republican government (a popularly elected leftist government which drew support from workers and the Communist Party) in Madrid was pitted against a coterie of high ranking Spanish Army officers who formed the Nationalist faction, which was dedicated to overthrowing the Republicans and putting Spain back on a more conservative and traditional footing.
Many people throughout the world were deeply moved by the events in Spain. Indeed, many of them flocked to join the Republicans. This led to the development of the International Brigades, who fought bravely in battle for the Republican government. Peter Kemp was among those foreigners who went to Spain to fight on behalf of the Nationalists. Kemp, who been a student member of the Conservative Party while at Cambridge, was a staunch anti-Communist who saw the war in Spain as a crusade against the expansion of Communism in Europe.
Most memoirs about the Spanish Civil War I've come across were written by men and women who sympathized with and supported the Republican government in Madrid. I felt as if I had struck gold when I found Peter Kemp's book because memoirs from foreigners who supported the Nationalists are scarcer than a needle in a haystack! So, my curiosity was deeply aroused and eagerly I read of Kemp's combat experiences with the Requetés militia and later with the Spanish Foreign Legion, an elite unit within the Spanish military.
What was surprising to me is that Kemp arrived in Spain in December 1936 knowing no Spanish. But within the next 3 years, he would acquire fluency in Spanish and become intimately connected with Spain through contacts with fellow soldiers and people who befriended him there, both Spanish and foreign. Indeed, Kemp would become an officer and would sustain grievous wounds in the summer of 1938 while leading a platoon in a major offensive launched by the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, which - with an overwhelming number of aircraft, artillery, tanks, and troops - would shatter Republican defenses and bring about the cutting of Republican Spain in two. The success of this offensive would help hasten the end of the war, which resulted in a Nationalist victory in March 1939.
"MINE WERE OF TROUBLE" is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that was a dress rehearsal for the Second World War that would break out little more than 5 months after Nationalist forces entered Madrid in triumph. Kemp effectively conveys both the tensions and savagery of the war among Spaniards and foreigners alike. One particular tale Kemp related of his unit's having apprehended a deserter from the Republican side - an Irish seaman from Belfast who ended up marooned in Spain after he failed to meet up with his ship before it sailed away and for his pains, was impressed into the Republican Army - who only wanted out of the war and to return home. Well, let me just say that he was given an "out" by the Nationalists, but not what he or Kemp would have wished.
Many people throughout the world were deeply moved by the events in Spain. Indeed, many of them flocked to join the Republicans. This led to the development of the International Brigades, who fought bravely in battle for the Republican government. Peter Kemp was among those foreigners who went to Spain to fight on behalf of the Nationalists. Kemp, who been a student member of the Conservative Party while at Cambridge, was a staunch anti-Communist who saw the war in Spain as a crusade against the expansion of Communism in Europe.
Most memoirs about the Spanish Civil War I've come across were written by men and women who sympathized with and supported the Republican government in Madrid. I felt as if I had struck gold when I found Peter Kemp's book because memoirs from foreigners who supported the Nationalists are scarcer than a needle in a haystack! So, my curiosity was deeply aroused and eagerly I read of Kemp's combat experiences with the Requetés militia and later with the Spanish Foreign Legion, an elite unit within the Spanish military.
What was surprising to me is that Kemp arrived in Spain in December 1936 knowing no Spanish. But within the next 3 years, he would acquire fluency in Spanish and become intimately connected with Spain through contacts with fellow soldiers and people who befriended him there, both Spanish and foreign. Indeed, Kemp would become an officer and would sustain grievous wounds in the summer of 1938 while leading a platoon in a major offensive launched by the Nationalists under General Francisco Franco, which - with an overwhelming number of aircraft, artillery, tanks, and troops - would shatter Republican defenses and bring about the cutting of Republican Spain in two. The success of this offensive would help hasten the end of the war, which resulted in a Nationalist victory in March 1939.
"MINE WERE OF TROUBLE" is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who has an interest in the Spanish Civil War, a conflict that was a dress rehearsal for the Second World War that would break out little more than 5 months after Nationalist forces entered Madrid in triumph. Kemp effectively conveys both the tensions and savagery of the war among Spaniards and foreigners alike. One particular tale Kemp related of his unit's having apprehended a deserter from the Republican side - an Irish seaman from Belfast who ended up marooned in Spain after he failed to meet up with his ship before it sailed away and for his pains, was impressed into the Republican Army - who only wanted out of the war and to return home. Well, let me just say that he was given an "out" by the Nationalists, but not what he or Kemp would have wished.