In the night of August 24, 1944, after five years of war and two of Nazi occupation, Allied troops entered Paris to liberate it. In front, a vanguard unit to occupy the center of the city and make way for the rest of the French and American units: La Nueve, made up mostly of exiled Spanish Republicans. Forced to leave Spain during and after the Civil War, and after many of them passed through concentration camps, they had joined the French Army to fight Nazism and fight for what their own country had lost: freedom.
A milestone of World War II in which the Spanish were protagonists, despite the fact that history has often ignored them. "Proud and reckless" men (in the words of Captain Dronne) whose role in the history of Spain and Europe deserves to be remembered with pride.
From exile to the French Army
During and after the Spanish Civil War, many young soldiers who defended the Second Republic went into exile in France and ended up joining military units. The French Foreign Legion was the main destination of these exiles, most of whom came from the concentration camps of Saint-Ciprien or Argelés.
With the outbreak of World War II, on September 1, 1939, and the entry of France into war with Germany, the 13th Semi-Brigade of the Foreign Legion (13th DB), made up in half of Spanish republicans, was sent to Norway. to support the government against the Nazis. Although the French high command decided to withdraw from Norway to reinforce the interior of France, the 13th DB won the Battle of Narvik, although it ended with 119 dead, 29 of them Spanish. A first Nazi defeat inflicted by Spanish Republicans.
Meanwhile, Hitler entered Paris and, after the Armistice with Germany on June 22, 1940, France was divided into two: the one occupied by the Nazis and the one governed by Marshal Petain from Vichy. But a third France emerged: Free France, following Charles de Gaulle's BBC statement on June 18, 1940.
In defense of Free France
Following de Gaulle's speech, the soldiers of the 13th DB, mostly Spanish, joined the Free France. Partisans, other French military units, and guerrillas from the French south also began to join, including Spanish Republicans. The 13th DB was integrated into the 1st Free French Infantry Division, whose first operations were carried out in Africa. This division, integrated into the 1st Light Division and the VIII English Army under the command of General Montgomery, fought for Eritrea, Palestine, Syria and Libya, until defeating the Germans and Italians in the battle of El Alamein.
For his part, in August 1940, Commander Philipe Leclerc, with his unit La Force L (better known as La Fuerza Leclerc), arrived in Cameroon and Gabon to defend the cause of Free France, forming part of the Chad Marching Regiment. , germ of La Nueve in the II Armored Division, full of Spanish Republicans. Leclerc's Force L ascended from Cameroon, Gabon, Chad and Libya to participate in the assault on Tunisia alongside the 13th DB. Moment in which former Spanish soldiers, who had not seen each other since 1939 or since the Battle of the Ebro, met again. The two units were also joined by the Corp Franc d'Afrique commandos, with some 3,000 soldiers, half of whom were Spanish.
The Spanish Republicans and "La Nueve"
After the fall of Tunisia, the allied troops reorganized. The Spanish of the 13th DB were integrated into the North American Army under the command of General Mark Wayne Clark, with the mission of assaulting Europe from Sicily. The Spaniards enlisted in the Franco-African Corps joined those of the Chad Marching Regiment and were integrated into Leclerc's II Armored Division, with the aim of assaulting Europe from Normandy.
In this way, the Spaniards of the 13th DB entered Sicily, ascending to Rome, although after the surrender of the Italian capital, they were sent to attack France from the south.
The division commanded by Leclerc, for its part, moved from Morocco to Great Britain. Within the II Armored Division the 9th Company was integrated, under the command of French captain Raymond Dronne and better known as “La Nueve” or “La Novena”, made up mostly of 150 Spanish republicans. From Wales, they landed on the beaches of Normandy (Utah Beach), which had been taken by the Allies on June 6, 1944, two days after Rome. The Spaniards from La Nueve set foot in Normandy at the beginning of August, to reinforce the advance towards Paris. The Leclerc Division, including La Nueve, was part of the III US Army, led by General George Patton.
The first warlike confrontations of the Spanish with the Werchmacht, the Nazi army, took place in Rennes, Le Mans, Château-Gontier and Alençon. In the battle of Eccouché some of the Spaniards lost their lives, although they managed to capture 129 German prisoners.
The taking to Paris
On August 20, 1944, the city of Paris rose up against the Germans. Charles de Gaulle insisted to the Allied Supreme Command that Free French troops liberate the French capital before the Werchmacht bombed it. Finally, de Gaulle convinced Generals Gerow and Eisenhower.
The French II Armored Division (the Leclerc Division) and the North American IV Infantry Division set course for Paris, previously sending a vanguard unit to open the way: La Nueve.
A penetration operation in the capital that had the support of other military and civil units in other parts of the country, including Spaniards. The Spanish lieutenant colonels of the maquis fought the Nazis in the south of France, closing the arrival of the reinforcements, among others, in the battle of La Madeleine (Gard). For their part, the Spaniards of the 13th DB took all of Provence and set out for Lyon.
On the afternoon of August 24, 1944, 144 Spanish republican soldiers from La Nueve, in American uniforms and weapons and aboard Half-Track and Sherman, broke through the defensive line of the Wechmacht and entered Paris through the Door of Italy. Carrying armored vehicles with names like Los Cosacos, Madrid, Los Pingüinos, Teruel, El Ebro, Guernica, Resistencia, Santander, Guadalajara, Don Quixote, among others, they were the first allied unit to enter Paris. At 9:22 p.m., La Novena broke into the center of Paris until it reached the City Hall, where the Spanish half-track Ebro fired the first shots at the Germans. The liberation of Paris had begun.
At dawn, the bulk of General Leclerc's II Armored Division entered through the Orleans Gate, and the 4th North American Division entered through the Italy Gate. Libération, the newspaper of the Parisian resistance, announced it with a photo of the first Allied soldier who had entered Paris, Lieutenant Amado Granell.
During the hours of fighting that preceded the final capitulation of the Nazi troops, the Spanish stormed the Chamber of Deputies, the Hôtel Majestic, and seized the Place de la Concorde. At 3:30 p.m. on August 25, the German troops surrendered, and it was the Spanish Republicans who received General Dietrich von Choltilz as prisoner, while other French and American troops continued to enter Paris.
The next day, the victory parade was held down the Champs Elysees, from the Arc de Triomphe to the Notre Dame Cathedral. Amado Granell was in charge of opening the parade. While the honor of escorting Charles de Gaulle and the French leaders corresponded to the soldiers of La Nueve, who paraded wearing armbands with the flag of the Second Spanish Republic.
After the liberation of Paris
After the taking of Paris, La Nueve left the city on September 8. They participated in various campaigns in northern France and Germany. In the capture of Strasbourg, the Spanish republicans of La Nueve and 13ª DB met again. The Nine even reached the heights of the Bavarian Alps, Bertchtesgaden, where they took the Eagle's Nest (Kehlsteinhaus), Adolf Hitler's final refuge in Bertchtesgaden, on May 5, 1945, which ended the history of this unit.
After the end of World War II, 35 had been the Spanish republicans of La Nueve fallen in combat, and 97 the wounded. Some of them, after the war, decided to continue in the French Army, although the majority rejoined French civil life. Although de Gaulle honored them, they did not receive the expected help in overthrowing the Franco regime in Spain. They all had to stay in France, without returning to their