Churchill’s Spaniards: The Spanish Republicans Who Fought for Britain in WWII — with Sean F. Scullion

In this episode, I speak with historian Sean F. Scullion, author of Churchill’s Spaniards, about a remarkable and little-known story: the Spanish Republicans who escaped the fall of the Second Republic, endured internment under Vichy France, and later volunteered to fight in the British Army against fascism from 1940 to 1945. Drawing on multi-lingual archival work and over 110 family interviews, Scullion reconstructs the routes these veterans took—from the French Foreign Legion and North African labour camps to the Pioneer Corps, Commandos, SOE, and even the SAS—and explores why many kept fighting despite exile, wounds, and the bitter knowledge that Franco would survive the war.

Scullion also discusses his research method (triangulating sources across British, French, and Spanish archives), the challenge of language barriers inside British units, the post-war lives of these men in Britain (including the Spanish Ex-Servicemen’s Association and links with trade unions), and the complicated geopolitics surrounding Churchill’s efforts to keep Spain out of the war.

What we cover

• Who were “Churchill’s Spaniards”? From Republican veterans to exiles who re-entered th