Page 58 - World History Cover resized

-bye,Pa ,a very big ki "
Then M ardo told ll ou might we for t the ten min­ ute The Al w l never surrende
As the siege went on, f supplies came lower and lower. Finally they were forced to ki and eat their hor s to avoid starvation. On Au­ gust 1 the Co unists n a h vy m rdment of the wall On Au­ t 4,170 hea shel hit the walls,on August 15,2 . By August 29, m t of the north wall had en destroyed. On ptem r 8 they a in asked M ardo to surrender. He refu d and h vier mbing w ordered eing the Al still standing,one of the Republican leade i "If we had a few-just a few-like that on our side,this war would n over."
The Republicans then n di ng a mine under the Al in an attempt to blow it up. The defenders in the Al could hear the di ng but could do nothing cau of a layer of dr k over the mine. They evacuated everyone from the area of the mine and prayed The Republi­ cans announced that the mine would expl ed on the mo ing of Septem r 18, and re rters from all over the world came to watch what they thought would the fall of the Alca r. At 6:31 AM. the mine went off with an expl ion loud it could heard in Madri 40 miles away. But cau of the defenders' precautions, no one was kill Ironically, the bble from the expl ion hel d to make a new barricade protecting the Alca r. Communist tr attacked again and a in but were driven off. By 1 20 AM. the attack had ended
On ptem r 25 the Nationalist tr ps were nearing Toledo. Franco decided to t ne his attack on Madrid to bring relief to the brave de­ fenders of the Alca r. On ptem r 27 another mine was expl ed, but the attack was again fought off. In the evening the Nationalists arrived and the Al r was ved Ninety-two ldiers had en killed, but not a single woman or child was l t-and two babies were rn during the siege.
Knowledge of the courage of the defenders of the Alca r spread rapidly throughout Spain It sym li d the determination of the Spanish traditionalists to fight to the death for the Church, for their country, for all the values they loved When Franco finally marched into Madrid in March 1939 and the Republicans surrendered, the Nationalist victory was due to the kind of spirit that had inspired the men and women in the Alca r.
After the war, Franco was again condemned cau he would not enter World War II on the Allied side. But after three years of bl shed, the last thing Spain needed was another war. After World War II, the civ­ ilized world tu ed against Spain and refu d to provide any trade or aid