Bilbao ha dedicado una calle a George Steer, el periodista inglés que el 27 de abril de 1937 informó desde esta ciudad del bombardeo al que la Legión Cóndor alemana y la Aviación Legionaria italiana sometieron a la localidad vizcaína de Gernika durante la Guerra Civil. Steer, que por aquel entonces tenía 28 años, fue testigo directo del ataque aéreo contra la villa foral y se trasladó a la capital vizcaína para mandar por telegrama su crónica al periódico, The Times, que la publicó íntegra
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Bombing of Guernica: original Times report from 1937
This article by George Steer of The Times brought to the world news of the massacre by German pilots of more than 1,000 civilians in the Basque town. The outrage inspired Pablo Picasso’s masterwork, and Steer has now been honoured for the piece
THE TRAGEDY OF GUERNICA
TOWN DESTROYED IN AIR ATTACK
EYE-WITNESS’S ACCOUNT
From Our Special Correspondent
BILBAO, April 27 1937
Guernica, the most ancient town of the Basques and the centre of their cultural tradition, was completely destroyed yesterday afternoon by insurgent air raiders. The bombardment of this open town far behind the lines occupied precisely three hours and a quarter, during which a powerful fleet of aeroplanes consisting of three German types, Junkers and Heinkel bombers and Heinkel fighters, did not cease unloading on the town bombs weighing from 1,000lb. downwards and, it is calculated, more than 3,000 two-pounder aluminium incendiary projectiles. The fighters, meanwhile, plunged low from above the centre of the town to machine- gun those of the civilian population who had taken refuge in. the fields.
The whole of Guernica was soon in flames except the historic Casa de Jontas with its rich archives of the Basque race, where the ancient Basque Parliament used to sit. The famous oak of Guernica, the dried old stump of 600 years and the young new shoots of this century, was also untouched. Here the kings of Spain used to take the oath to respect the democratic rights (fueros) of Vizcaya and in return received a promise of allegiance as suzerains with the democratic title of Señor, not Rey Vizcaya. The noble parish, church of Santa Maria was also undamaged except for the beautiful chapter house, which was struck by an incendiary bomb.
At 2 am today when I visited the town the whole of it was a horrible sight, flaming from end to end. The reflection of the flames could be seen in the clouds of smoke above the mountains from 10 miles away. Throughout the night houses were falling until the streets became long heaps of red impenetrable debris.
(...)
In the form of its execution and the scale of the destruction it wrought, no less than in the selection of its objective, the raid on Guernica is unparalleled in military history. Guernica was not a military objective. A factory producing war material lay outside the town and was untouched. So were two barracks some distance from the town. The town lay far behind the lines. The object of the bombardment was seemingly the demoralization of the civil population and the destruction of the cradle of the Basque race. Every fact bears out this appreciation, beginning with the day when the deed was done.
(...)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/europe/article709301.ece
Esta bien que se hagan cosas como esta.
Recordemos que en la "prensa seria" como ABC se acusó a los malvados rojos del bombardeo de Gernika.