Churchill’s Spaniards

Join Séan Scullion as he reveals the story of the Spanish Republican volunteers who served in the British Army during the Second World War.

The Second World War saw volunteers from across the globe sign up to fight the Axis powers. One group that has often been overlooked, however, are the Spanish Republican volunteers who served with the British Army.

Against the backdrop of Churchill’s efforts to keep Spain out of the war, these volunteers were recruited, trained and deployed across the British Army, from the elite SAS, the Commandos and the Special Operations Executive to the ranks of the infantry and the Pioneer Corps.

Spaniards served in most of the campaigns in the West, from the Fall of France and the evacuation from Dunkirk in 1940 to the fighting in North Africa and Italy, as well as the final push across North-West Europe and into Germany.

In this revealing talk, Séan Scullion will use groundbreaking research, unpublished eyewitness and official accounts to highlight the role of Churchill’s Spaniards and finally tell the story of these fighting men.

About the speaker

Séan Scullion

Séan Scullion is an officer in the Royal Engineers. Brought up in Spain during the later stages of General Franco’s regime and the country’s subsequent transition to democracy, he studied Spanish at the University of Nottingham. He has written widely on military matters and was a Spanish writer for Collins and Oxford University Press.

Séan is the Secretary of the Royal Engineers Historical Society and was previously Secretary of Peninsular War 200. He leads various battlefield tours and speaks at conferences and festivals, as well as on podcasts in English, Spanish and French.